Locum platform

The online self-serve platform, My Locum Choice, will expand into optometry by the end of the year.

The system, which has its origins in pharmacy, allows locums to build a profile detailing accreditations, experience and working preferences. Practice owners are also able to build a profile detailing the qualities they are looking for in locums.

My Locum Choice provides businesses with a list of locums matching their criteria, and who are available on the days that they are needed. It serves more than 1400 pharmacies and 2000 locums.

My Locum Choice director, Miraj Patel, told OT that the self-serve platform was easily replicable across all healthcare sectors.

“Optometry seemed like a natural progression for us,” he explained.

There were similarities in locum requirements across both pharmacy and optometry, Mr Patel added.

“Generally the idea of needing a locum, how they are booked, where to find them and the quality of the locum is similar across all healthcare,” he highlighted.

The results of the College of Optometrists’ Optical Workforce Survey show a substantial increase in the proportion of optometrists working as locums – 17.5% in 2015 compared to 10.5% in 2010.

The percentage of optometrists embracing self-employment is even larger within AOP membership, with 35% of members listing themselves as locums in 2017.

Mr Patel explained that My Locum Choice was originally created to help pharmacy owners source pharmacists in a more efficient and cost effective manner.

Traditional methods of using agencies or attempting to source locums directly had drawbacks, Mr Patel outlined.

Agencies could be expensive while direct sourcing was time-consuming and few owners had the broad network that was needed. 

Visit the My Locum Choice website.