A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for

physicians A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. Other positions can be held as locum, particularly social workers, counselors, nurses and other professionals. ''Locum tenens'' is a Latin phrase meaning "place holder", akin to the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

'' lieutenant''.

In UK healthcare

In the United Kingdom, the NHS on average has 3,500 locum doctors working in hospitals on any given day, with another 17,000 locum general practitioners. On the other hand, GP locums (freelance general practitioners) mostly work independently from locum agencies either as self-employed or via freelance GP chambers based on the NASGP's

Sessional GP A sessional GP is an umbrella term for GPs whose work is organised on a sessional basis, as opposed to GP partners (also called GP principals) whose contract is generally for 24-hour care. The term was first coined by the National Association of S ...

Support Team (SGPST) model. Some GPs have been employed by the

primary care trust Primary care trusts (PCTs) were part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May ...

s (PCTs) to provide locum cover. However, PCTs were abolished in 2013 and replaced by the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

Advantages and disadvantages

Locums provide a ready means for organizations to fill positions that are temporarily vacant or for which no long-term funding is available. Working as a locum allows a professional to gain experience in a variety of work environments or specialties. Some locum recruitment agencies offer pre-employment training to

foreign medical graduate An international medical graduate (IMG), earlier known as a foreign medical graduate (FMG), is a physician who has graduated from a medical school outside of the country where he or she intends to practice. The term non-local medical graduate may be ...

s before their first professional experience in the primary care system. However, the locum situation also poses a number of disadvantages such as the transient nature of the assignment means extra stress and work for locums whenever they assume a new position. For the hiring organisation, that generally means that the required flexibility and the lack of guaranteed income must be rewarded with higher compensation."Career focus – Locum doctors"
– Dr Philip Morgan, ''

BMJ ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origina ...

'' 7074, vol. 314. 11 January 1997 In professions that require knowledge of patient histories, locums may provide work of lower quality or be perceived as doing so. They may also experience resentment from permanent staff because they are paid more or considered to shoulder less responsibility.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Locum Tenens Temporary employment Latin words and phrases