A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for
physicians
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
or
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. In the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, an example of a ''locum tenens'' is an
apostolic administrator
An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
, often a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
who temporarily governs a
vacant see until a new
ordinary is appointed.
''Locum tenens'' is a
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
phrase meaning "place holding", akin to the
Greek ''
topoteretes'', or
French ''
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
''.
United Kingdom healthcare
In the United Kingdom, the
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
on average has 3,500 locum doctors working in hospitals on any given day, with another 17,000 locum general practitioners (
GPs).
On the other hand, GP locums (freelance GPs) mostly work independently from locum agencies, either as self-employed or via freelance GP chambers based on the NASGP's
Sessional GP Support Team (SGPST) model. Some GPs have been employed by the
primary care trusts (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 graduates before their first professional experience in the
primary care
Primary care is a model of health care that supports first-contact, accessible, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated person-focused care. It aims to optimise population health and reduce disparities across the groups by ensuring equitable ...
system.
However, reliance on locums has some disadvantages:
*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 lack of guaranteed income must be rewarded with higher compensation.
*In professions that require knowledge of patient histories, locums may provide work of lower quality or be perceived as doing so. They may also be resented by 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
Temporary institutions