FY2 standalone posts

Hi Masterboy123,

I have been pursuing locum work on and off for most of my career. Google flagged your post to me as I am writing an article on the merits of locum work. If you register with a GOOD agency, FY2 is just as abundant as FY1. Here are some tips I would give anyone thinking of starting to locum:

1. Have all your documents prepared before you start contacting agencies. Some will pay for a CRB/Bloods some wont. All of them will ask for more or less the same thing. I have met many Doctor's over the years who get frustrated at being asked to send these in. Simple, if you don't have them you don't work. If you start off organised, you will stay organised and it will be a small task.

2. Try and go for a smaller company. The agency I use are quite small, and although a lot of agencies will use the sales pitch of 'all the work' they cannot fill, there has genuinely been work available for me anytime I want it. Smaller company = less Doctors = more work. Remember the agencies are sales people, so you may have to do your own research into what companies are smaller as all of them like to act like they are the biggest in the market.

3. Have a thick skin. Locums are often looked down on in the medicine profession, I still experience this now even though I am a Consultant Dermatologist and Senior Lecturer. Being a Locum can be a good way to visit and see how different hospitals work and make contacts. I have seen a number of SHO/SPR locum Doctors be offered full time posts.

I hope this all helps! I'd love to hear your experiences as I am trying to write an article exploring the benefits and downfalls of working in this way.

I feel like doctors in general are very conservative when it comes to taking risks and pursuing different career paths, hence the looking down on locums, and hence the barrage of "you can't do that, you'll never get back in" comments when you consider taking some time out either of medicine, NHS training or working in the UK.

In research/academics, it's expected that you broaden your experiences in that way, but for some reason in medicine we are expected to follow the long march to consultancy and retirement without question...