Posted on November 10th 2015 by What The Bleep
With the government's plan to cap rates on locum shifts for doctors from the 23rd November 2015, and reducing further the capped rate on two future dates (1st February 2016 and again on 1st April 2016) the prospect of doing locum shifts is becoming less appealing. With the junior doctor contract dominating our attention the government are implementing the locum agency price cap, keeping this under the radar and knowing we can't fight this publicly with the junior doctor contract as it will be hard to gain public support for our fight against this. So we thought it was important for us to make this page to keep you updated with advice on how to fight the locum price cap.
The first thing we all need to do is to register our views and response to the proposals using the government's response form here. Urgent this must be done by the closing date of 5pm 13th November.
It is important to stay together against the cap from the start as otherwise it will gradually drain the NHS of good locums and cripple the NHS. Now some doctors may think that this doesn't concern them as they don't do external locum shifts, and you would be wrong. This will impact everyone, it will affect those who do external locum shifts, those who do locum shifts within your own hospital, and by draining the NHS of locums it will affect doctors on-call who are understaffed when Medical Staffing are unable to find a locum doctor willing to work for peanuts at short notice, and it will also affect doctors during the day when Medical Staffing personnel try rearranging and stretching their own doctors to cover shortages across the rota that they can't fill with locum doctors.
With the government's plan to cap rates on locum shifts for doctors from the 23rd November 2015, and reducing further the capped rate on two future dates (1st February 2016 and again on 1st April 2016) the prospect of doing locum shifts is becoming less appealing. With the junior doctor contract dominating our attention the government are implementing the locum agency price cap, keeping this under the radar and knowing we can't fight this publicly with the junior doctor contract as it will be hard to gain public support for our fight against this. So we thought it was important for us to make this page to keep you updated with advice on how to fight the locum price cap.
The first thing we all need to do is to register our views and response to the proposals using the government's response form here. Urgent this must be done by the closing date of 5pm 13th November.
It is important to stay together against the cap from the start as otherwise it will gradually drain the NHS of good locums and cripple the NHS. Now some doctors may think that this doesn't concern them as they don't do external locum shifts, and you would be wrong. This will impact everyone, it will affect those who do external locum shifts, those who do locum shifts within your own hospital, and by draining the NHS of locums it will affect doctors on-call who are understaffed when Medical Staffing are unable to find a locum doctor willing to work for peanuts at short notice, and it will also affect doctors during the day when Medical Staffing personnel try rearranging and stretching their own doctors to cover shortages across the rota that they can't fill with locum doctors.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Most trusts have an 'internal'/'bank' locum rate which they offer to their own doctors, and if they fail to fill the shift they will offer it out to locum agencies to fill with an 'external'/'agency' locum. Now unfortunately the difference in pay between internal and external locum can be massive and initially for the first capped rate on 23rd November will most likely affect the external locums worst, bridging the gap between external and internal locum rates, however the further reductions in the capped rate will then affect all doctors.
Below is the new proposed locum pay rate table published by the government's Trust Development Authority.
WHAT WE NEED TO DO
1. AGREE A RATE WITH YOUR HOSPITAL
From the 22nd November if Medical Staffing in your hospital try and alter your rates for internal locum shifts we advise discussing with your colleagues in your hospital and formally agree a rate with Medical Staffing that is reasonable (negotiations should be led by your year rep). For internal rates FY1s should not be getting less than £30-35 per hour, SHOs £35-40 per hour, and Registrars £45-50 per hour (more for A&E), so this may not affect those just doing internal locuming in November, but if you agree this rate in November then Medical Staffing will be the ones facing the problem when the government drops the rate again on the 1st February 2016. If Medical Staffing drop the rate in February then stick to your guns and don't take the shifts, you are stronger united.
Now with the new capped rates we are unsure how the Medical Staffing will react but at the end of the day if the internal doctors don't take the internal locum for less than their agreed rate then Medical Staffing will have to try and fill the gaps in the rotas with external doctors which will be harder for them to get.
2. DON'T GET BULLIED INTO DOING EXTRA SHIFTS
Please be warned with the government's plan it will become harder for Medical Staffing personnel to fill locum shifts and we expect that they may start to take advantage of doctors (especially FY1s) so don't be bullied into doing an extra shift you don't want to do, or into taking a shift for a rate that you don't want. You are not obliged to do additional hours. If you do feel bullied into covering extra shifts then please call BMA for advice. 0300 123 1233.
3. SUBMIT INCIDENT FORMS
If you are understaffed and a locum doctor is not supplied as a result of the locum price cap, submit an incident form as a risk for patient safety, and continually bring it up in junior doctor/departmental forums. For patient safety issues you must also inform the Clinical Director each time this happens.
4. TAKE YOUR NAME OFF THE INTERNAL REGISTER
If Medical Staffing personnel are not negotiating on the rate then stand your ground and ask to them to take your name/details off their 'internal locum' register. This is a register of doctors in the hospital who have opted out of the European Working Directive and who get emailed about internal locum jobs. This leaves a clear message that you are not interested in the locum shifts for the rates they are offering.
5. JOIN A LOCUM AGENCY
If you do still want to do locum jobs at your hospital then ask to be taken of the hospital internal locum register and join a locum agency (pick one which supplies to your hospital). It is unclear how badly the price cap will impact locum agencies but we would advise joining one, because their interests align with ours they will be an additional defence against the capped rates. Though you may have to take care that some locum agencies don't just follow the government's cap giving you low rates. Let them know early on what set rate you are only willing to take jobs for, then the locum agencies will be forced to fight against the cap to find doctors jobs for these rates otherwise the agency will be out of business. They also have more money, personnel and resources to fight against the price cap.
Registering requires an application form and a CRB, however once done you are sorted and you will get access to the same jobs at your hospital but potentially at a better rate!
It is also worth being aware that if you are in a training post, your contract says you should not take locum work for another employer. This doesn't stop you from working as an external locum through a locum agency in your own hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment