It’s now more important than ever to grow your own pool of direct locums.

Why?

As most pharmacies are aware pharmacists are in high demand, this goes for both locums and permanent employees. This demand for cover is pushing both salaries and locum rates up, with our data suggesting that rates are at an all-time high. This is causing rising agency fees in pharmacies and also on some occasions causing store closures.

COVID-19 is undoubtedly the major cause of this lack of supply, with fewer pharmacists being added to the register in 2020 and more demand due to instances of isolation. But there are a few other contributing factors such as a reduction of pharmacists in the community due to GP surgery roles.

So, how do you counteract this?

One way to counteract this is to build your own engaged pool of direct locums. As we know, many pharmacies do have a pool of locums they regularly call on but the question is how do they communicate with them to keep them informed of vacant shifts? As locums are in high demand they often have their diaries filled weeks, if not months in advance. This is where better engagement and communication comes into play.

The Locate a Locum Bank Solution can help ease the administrative burden of communicating with your locums. Our bank solution is proven to grow your pool by up to 400%, this means that when you do need cover you are not at risk of store closure.

We help grow direct locums through marketing methods and an intuitive branded landing page.

Once signed up we can help you engage with your bank pool through mobile push notifications, emails, and SMS messages. This multi-channel approach means that locums are always aware of your vacant shifts. There is even the ability for a locum to accept or decline a shift with the click of a button meaning pharmacy teams are not left chasing up voicemail messages.

If you have a locum problem please get in touch, we’d love to explore ways in which we can help. Or find out more by completing the the below form.