[pluk]

In an ideal world all pharmacists would have an employed pharmacy manager, enough well trained staff and ample relief staff to cover for holidays/sickness etc

However in the real world area managers are driven by the need to meet 12 months budgets and will do everything they can to reduce costs. One of the greatest costs is pharmacist costs and the easiest way to reduce pharmacists costs is to employ the pharmacist instead of engaging the services of a locum. A second way is reducing support staff hours, then locum costs...

If you get better pay, enjoy more flexibility and suffer less hassle from management as a locum - why would you take a permanent position?

As for the scare stories about independent locums - I think there is something in it. By going direct to an owner/coordinator you are admitting that you are in a weak position - you are telling them you need a job. If you hand your dates over to a professional, reliable agency who the owners/coordinators go to when they can't find enough "direct" locums you will obtain better rates.

As the multiples get bigger and the significance of an individual locum gets smaller, agencies bring the economies of scale back in favour of the self employed locum pharmacist