Locum rate calculations

[SolomonQ]

lol, i think ive read one of those before in a different thread, and it made me laugh,

maybe the bosses at lloyds wanna pay their pharmacists what theyre really worth but the people who advise them in this matter use the extra money producing leaflets like this trying to convince them that theyre pay is actualy really good, and then for all this good work these people are given bonuses and pay rises, hahaha.

why would anyone wanna be a pharmacist manager for any of the major pharmacy multiples?

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

why would anyone wanna be a pharmacist manager for any of the major pharmacy multiples?

Continuity of care for the patient - and the ability to build a professionally advantageous relationship with the surgery.

Jeff

[SolomonQ]

??? is that the best one can hope,
Care of the patient can be done working at any pharmacy and if one is really that good they should share their expertise and service among as many people as possible and also building a relationship with the surgery usually means the receptionsists not the doctors, and even some of them talk to you like your trash, maybe because you need them, they dont really need you (as a pharmacist).

[Pharmanaut]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

??? is that the best one can hope,
Care of the patient can be done working at any pharmacy and if one is really that good they should share their expertise and service among as many people as possible and also building a relationship with the surgery usually means the receptionsists not the doctors, and even some of them talk to you like your trash, maybe because you need them, they dont really need you (as a pharmacist).

Generally the best way to deal with people with an attitude (Doctors, Nurses or receptionists) is not to have one yourself. That doesn't mean letting themselves walk over you.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

??? is that the best one can hope,
Care of the patient can be done working at any pharmacy and if one is really that good they should share their expertise and service among as many people as possible and also building a relationship with the surgery usually means the receptionsists not the doctors, and even some of them talk to you like your trash, maybe because you need them, they dont really need you (as a pharmacist).

Depends how you talk to them, and what you talk to them about. If all your calls are prescription focussed and to tell them that they've done something wrong then of course they'll not look forward to hearing from you.

Don't phone up about every statin/antibiotic interaction - just get the go ahead to advise patients to leave off the statin whilst taking the antibiotic (and for a few days longer if that is the surgeries wish).

Tell them that you're concerned about a patient and would like a chat with the doc after surgery and it's a way in
e.g. that a dossette box isn't working - and that your team is happy to give that patient his medicine on a daily basis - and your pharmacy then becomes an integral part of the team looking after that patient.

Yes it's harder for a locum to go down this route unless it's a regular locum and you have rest of the team with you.

Jeff

[SolomonQ]

pharmacists ive known and who have worked at the same pharmacy for many years seem to know the receptionists by name and sometimes face and also say they feel that they have to keep them "sweet". this is because to offer the best service for their patients they have to call the surgerys form time to time and imagine if the receptionist isnt on your side, would you be passed on to the doctor if you need to speak to them?

While on the otherside they know all the names of doctors in most local surgerys but if you were to ask them anythin about the doctors like how old they are or what they look like they wouldnt know.

so if one was to work as a locum in the same area they would have a similar reltionship with their local GPs as one who was a pharmacy manager i.e. minimal or none.

[Tony Schofield]

Oh the certainty of youth!

Remember that the tax man doesn't pay for your petrol. If you are on 40% tax and you pay £5 a gallon for petrol, you will still pay £5 for that gallon. However your tax bill will be reduced by £2. You still have to pay for the petrol though!

It is nigh on impossible to have a relationship with patients and surgeries unless you are the regular locum working more than a couple of days a week. Unless I am mistaken the inland revenue could then challenge your self employed status.

I remember the frustration I felt when someone asked to speak to the pharmacist but on seeing I wasn't the regular pharmacist just said they would come back the following day.

Why on earth do you aspire to be a full time locum as a career? The opportunities in the white paper will undoubtedly be available more to full time employee pharmacists and proprietors than temporary staff. Also, I believe that the white paper opportunities will give employed pharmacists more clout with the multiples. That and the emergence of the PDA in my mind see the tide turning in favour of profesional autonomy.

With regard to "why work for the multiples", assuming you are assertive and don't roll over every time something is demanded, the continuity of employment (how easy is it to get top dollar locum rates in February?), paid sick leave, training etc are not to be sniffed at, especially when you are in the early stages of your learning curve. I am in the middle stages of my learning curve and it won't be completed until I go to the great dispensary in the sky!

[Tony Schofield]

AHHH! I now see there is a full thread on employee v locum status.

Well you know where I stand!

[johnep]

I have been a locum at two stages in my career, the beginning and the end.
Full time locum opportunities just did not exist in my young days. all locums were for a full week while proprietor was on holiday etc.

During all my years in industry I worked approx one Saturday a month and the occasional Sunday rota just to keep my hand in. I am very glad I did so, as at the time I was made redundant from Roche, my boss had not worked in community for 20 years (before conversion to metric and computers). He did one day in a pharmacy and decided not for him. I was made redundant on a Tuesday and the following Monday was at work in community.

Regular work as an employee has a lot going for it. Just after retiring from industry, I was happy to be an employee with BTC, and still am although not actually worked for BTC for over a year.
johnep

[Zoggite]

Originally Posted by Tony Schofield

With regard to "why work for the multiples", assuming you are assertive and don't roll over every time something is demanded, the continuity of employment (how easy is it to get top dollar locum rates in February?)

I am nothing if not assertive, and I certainly do not roll over every time something is demanded, but I still wouldn't work for "the multiples" again as that would just be condoning Bullying... These multiples just don't deserve me!