independent pharmacies

[Pharmanaut]

Have any of you tried actually calling into an independent pharmacy and talking with the owner about the possibility of locum work? Although I am a retired independent, the locums I actually employed were either through this type of cold calling or by word of mouth. I liked to meet the potential locum before allowing them to run my businesses.

Having spent a lifetime building up a business where the patients were the most important element of the business, the quality of the locum in dealing with the patients and their ability to get on with my staff were the paramount importance in my decision making. Yes, an excellent locum may cost more, but it is well worth the additional cost to find my business well run in my abscence and ship shape on my return. It does not take much to lose patients by employing an incompetent locum.

Although good staff will generally run the pharmacy around them, it is not fair on the staff to expect them to do so. It's down to pay peanuts, get monkeys I'm afraid. It is this ethos of maintaining excellent service that should allow an independent to easily compete with the "big boys" who run their dispensaries on mainly locum cover.

A cold call will also give you an impression of the standards of that pharmacy and give you a valuable insight into the quality of service and staff employed there too.

+1
Someone who runs the place as if it was their own and understands the DT is a good start.
(DT = Drug Tariff)

[Tony Schofield]

I don't expect too much from locums but in truth I use a small group of trusted individuals who we have built a relationship up with over time. I am always looking to expand it! They are all fairly local so I don't entertain expense claims. I pay what they ask and there is a bit of variation. If rates posted here are correct I always pay more per hour than that.

In line with the recent publication by RPS on workplace stress I insist on a lunch break being taken and no I don't pay for it.

If I was desperate, and I have been(!) I pay expenses, lunch hours, over the odds and would pay into a bank account in Luxemburg if asked.

[andrew paxton]

'Have any of you tried actually calling into an independent pharmacy and talking with the owner about the possibility of locum work? Although I am a retired independent, the locums I actually employed were either through this type of cold calling or by word of mouth. I liked to meet the potential locum before allowing them to run my businesses.

Having spent a lifetime building up a business where the patients were the most important element of the business, the quality of the locum in dealing with the patients and their ability to get on with my staff were the paramount importance in my decision making. Yes, an excellent locum may cost more, but it is well worth the additional cost to find my business well run in my abscence and ship shape on my return. It does not take much to lose patients by employing an incompetent locum.

Although good staff will generally run the pharmacy around them, it is not fair on the staff to expect them to do so. It's down to pay peanuts, get monkeys I'm afraid. It is this ethos of maintaining excellent service that should allow an independent to easily compete with the "big boys" who run their dispensaries on mainly locum cover.

A cold call will also give you an impression of the standards of that pharmacy and give you a valuable insight into the quality of service and staff employed there too.'



Yes. When I FIRST started locuming, after selling my own independent pharmacy, I copied out the Yellow Pages page for Chemists (Dispensing) for my area, and cold-called on many of the independents listed. I also rang all the multiples listed and asked them how they got their locums, and got contact details of their area or national locum co-ordinators. Unfortunately, I live at the southern end of my telephone book area, so many of the list were well outside of my driving distance. Unfortunately, two of the independents were in process of selling to Alliance (now Boots Local) and another two selling to the Co-op. There are very few independents around here now. I really only work for the multiples, although tomorrow I'm working for an independent that I missed on the first drive-round