Most medical professionals travel abroad in search of better opportunities and medical experiences and each year an equally large number of medical professionals migrate to the UK. If you plan to become a doctor in the United Kingdom, you may need to know the basic prerequisites before leaving for the UK. Majority of the overseas doctors are not familiar with the term ‘locum tenens’ which means a substitute doctor who temporarily fills in the absence of another. In other words, a locum doctor works in place of a regular doctor for a certain period of time until the hospital is able to arrange a replacement. This type of employment gives locum doctors flexibility and complete control over their professional lives.
Interestingly, a whopping 3,500 locum doctors and another 6,000 general practitioners or GPs work in National Health Services (NHS) hospitals on any given day. A large chunk of these locums are supplied to the NHS based hospitals by private locum recruitment agencies who are subjected to a given set of nationalized mutual agreements. Statistics retrieved from reliable sources on the locum employment pattern in the UK have shown that nearly 80% of the total locums employed in all the hospitals are hired through private locum agencies. Despite the recent local animosity towards overseas locums, UK still remains one of the most sought after destination for locum doctors. The economic slump down in the current market post the recession has given way to a dramatic decrease in locum doctors’ employment, but this has not deterred the determination of many overseas doctors who are on the lookout for locum jobs for doctors in the country.
Besides the main job hunt tools such as an updated CV, travel Passport, medical fitness certifications and declaration of immunity against specific diseases documents, GMC registration is the Holy Grail for overseas locum jobs seekers in the UK. Why? The reason is that without a valid GMC registration (General Medical Council) it is practically impossible to apply for a job in UK. In tandem with the name, GMC technically is the highest medical governing body in UK that oversees the legality and uniform medical practices. The objective of the body is to protect, promote and maintain health and safety of the community through set standard of practice in medicine.
This regulatory body coordinates with medical governing bodies and universities of other nations, and measures are taken to ensure mutual agreements and recognitions in the field of medicine. In the recent times, there exist a disproportionate ratio between the number of locum doctors and private locum agencies in the locum industry. For most overseas doctors searching for Doctor Jobs Vacancies are within ‘easy reach’ if they are registered with renowned and efficient locum agencies.
Specialist locum recruitment agencies offer intermediary service that allows qualified and competent doctors to locate hospitals and other medical facilities abroad for doctor vacancy. These well-trained overseas Dr Locums are cost effective and efficient, and given the current market condition they are the valuable assets in the slowly recovering post recession era. Locum private agencies as a third party indirectly play an important in the overall performance of the health care industry. Unauthorized and non-conforming private agencies can be a great cause of worry for various hospitals since they can also give inroads to under qualified and poorly experienced travelling locum doctors who deteriorate the health system and jeopardize the safety of the patients. On the other hand, an uninformed and misguided locum job placement in sub-standard and non-employee oriented institution or hospital can ruin the medical career of a locum too.
