Locum Chambers are groups of local locum GPs who work together through a shared management structure to support GP practices in a local area. If your area does not have one, here are 10 reasons why you should! Local locum GP chambers:

 1. Keep local GPs in the local system. Many GPs are leaving because of the stress levels in General Practice. Local GP Chambers create an opportunity for GPs who simply want to be able to focus on seeing patients to be able to do so without the pressure of working in a specific GP practice. They also provide peer support, and remove the burden of booking and invoicing that becoming a locum entails. In a recent survey by the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) a number of members commented they would have left the profession altogether had chambers not existed.

2. Offer an accessible route back into General Practice. Similarly, there are large numbers of GPs who have already left because of the pressures they were experiencing. Operating as a locum within a chambers allows GPs to take more control over their workload and work-life balance, without the isolation that some locum GPs experience. As such, it offers an accessible route back into General Practice for those who may consider a return, but are concerned about operating independently as a locum.

3. Attract locum GPs to your area. Finding a locum is becoming increasingly difficult. A 2015 BMA survey reported that 46% of practices have trouble finding locum cover ‘frequently’. Local locum GP chambers establish a group of locum GPs to work in your local area. As the chambers grows the availability of locums for local practices improves.

4. Improve the quality of local locum GPs. Traditionally the quality of locum GPs is variable. However, local locum chambers build in audit, education, peer support and complaints procedures to enable quality and performance to be monitored and continuously improved. They also make appraisal and revalidation much more straightforward.

5. Enable locum GPs to be effective quickly in each local practice. Local locum GP chambers develop systems to make it easy for each of their locum GPs to get to know the different ways of working in each practice. One of the biggest challenges facing a locum GP is to become effective quickly within a new environment, and by working with a specific number of local practices the chambers is able to share information and support its members to do just this.

6. Ensure locum GPs operate as part of the local system. The only system interactions that many locum GPs have is with the individual practices they support. A local locum GP chambers provides a contact point between the CCG, the local healthcare system, and the locum GPs. This means that where new systems, such as new referral pathways, are introduced, the local locum GPs can be informed and be part of the process of implementation.

7. Reduce expenditure on locum GPs. Chambers are entirely funded by charging each member a percentage of their income, instead of charging the practice. There is no additional agency fee that is incurred. Locums from GP Chambers are typically 25%-40% cheaper than the those accessed from agencies.

8. Make finding locums GPs easier for local practices. Chambers provide an easy point of contact (usually one email) that results in a high quality locum attending at a set price. This is stark contrast to the experience of many practice managers, who can spend hours and even days chasing and negotiating with agency after agency to try to find a locum.

9. Allow local systems to access the talent and skills of locum GPs. Locum GPs have plenty to offer local systems. They have a unique perspective as they have seen first-hand how many of the different practices within an area operate. They can identify and facilitate the spread of best practice between practices. In many areas locum GPs from local chambers have even taken up leadership positions within the local CCG.

10. Create an opportunity for partnership working between the CCG and the local locums GPs. Where a local locum GP chambers is established, CCGs can explore with them ways of working together to strengthen local delivery of General Practice. This can include support for specific GP practices, targeted support for local General Practice at busy times, and even enabling the CCG to ensure support is focussed on the local GP practices that need it most.