Newly qualified pharmacists.

by Shaun Hockey

The end of June will see a the annual influx of eager newly qualified pharmacists onto the RPSGB register. At PL-UK we are keen to get as many of them as possible to join us so we can get as many of them as possible good quality, highly paid positions to start paying off those student debts.

Locums

We are particularly keen to hear from pre-reg’s who are looking to locums across the North of England. We will really look after them as we know, just like when you pass you driving test, you only really start to learn when the “L” plates come off. We ease them into well supported pharmacies to enable them to build their confidence until they get to a point where they tell us that they are confident to try something a bit busier. At PL-UK we never push locums in to anything. From day one, many locums in the North East in particular will earn from £25 upwards.

Pre-reg’s looking for a permanent position

What we recommend for pre-reg’s who are looking for a new permanent  position but haven’t secured one yet is to locum first. The reasoning behind this is that your CV looks much more attractive to potential employers if it has on it that you have worked for Alliance Boots, Tesco’s , LLOYDS ETC. It shows experience and confidence in your ability. As I mentioned  in my previous blog, don’t go direct to the companies use an agency, you’ll secure a significantly better salary.

Permananent Jobs

by Shaun Hockey

Locuming doesn’t tend to be a lifelong career decision. Many pharmacists locum to bring in extra money or work every hour God sends to pay off student loans. Some pharmacists just get sick of management responsibilities and locum in-between jobs.

One thing I would advise against if you decide to apply for a new position is going direct to a potential employer. When you think about it, you are putting yourself in a very weak position because in affect, you are going cap-in-hand asking for a new job. The chances of you obtaining unbiased advice is nil as the job of the people you will speak to are paid to recruit pharmacists as cheaply as possible.

Using an agency makes much more sense. Pharmfinders, Sterling Cross and PL-UK will all help you to find you your new job and the advantage they have is that pharmacy operators go to them to find new staff putting the locum in a much stronger position. Offers of £3-5,000 more than normal offers when candidates go direct are common.

PL-UK Pharmfinders Sterling Cross

We need more locum pharmacists!!!

Find out where PL-UK have some excellent long term placements at excellent rates.

Accounting Software

Discounted accountancy package for locum pharmacists

Locum Pharmacist of the Year Award 2008

When you received your PJ this weekend a flyer will probably have fallen to the floor (as it did in my house) about the 2008 Pharma awards. Last year we sponsored the community pharmacist of the year award but this year we have persuaded the organisers of the Pharmas to award a Locum Pharmacist of the Year Award for which PL-UK are the proud sponsors.

Nominations can be made for locum pharmacists from any sectors and can be made online if you follow the link below.

http://www.pharmawards.co.uk/nomination-form.htm

It’s about time that the profession recognised the key role that Locums perform and I’ve put my money where my mouth is so please nominate away!!

If you have any good examples of locum practice please feel free to use this Blog as way of celebrating the excellent work that locums do every day across the UK

Frustrated pharmacist!

We received a very interesting email on Wednesday from a stressed out, under pressure area coordinator for a large multiple:

“After my current review there are changes which are to be implemented into my area , these changes are below.

 Weekday Rates : Will be set at £21.50

 Weekend Rates : Will be set at £24

.Mileage : Will be set at 25ppm. Please be aware that the first 40 miles of the journey will not be paid.

 Train / Taxi : If a receipt is not received within 2 working days of the date worked then ****** is not accountable to pay for the journey. Please can you make sure that this is cascaded down to your locums as I will now be taking a hard line with them as my job is now on the line If I cannot bring the budget back into line.

 

Mobile Phones : Any locum found using a mobile phone in the Dispensary will be given one warning and then if it happens again I will refuse to use them in my area. Its not professional and the business of ****** requires full professionalism.”

This may come as no surprise to most of you but it does demonstrate that the area coordinators you deal with when you go direct are incentivised to pay you as little as possible and in the case of of claiming train and taxi expenses, have systems in place to try and stop you being reimbursed at all!

I know I have a vested interest in this, but to me it really is just common sense; If you go direct to a company you have little or no bargaining power, especially if you want to book well ahead. You really are just a RPSGB number as the email from ****** says “Weekday Rates : Will be set at £21.50″  – What if that locum performs 20 MUR’s? what if they have a clinical diploma? What if they dispense 1000 items or 50? Should all locums be paid the same? Of course they should if you just look at them as a number. After all, you only need a pharmacist to trade.

However when you start to think of locums as clinical professionals it becomes abundantly clear that you can’t “set the rates” you need to take into account the skills of the individual and the work they will undertake.

This, treating locums as numbers frustrates the hell out of me. I know that the vast majority of locums provide an excellent service and there’s a pretty good argument that they have to and much more than employed pharmacists. After all, I don’t know of one pharmacist in the 15 years since I qualified who was sacked for being a bad pharmacist and I can tell you, I’ve worked with a few who should have been. However as a locum you live or die by the service you provide. If they don’t like you they won’t book you.

The converse argument goes for locums who work through agencies. If we don’t get the rates for our locums they will go elsewhere!

It’s tricky JOB sometimes at PL-UK but a really rewarding one when we allow our locums to earn the remuneration they deserve and overcome these bully-boy, tactics of the “big boys”.

PS TOP TIP: If a company tries to reduce your rate or “set” a rate for all shops use your professional prerogative to tell them “thanks, but no thanks” and go elsewhere.

 

Protecting your income

Two years ago I snapped my cruciate ligament playing five-a -side football with some other dads who should have known better. Unfortunately, I couldn’t work as a locum for over nine months as I had to have two operations and the injury takes a long time to heal.

I had income protection but unfortunately because I couldn’t prove my income as I didn’t have a years worth of accounts they wouldn’t pay out. Without my income from PL-UK I would have been selling the Big Issue pretty quickly .

That’s why I was amazed to find that their is a company that specialises in supplying income protection exclusively for pharmacists. Not only that, their policy is one of only ten licenced in the country to pay a bonus at retirement age. It can be designed around your requirements and because they understand how a locum works, they can agree a pay-out figure right from the start of you locuming career. That means that if the worst happens and you can’t work, your house/family/lifestyle will be protected from day one if you so wish and you won’t be in the nightmare scenario I was in two years ago.

For more information please email me on shaun@pluk.co.uk and I’d be happy to pass on their details to you

 

Getting the message across

One of the challenges we face with regards to building the business is getting our message across to as many locums and clients as we can, at a reasonable cost. Contrary to popular opinion we don’t make a fortune as an agency, In fact we make about a third of what a traditional agency would placing doctors, nurses etc.

We have tried PJ advertising but did you know It costs about £1900 for a decent size advert in the PJ? So, we have to keep that to minimum. Our website is our main source of new candidates so we have decided to focus our resources on driving visitors to our site www.pluk.co.uk but, how can we do that at a reasonable cost?

This blog is one of the ways. I hope that people enjoy the ramblings of a under paid, over-worked agency owner. Yesterday I also created a You Tube page for PL-UK at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6NOkrXEnw It’s a bit uncomfortable watching yourself but in an age when we need to go Web 2.0 and all interactive, it’s what you’ve got to do.

Other ways we are trying is via our monthly newsletter PL-UK News. At present we send PL-UK News to around 1200 locums and the short newsletter is designed to discuss with/inform locums about issues particularly affecting self-employed locum pharmacists.  You can sign up for the newsletter at http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101907712539

Anyway, got to go and to bring you up to date, I decided on the new accountant yesterday and all looks good on our coordinator in the South. I’m meeting up with her next week on my way down to Cornwall for a well  deserved holiday!

If you have any other ideas about how we can get our message across please let me know.

Heading South?

We are based in the North, Bedale in North Yorkshire to precise, and as a consequence most of our bookings come in the North of England with little pockets in other areas.

We have tried a number of ways to expand our empire from Bedale but to no avail. However I feel we are about to crack the South! We are in discussion with an area coordinators for one of the major multiples who would like to join PL-UK. She is based in the South West and has all the qualities I look for in a PL-UK locum coordinator. She is friendly, organised, trusted by locums and loyal, a great combination. We should hopefully have more news in the next week. The idea would be for us to “hand-over” all our locums in the South and allow our “new girl” to use her local knowledge and contacts to bring all the benefits enjoyed by our Northern based locums down South. Fingers crossed.

I also have two accountants coming to see me, one existing and one potential replacement – fun and games and what have I done to deserve having to speak to two accountants in one day!

Monday morn

The week has started really well. A candidate we put forward for an interview with the prison service has been offered the position. She has been offered £6000 a year more than her current salary and fills a gap the prison have been trying to recruit for for nearly a year and on top of that, I know she’ll doa great job. Happy candidate, happy client, happy PL-UK!

We are just putting the finishing touches to PL-UK News issue 3. In this issue we are focusing on income protection. Not the most exciting subject I know but really, really important for self employed locums. I found this out two years ago when I snapped my cruciate ligament in my left knee and couldn’t locum for nearly a year. Without the my income from PL-UK I would have been up the proverbial stream without a paddle. I actually had income protection but the company I was with wanted me to prove my income. As a locum this is really difficult especially if you are new to locuming.

This company I have found offer income protection exclusively  for pharmacists and the benefits on offer are far batter that any company I have come accross and what’s more, there is also a chance to save for you retirement. More details in PL-UK News 3!