At times medical practices need to use locums, even for the well-prepared practices. Taking the time to identify the right locums and right way to find locums can eradicate any future problems. We often hear complaints from GP practices about the service of the locum recruitment agency they are using. Most make the mistake thinking locum recruitment agencies are quick and easy but they are actually costly and inefficient.
In this article, we have come up with the most common complaints we hear about practices using a locum recruitment agency and we offer some advice on how to treat the disease, not the symptoms.
Unwanted contact from a locum recruitment agency
Economic forces maybe dictating this, however it appears that whilst cold calls are on the increase, even worse – the quality of them is in the main, extremely poor. Not to mention annoying and time consuming.
Also, you have enough mail to deal with in the morning and you receive a large amount of junk mail and sales letters.
BeeFound is there when you need a locum and won’t hassle you when you don’t need locums.
Locum Recruitment agencies only want to communicate when it suits them
It seems sales people and particularly recruiters, avoid problems or difficulties, and are giving the impression that they are only interested in the fee – not building a genuine relationship. No worthwhile relationship is built without overcoming difficulties together.
The Locum Recruitment Agency Doesn’t Understand Your Needs
This was a common theme – unfortunately. Upon investigation this appears to be a gripe across the NHS. It is perceived that little or no effort is being made to truly get to know the medical practices environment, culture or ethos.
As with any practice, not understanding a patients pain can result in a lot of complaints and more longer waiting lists as the patient will need to come back.
Sending the wrong candidates
A recent news story revealed patients’ lives are being put at risk because medical practices are having to resort to hiring foreign doctors with little or no evidence of their competence due to a shortage of experienced staff. Locum staff with little experience are being offered to NHS practices by unscrupulous recruitment agencies which fail to mention there experience and background.
One of the reasons that so many recruiters bombard practices with poor CVs is that they treat their candidates like simple products and don’t go much further than conducting word searches on their candidate database in order to match requirements. A lot of recruiters concentrate on selling, not serving the candidates.
The rising costs of using a recruitment agencies
The NHS in Scotland spent a record £82m on locum doctors last year, an increase of £18m on the previous year, according to data obtained by BBC Scotland. The majority of this is going to recruitment agencies.
Medical practices need to stop paying the premium rate and use alternative methods to find locums.
BeeFound can help you find and book available GP Locums quickly and easily, without fuss and guess what it’s completely free!
