The 99% Rule

In my last post http://www.pluk.co.uk/2010/comments-of-the-letters-in-the-pj/ I launched a defence of the community pharmacy locums workforce. Today I want to take this one step further. Rather than their being “something rotten” about 24% of pharmacists working as locums. I argue that this percentage will be much higher in the future in both the community and hospital sectors.

Community pharmacies, like all businesses exists to make money, whether it be for the owner/manager or the shareholders of the multinational operators like Boots, Lloyds etc. They will always look to minimise the costs to the business in terms of salaries or, in the case of locum pharmacists, locum fees. I don’t have a problem with this, it’s just business.

However, what happens when the costs of engaging locums actually costs roughly the same as employing an employee pharmacist? What locums can give you is flexibility, reliability,  the ability to work in stressful environment and in most cases losts of experience. Just this week we have had a locum coordinator on the phone because six employee pharmacists have called in sick! Six at the same time. ” What is the area manager doing about it” we asked ” Nothing, they are too scarred that they will leave them!!” came the reply. Our experience have to have their head hanging off before thy phone in sick as they don’t get paid sick pay.

So why not run you shops on locums instead of employees? There’s no holiday pay, no pension contributions, no sick pay, no employers National Insurance contributions, a back-of-a-fag packet calculation puts these additional costs at 35% of the employees salary costs in addition to their basic pay. That’s not taking into account bonus payments that many emlpoyee pharmacist are entitled to. The issue that stops the companies saving monies is where the costs are allocated on the Profit and Loss account.

The hospital sector I believe will rely even more on locums in the future. The recruitment freeze in place across the NHS means that, as employee pharmacist in the NHS leave their positions, they won’t be replaced. We have one pharmacist and a technicians leaving positions in the next few weeks and their work colleagues are already asking how they are supposed to cope.  They are rushed off their feet at the moment, how are they going to profide a safe service in the future with even less staff? I’m sure that the trust managers, as they go through their own redundancy situation will stop pharmacy departments recruiting replacement pharmacists and technicians but the department has to function safely. Locums are the obvious solutions. Flexibility, no holiday or sick pay and no pensions are very attractive options at this point. So what that locums are paid more than employees. The overall costs are lower.

So my expectation is that the love/hate relationship between locum pharmacists and the larger multiples will move closer to love and that the hospital sector will become more and more reliant on both locum pharmacist and pharmacy technicians. I might be wrong but I’d be interested to hear what you think.