At this time last year, a number of larger and smaller multiples were offering a bonus to locum pharmacists who carried out MUR’s. Some were paying £5 or £10 per MUR or offering to pay locums and extra £5 per hour if they completed 5 MUR’s. It made sense – they were asking locums to do more work on a daily basis and rewarding them for the extra income they generated – a no brainer.  Locums enjoyed carrying out MUR’s as they felt they were making a real difference for the patients and bringing in a bit of extra income for the pharmacy. They were wiling to put up with the consequent problems carrying out an MUR lead to.

Then, things changed. The usual large multiple short sightedly decided that MUR’s were now  “part of the daily job” for locums and other companies followed their lead and  stopped paying. Guess what? Many locum pharmacists then refused to do MUR’s or cut the number they were doing. Many of our locums said that after completing an MUR they were usually welcomed by a queue of disgruntled customers adding stress and pressure to an already difficult job. They also informed us that pharmacy managers’ bonus had an MUR element and so they were putting pressure on locum pharmacists to do more and more MUR’s to an extent where they felt that the dispensing process was being compromised. Why put themselves through this for no reward.

Come on pharmacies – reward locum pharmacists for the extra work and the additional income they bring in to the business – it was a no brainer at the beginning of 2009 and it still is in 2010!