Welcome to Locum Link

							Welcome to Locum Link                                                                             Pay Procedure
                                                                                                  PAYE calculations and BACS payments will be done weekly each Friday for timesheets
The following information is provided to give you general guidelines on working as a locum        received that week. The BACS payment processing system works on a three day cycle, this
through Locum Link. If you have any queries at all please contact us immediately.                 means the money will be cleared to your account the following Tuesday. Travel expenses are
                                                                                                  discretionary.
Our Services
Locum Link is the only Northern Ireland based locum agency. We are the largest supplier of
                                                                                                  P.A.Y.E. and National Insurance
locum doctors in Northern Ireland. Our established and trained staff will advise you of the       Your earnings are taxable under the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax system. When you
most suitable posts according to your requirements.                                               register, you need to supply us with your National Insurance Number, as we are also
                                                                                                  responsible for deducting National Insurance contributions.
Our aim at Locum Link is to provide our doctors with locums as and when it suits them and let
them accomplish their assignments with ease and satisfaction. We are renowned for our             Reporting and Identification
friendly service, personal attention and prompt payment.
                                                                                                  On arrival at the hospital you should report to reception/switchboard to collect bleep/pager, or
Registration                                                                                      Locum Link will advise you of a named person to report to. When working you will be
                                                                                                  expected to wear/show your Locum Link identification badge, which we will supply.
To register, please send your Curriculum Vitae together with a completed Registration and
Health Declaration form, and all other documentation requested on the form, to Locum Link in      Long Term Locums
the pre-paid envelope provided.
                                                                                                  Locum work arises from vacancies caused by holidays, illness, unfilled posts and unexpected
Curriculum Vitae                                                                                  vacancies. As such, most posts are for one to two weeks initially although they are often
                                                                                                  extended. Agency locum work is well rewarded.
If there are any gaps in your CV such as a prolonged period between qualification and GMC
registration, you should include details of what you did during that time. If you started a job   Short Term Locums
and discontinued it after a short time, you must still include it on your CV. Hospitals assume
your CV is complete unless you inform them.                                                       Short term work, by its very nature comes in at short notice; weekend work normally on
                                                                                                  Thursday or Friday and evening work the same or previous day. Hospitals anticipate doctors
References                                                                                        undertaking this type of work may need to arrive after 5pm and leave earlier than 9am.
                                                                                                  Please indicate when considering a locum the time you would be able to arrive and leave.
Consultants will often retain references on file for you once requested and it requires           You are paid for the hours you actually work.
minimum work for their secretary to copy it to us. We will request new references every 6-12
months to ensure we hold a copy from your most recent substantive post on file.                   Police Check
Training Recognition For Locum Work                                                               When working within certain specialities, all hospitals will require you to have a negative
                                                                                                  Police Check. NHS policy states that Health Authorities should provide staff with a letter on
If a position is normally recognised for training it may also, in certain circumstances, be       request which confirms a negative Police Check and is valid for one year. You can also
recognised if you do the same job as a locum. To check whether you may receive recognition        approach your local police station and complete a Police Check form there, receiving an
at the end of the job you should consult the appropriate Royal College for advice before          official letter after the check has been completed. If you hold a negative Police Check you
taking up the locum post.                                                                         should send us a copy and we will retain it on file. Having such a letter saves each Health
                                                                                                  Authority from running the Check and makes you more employable.
After Registration
                                                                                                  Criminal Convictions
Your details will be put onto our system. We will continually search for jobs that match your
requirements and contact you regularly, keeping you updated on your prospects. It is always       Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, applicants for locum
worth seeing what we have to offer before accepting work from any other source. We give           medical posts are not entitled to withhold information about convictions which for other
priority to those doctors who are easily contactable and keep in touch.                           purposes are ‘spent’. Doctors are expected to provide Locum Link with a statement of any
                                                                                                  criminal convictions or cautions.

Timesheets                                                                                        Legal Context For Medical Practice
You will receive a timesheet and a health declaration for each week or part week of the post      You are expected to have an understanding and experience of the legal context for medical
you are covering. You should ensure you carefully fill in the exact hours that you work. All      practice appropriate to the posts you undertake (eg, the application of the Mental Health Act
forms need to be completed and returned to us as soon as the locum has been worked. A             1983 or the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 in psychiatric practice). For further information,
pre-paid envelope is provided for your convenience.                                               the BMA publication ‘Rights and Responsibilities of Doctors’ is recommended.
Maximum Working Hours
You should ensure that working a locum will not cause you to breach the controls on hours
set down in the New Deal on Junior Doctors’ Hours. Working to excess may negate the
benefits of Crown Indemnity and should tiredness be blamed if a mishap occurs, it could have
serious implications. Your acceptance of work is taken as evidence that you will not breach
the controls.

Cancellation Of Appointments By Clients
Clients hold the right to cancel appointments, vary rotas or terminate positions when you have
already begun work, and without notice and without compensating Locum Link for your loss of
earnings. In instances such as this we will endeavour to offer you alternative work.

Cancellation Of Locums By Doctors
It causes tremendous frustration if you cancel after accepting and you should never accept a
booking if you do not have every intention of working it. Cancelling bookings without good        INFORMATION
                                                                                                  FOR
reason may result in future bookings being withdrawn. If unexpected circumstances arise you
should ensure that Locum Link is informed at the earliest possible opportunity by telephone.
It may be appropriate for you to also inform the hospital but you must always notify us in the

                                                                                                  DOCTORS
first instance.

Hepatitis B and Agency Work
The NHS wish to protect doctors and patients from acquiring or spreading Hepatitis B and it is
impossible to place doctors in work if they have not provided information regarding their
Hepatitis B status. All hospitals require a photocopy of a UK pathology report which includes
details of titre level together with your full name and date of birth.

General Requirements
                                                                                                  Background
Acceptable levels vary from hospital to hospital but documentation containing your date of
birth and showing a Hepatitis B antibody titre level of over 100 miu/ml from a test carried out
in the UK within the last two years will almost always be accepted. Many hospitals have built     Locum Link is the leader in servicing medical professional staffing
their protocols around set levels and the word ‘immune’ is not considered adequate.               requirements. As the largest supplier of locums in Northern Ireland,
                                                                                                  our expertise and quality of service is second to none.
Getting a certificate

If you have recently had an Occupational Health medical, your Hepatitis B status may have
been evaluated and the result sent to your GP. Your GP should be able to give you a letter        Locum Link will provide you with a service of the highest standard.
confirming your status and you should request that the titre level and your date of birth is
indicated just not the word ‘immune’. Alternatively, Occupational Health may provide you with
a copy of the result. We are informed that your GP should be prepared to test you, free of
charge, for antibodies and/or antigen and this may be appropriate if you have had the             Locum Link does not charge any fee to doctors for its services.
vaccination in the past but not followed it through with a blood test to confirm immunity.

Vaccination against Hepatitis B
                                                                                                  Our offices are open during normal working hours and in addition an
This should be available on request from the Occupational Health Department for NHS               out of hours service is provided.
employees.

The vaccination comprises a course of three injections at 0, 1 and 6 months with a blood test
two months after the last injection. A booster is currently recommended every 3, 5 or 10
years according to titre levels. As the process takes so long we recommend you obtain an
HbsAg antigen level to prove your non-infectivity.