Locum rates could reach up to £150 per hour this Christmas, according to locum booking platform provider Locate a Locum.
Locate a Locum spokesperson Stevie McIntyre told C+D that the highest locum rates from last year “all came around the Christmas holidays, with a few exceptions”.
Read more: Revealed: Average UK hourly locum rate stagnates at £38
“The festive season saw many stores across the UK increasing their rates with six out of 10 of our top spots going to shifts occurring on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day,” he added.
Mr McIntyre told C+D last week (December 15) that he anticipates that rates will follow a similar trend this year.
Shifts for £85-£150 per hour
Christmas Day in 2022 saw the highest locum rate of the year snagged by “an independent pharmacy based in Cheshire” that paid “an incredible £150 per hour”.
The joint second highest paid shifts of last year stood at £100 per hour - paid by pharmacies in Gwent for Christmas Day shifts and a pharmacy in Inverness on New Year’s Day.
Read more: ‘Shocking’: Unpaid locum fees hit highest ever level this year
Boxing Day shifts in Newport and Hereford took places three and four, paying £95 and £90 per hour respectively.
And an £85-per-hour Christmas Day shift in Cornwall snuck into a joint fifth place, alongside two early January shifts in Inverness and an Easter shift at a pharmacy in Dorset.
“It may be worth travelling” for shifts
“Christmas Day has always been a highly paid shift time for obvious reasons,” Locate a Locum chief executive Jonathon Clarke told C+D, adding that Christmas Eve and Boxing Day shifts also come at a premium.
Explaining the soaring rates, Mr McIntyre said that “it is typically a result of supply versus demand”.
“It is inevitable that shifts during holidays in general are difficult to fill,” he added, stressing that “any locum looking to increase their earning potential…should target” those periods.
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As well as time of year, Mr McIntyre said that location has a large impact on shift rate.
Due to the “smaller pool of locums or pharmacists” in some areas, “remote locations often will have higher rates” to “attract new locums”, he said.
“It may be worth travelling a few extra miles for your next shift,” he added.
Read more: ‘Wage theft’: PDA helps locum pharmacists recover £65k in 2023
Earlier this year, Mr Clarke said that changing locum pay reflected “market forces” that are “increasingly relying on locums to deliver services and ensure that pharmacies remain fully operational”.
He highlighted that recently, the booking agency has “witnessed an increase in negotiations between pharmacies and locum pharmacists, in a bid to improve shift fill rates”, which in turn reduces “the need for emergency cover”.
