'Few checks' on locum GPs

Checks are supposed to be carried out on GP locums

Not enough checks are routinely made to stop potentially bogus or incompetent doctors working as locum GPs, a report by the magazine Health Which? has said.

Locum doctors play an essential role in the modern NHS, providing cover for full-time GPs and standing in where there are vacancies.

However, the report reveals that no-one knows how many locums there are, let alone whether they have the skills to treat patients safely.

Health Which? calls for urgent reforms so that careful checks are carried out before locums are employed.

It's easy for someone not appropriately qualified to get work due to practices not asking for qualifications

GP locum

Researchers talked to locum GPs and to surgeries and examined the practices of recruitment agencies.

They found that vetting was poor, too much rested on word of mouth and recruitment agencies could not be relied on to make the right checks.

Many locums themselves were unhappy with the situation.

It is against the law for surgeries to employ a locum who does not have the right qualifications in general practice.

But the research showed that surgeries were sometimes flouting this law.

The survey found:

• only 13% of locums surveyed were asked for their references the last time they worked at a new surgery
• only 4% were asked for proof of their identity
• fewer than a third (30%) were asked to provide a copy of their CV
• only 37% of locums were asked for proof of GP training
• only 58% were asked about about medical defence insurance and a similar number for proof of GMC registration

More than half of the locums surveyed (56%) said the checks routinely made by practices were insufficient.

One locum said: "It's easy for someone not appropriately qualified to get work due to practices not asking for qualifications."

Word of mouth

The survey found most GP surgeries recruited locums via word of mouth or recommendation.

Most surgeries claimed they were extra careful in checking a new locum's credentials.

But only a handful said they asked for proof of GP training, some did not appear to know what the crucial qualifications were, and none mentioned proof of identity.

Until radical changes are made, we don't have any confidence that patients are as fully protected as they should be

Sally Williams, Health Which?

Meanwhile, the depth of detail asked for by recruitment agencies varied widely.

Health Which? is calling for national standards governing the employment of locums and a formal system of performance review.

From next April, health authorities will be obliged to keep lists of doctors who are qualified to carry out locum work.

Sally Williams, principal researcher for Health Which?, said: "Most locums are good doctors, with professionalism and integrity, but there is clearly the potential for poorly performing, or even incompetent or dangerous locums to be employed by GP practices.

"Until radical changes are made, we don't have any confidence that patients are as fully protected as they should be. "

BMA response

Dr Rebecca Viney, joint chair of the British Medical Association's locums committee, said most GPs only employed locums who they knew well, for instance those who worked at neighbouring practices.

However, she accepted that it should be standard practice to check qualifications, GMC registration and medical defence insurance.

"People did not use locums much in the past, but in the last few years the workforce has changed and become much more flexible.

"Doctors must come up to date with the times and ensure that the locums they employ are not only safe, but as well educated as other GPs.

"Hopefully, people are not employing doctors who last looked at a medical textbook 30 years ago."