CPD (Childish Piffling Details)

Don't misunderstand me. I think it's right and proper that we all keep our skills and knowledge up to date and constantly assess our performance on a regular basis. Hey, I'm no saint, the halo slips from time to time, and I don't do every single CPPE course that comes along, as they don't always have relevance to my area of work.

I have a friend/colleague who works in such a rare area of pharmacy that there is no formal CPD to work from. His area is so specialised that if anyone was to write a course on it, it would have to be him because nobody else does what he does. Who would mark it, assess it or verify that it was appropriate to his needs? Well, maybe his clients and customers. If they were dissatisfied with his performance, they would vote with their feet (well, to be precise, their orders and cheque books).

The CPD isn't the issue. It's how to record something which has no rule book? It's easy to record how you've had a bright idea and discussed it with Mary, your regular locum over a coffee break, and realised that you should make some notes to bring up at the next meeting. If someone wants an answer right now or you are going to lose your order and therefore your income, you need to find out the answer correctly, first time and quickly. Otherwise, kiss your order goodbye! So how do you record it?

The problem seems to be with those who are charged with regulating us. They need to be able to tick the boxes which say "Evidence submitted? Y/N". It's a pass or fail with no quality control built in. Are you really a better pharmacist because you've done a course about "Getting your 5 a day" when you don't work in a sector which deals with patients at that level? I don't think so. What do you think? Answers allowed to the Blog, or why not start a thread on the Forum? Go to the web site www.locumpharmacistuk.com and click on the link to The Forum. Have your say instead of grumbling to yourself like I do on this blog. I'm not always right, just most of the time!

What's the attraction of Norfolk for a locum pharmacist?

I don't know either, but there must be some, maybe at least one! I keep getting asked for work in Norfolk and being told that the rates are really good - they'd need to be! If you've never been to Norfolk, there are a couple of things you should know. It's flat. It has lots of water. That's it really. It's a little mind-boggling to find yourself driving along when suddenly out of the side window, you notice that the water seems to be at a higher level than the car and the only thing holding it back is a muddy bank of earth.

It's probably an ok place if you like doing things on the water, as there's lots of it. And if global warming does cause the sea levels to rise, places will have to be renamed such as Burnham on Sea would become Burnham under the Sea. Still, if the rates are as good as they say, it might be worth a look whilst it's still above water.

Emergency Locum Rates

Is it me or am I missing something? If a company doesn't have a pharmacist for the day, through illness or for any other reason, then they need a locum at short notice. If it's my day off and they want me to work, do they seriously expect me to work for free? I've already worked as much (or probably more than) as I want to to begin with, so am I unreasonable in asking them to make it sufficiently worth my while? Ok, they don't like paying what they call travel time, say £25 an hour plus 2, giving me an extra £50 per day on top of what I would normally charge, so pay me £30 or £35 an hour.

After all, it's not my fault they have a pharmacy without a pharmacist, and if I'm making sacrifices to help them out, it would be nice to feel appreciated for my efforts, not to made to feel like a scrounger or a thief. Saying thank you sometimes would be nice, rather than assuming I have a duty to bale them out of a hole. If what I am doing is "overtime", then anyone else would excpect to get paid extra, say time and a half or double time if it's a weekend or unsocial hours. That would make my rate between £37.50 to £50 per hour. I guess they would like that even less!

Does anyone else think I'm barking mad, or do you expect to be fairly reimbursed, especially if you are being asked to drive a couple of hours each way before and after work. Again, is it my fault they have a pharmacy miles from anywhere and miles from where I live, but I'm prepared to help them out? Perhaps we should pay them for working extra or giving up our days off?

Why is the morning after different in Sunderland and Southend?

I know that there have to be policies for how to get things done, but why is it that I can supply EHC in certain parts of the country but not in others? There's nothing worse than turning away a woman who is clearly in need of the service because I haven't done the local PCT training course. The end result is the same, they either need it or they don't. O.k., there may be different criteria in each area, but I can read, so why not let me fill in a form to say I've read it, understand it and will abide by it's terms and conditions provided I first let them have a copy of my accreditation from wherever I got the training? Or do people have unprotected sex differently depending on the post code?

Weather to or Not

Has the weather affected you and your ability to get to work? or did you hot foot it on your ski's and get there in good time? let me know how many of you Locums made it in...