NASGP chief executive Dr Richard Fieldhouse said locums are not attached to any one practice but may have worked in many, or even all, the practices in a consortium.
‘Your commitment will be to your consortia, while GP partners first priority will be their practice,’ he told GP’s Locum conference in London.
But Dr Fieldhouse warned that, as practices form tighter consortia under the White Paper reforms, they will start hiring locums through agencies as a group.
‘I think, with consortia, the next five years for locums will be very different,’ he said. ‘Consortia will be more likely to use agencies to get a better deal across practices and less likely to deal with individuals.
He said that, although many GPs working in high-profile management positions work as locums, there was little evidence PCTs are engaging young locums to join consortia. 'PCTs are missing a trick if they fail to reach out to get younger locums involved in GP commission,’ he said.
