Locum doctors will be assigned a designated body like other doctors, with which you have a prescribed connection (e.g. locum agency, NHS organisation or other healthcare provider) and will cover your ‘whole practice appraisal’. Your Responsible Officer (RO) can help you to identify an appropriate appraiser.
You will need to bring supporting information to your appraisal to cover all areas of your practice, including comprehensive details of each role. It is important that you collect the required supporting information.
In Scotland there is ongoing discussion with ROs to identify a robust process whereby locum doctors can provide supporting evidence from their locum appointments. This may include asking the locum doctor to obtain sign-off from the employer confirming that there have been no untoward events or incidents involving the doctor.
NHS Employers in England has encouraged all employers to provide data in relation to their locums’ practice. It is your responsibility to ensure that information is transferred between organisations appropriately, ROs should work with the agencies and independent doctors to agree local arrangements for information sharing. Locum doctors will be issued a revalidation date by the GMC and will carry this with them into every organisation they work for.
If you work for, or contract with, an NHS organisation you will link with its RO. For those working outside of the NHS, a number of independent healthcare providers and locum agencies are designated bodies and some provide appraisal services. A full list of designated bodies is available on the GMC website.
Please also see the NHS Employers guidance on appointment and employment of locum doctors for further information on working across organisations.