Locum vs Training posts

masterboy123

Hi
I am a new doctor who just moved to Ireland. I have been offered a locum job.
I would like to know the main difference between locum vs Training posts.
Does the experience gained as a locum SHO not counted?
And will it be easier to get into a training scheme (psychiatry) at a later stage?
Thnx

his_dudeness

The experience of working in the Irish system will help come application time.

You won't be able to get time credited against your training scheme for the locum work however.

On the ground, there would be little difference in the work that a locum and trainee would do, except that the trainee may have some training days to go to that a locum would not be entitled to go to. The attitudes of the supervisors could have some influence however; they have an obligation to train the trainee but the locum is there primarily for service provision and may not get the same teaching.

take everything

FWIW not much locum work around nowadays.
The odd medicine job.
I've said it before but you could have made a killing (unfortunate term) a few years ago locuming, if that's what you wanted.

Christ, sometimes I think that would be nice. 6 mth locum, no call preferably, feck off travelling or whatever for the remainder of the year. Rinse and repeat. :P

masterboy123

it says Locum post but the salary mentioned is of SHO point 1 scale. So does that mean its not "real" locum but regular NCHD, isn't it?

Pardon my ignorance...I am new in the country.

take everything

masterboy123 wrote: »

it says Locum post but the salary mentioned is of SHO point 1 scale. So does that mean its not "real" locum but regular NCHD, isn't it?

Pardon my ignorance...I am new in the country.

Yeah that's right.
Locum in all but pay.
:P

Xeyn

masterboy123 wrote: »

it says Locum post but the salary mentioned is of SHO point 1 scale. So does that mean its not "real" locum but regular NCHD, isn't it?

Pardon my ignorance...I am new in the country.

Unfortunately yes, you will be doing the same job, providing the same service but no career benefits at all really and at the same or worse pay.
If they dont offer you a recognised training position or bump your salary to locum after your initial contract I would cut my losses and leave. The system has unfortunately grown accustomed to abusing foreign doctors for service positions without any real career progress and now for little financial benefit as well.

masterboy123

Thanks for guiding me out.

So shall I ask the agency to offer a better payscale? Is it possible to negogiate with agency? or just accept it, SHO point 1 scale (38.9K)? It's a 6 months contract meaning pay wont change during this 6 months.
According to agency since I dont have any experience in Ireland or UK, this is what I can get now. But i am not sure if it works like this.
Please let me now. Thanks

Ryder

Are you sure it's a locum job and not a 6 month service post. If it's the latter than the pay is appropriate. If it's really a locum post then may be worth asking what the locum agency are being paid

masterboy123

According to the agency its regular NCHD, but on the hospital official paper it says "We are offering ..... (my name)... locum SHO 6 month post"
What do you guys intrepret now?

One of my colleague who worked in Ireland before said its very unusual to have 6 months locum post offered because why would HSE pay 3 times more continuously for 6 months.
So I am not sure, I believe once i have official contract then it would be more specific.

If its a 6 month service post, then is this period going to be counted toward my training post later?

Ryder wrote: »

Are you sure it's a locum job and not a 6 month service post. If it's the latter than the pay is appropriate. If it's really a locum post then may be worth asking what the locum agency are being paid

Xeyn

It won't be counted as training time. However it will add to your CV if you do apply for a training post at any point.

6 month Locums are not common any more but they are still available - I haven't locum'ed in years but I still get offers and I got one a week or so for 6 months. A years salary in 6 months. Was very tempting.

Ryder

masterboy123 wrote: »

According to the agency its regular NCHD, but on the hospital official paper it says "We are offering ..... (my name)... locum SHO 6 month post"
What do you guys intrepret now?

One of my colleague who worked in Ireland before said its very unusual to have 6 months locum post offered because why would HSE pay 3 times more continuously for 6 months.
So I am not sure, I believe once i have official contract then it would be more specific.

If its a 6 month service post, then is this period going to be counted toward my training post later?

the short answer is no regarding training time, bit could well be yes if it suited them. For example if a training position opened up say in January and you did 1.5 years until June they may well take it onto account to avoid havi Ng to find a stand alone spot for an extra 6 months. So probably not, buy best to do well and keep account of meetings attended, teaching given, audit etc....will help at least getting into a scheme

masterboy123

Ok thanks everyone for your responses.

Are there any chance that training post for Psych may open up in January? Right now on College of psychiatry ireland it shows training post will start in June 2014 with interview of shortlisted candidiates in February. I don't think I can have a chance for this training post starting in June as I am not an EU citizen (although i am family member of an EU citizen). So I thought I can have 1 year of Irish experience and then apply for training scheme.

As you said i will keep account for meetings attended, audits, etc.

Ryder

Most schemes start in July, but ocassionaly if someone drops out you might get lucky and find a training spot earlier, but this is unusual.

you need to keep active. go to any local meetings that are on or national ones. get involved in audit and try to both present and publish your work. ask a consultant about writing a review article, even one for the Irish weekly medical papers....anything at all to add to your cv. You dont need to cure cancer but you do need to show that youre interested and willing to engage in academic work. Its probably not enough to have experience and a medical degree.....you need to stand out and do that by having some research/ publications on your cv

masterboy123

Sorry to bump again in my old thread but i thought the question i will be asking is relevant to this post.

So my NCHD contract is expiring in July this year and there will be many new BST trainees coming in therefore, I am not offered non-training job after july. I want to apply for Locum SHO job but I am not confused about the pay as well as immigration rule.

I heard the locum agency pays you directly and you're responsible to pay for taxes, is this correct?
And how much is expected locum pay for SHO 1?

Is it true that one can not do locum for more than 6 months? I have Stamp 4EUFAM (married to EU national), given that I do not need employment contract, but i am not sure about the case if i do locum job.

Can you please suggest good locum agencies so I can register with them?

Thanks everyone, your comments have been always very helpful.

masterboy123

can anyone please answer my above query?
thank you!

Truman Burbank

Hi. Questions will be answered factually by contacting the Medical Council and the INIS for registration/visa/immigration questions in the first instance.

On the locum agency, any one, all grand. They would be the ones to speak with re pay and Revenue for tax queries. Summary: Contact all 4