Sessional GP

A sessional GP, frequently called locum, is a fully qualified general practitioner who does not have a standard employment contract with the primary care health centre were he works. They are paid by the session, as a difference to the other two types of contractual relationship in a GP practice, salaried GPs and GP partners.

Sessional GPs are self-employed professionals, therefore not entitled to sick leave, holiday pay or redundancy compensation. They obtain work by contracting their services directly with health centres or through temporary staff recruitment agencies. Recent changes in the regulations in United Kindogm allow them to form Limited Liability Companies.

Sessional GPs typically cover permanent doctors when on sick leave, maternity leave or holiday and fill the gaps between the moment a doctor leaves a practice and another permanent doctor is recruited. Although sessional GPs are usually contracted to cover temporary needs, it is not uncommon to find sessional GPs working in health centres for long periods of time, sometimes even years.

A typical session in United Kingdom is equivalent to 4 hours and 10 minutes of work, and frequently involves 2 to 2.5 hours of face to face contact with patients in 10 minutes appointments, followed by time for administration (reviewing correspondence from the hospital, reviewing blood test results, writing referral letters, triaging patient’s calls…) and doing home visits. Now days, many sessional GPs are only employed to undertake face to face consultations on 2 to 3 hours surgeries.

In order to practice as a sessional GP the doctor must meet all the requirements of a fully qualified GP, and the sessional GP must prove he maintains and updates his skills and knowledge to the same standard as a permanent GP.

Some GPs choose to practice as sessional doctors to allow them to meet other personal commitments, for example, mothers with small children, while for others it is a lifestyle choice.

There are an estimated 22,500 doctors in the UK working as sessional GPs. In 2011 a report suggested the demand for such physicians is expected to increase as National Health Service reforms come into effect.