There are many different career options as a vet, and one of the most profitable is that of acting as a locum. A locum is someone who stands in for a permanent member of a veterinary practice who is away for one reason or another. There can be lots of reasons why a permanent member of the team may be away, including things such as sickness, jury service, bereavement, pregnancy, accidents, suspension, paternity leave, delayed return from a holiday abroad, and so on.
In all these cases, a veterinary practice will need someone to walk in at short notice and fill the gap. This may be a short-term requirement, or it could be a long-term placement, depending upon the situation. The veterinary industry is presently suffering a huge shortage of experienced vets to cope with the demand. The BBC reported in March that the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association stated that since the beginning of lockdown a total of 3.2 million households had bought a pet and this means that the country now has 17 million pet-owning homes. Indeed, UK supermarkets have warned that the rise in pet ownership is causing a shortage of some pet foods.
So, if you want to work as a locum in the veterinary industry there are going to be no shortage of opportunities. And there are other benefits too, not the least of which is that you will get paid a higher rate for the hours that you work, including out of hours work if you wish. As a locum, you can also choose when you work and when you don’t. You may also build a relationship with certain vet practices and become a reliable “fall back” for them when they need extra help, which is beneficial to both parties.
You can also choose to work less hours than working full time if you wish. This can be useful if you are a parent of small children, or if you just want to spend some of your time doing other things.
You will also be self-employed or work under the umbrella of a limited company, so the pay that you get is gross, without any deductions. This will enable you to claim for legitimate expenses such as travel costs, phone bills, working clothes, hotel expenses, meals out, and so on, many of which you cannot do if you are an employee. You also get to work in many different types of practice and will learn new skills and a different approach to ways of doing things. Many vets today are building long-term careers as locums, providing an essential service to the veterinary industry as a whole.
Of course, there may be occasions when there is no work for a while, but you can obtain insurance to cover these times when you work as a locum.
If you yourself run a veterinary practice, or are a partner in one, there will be times when you need the services of a locum, and these can be for quite long periods sometimes. For example, one of your partners could go sick or suffer from an accident and be away from the practice for several months, so you will need a locum to cover for you.
Since the cost of hiring a locum is going to be a lot more than usual, this is going to be a drain on the profitability of your practice, so you need to take out insurance to cover for these types of occasions, and at Approachable Locum Insurance we can help you with this.
No two veterinary practices are exactly the same, and so you will need vets locum insurance that is tailored to your precise requirements. Obviously, premiums will vary depending upon how many people you need to cover for in your practice, and you may want to include your practice manager as well as your partners.
Cover can be arranged for accident or illness anywhere in the world, jury service, compassionate leave expenses, funeral expenses, bereavement, medical expenses, paternity leave, delayed return from holiday (which has happened a lot in recent months with countries being switched around from green, amber, and red), and so on. We will work with you to ensure that you get the exact cover that you need.
