Locums earn £80,000 due to shortage of GPs

The best-paid locums in the UK earn £80,000 per year for fulltime work, according to a survey in next month's MedEconomics magazine.

The two top-earning locums are based in East Anglia and Northern Ireland.They compare with a full-time locum in south Wales earning £30,000.

The survey by GP's sister magazine found sessional GPs were earning high sums in areas where there was a shortage of GPs.

Some of the primary care organisations (PCOs) questioned believed that locums were exploiting current shortages.

However, the National Association of Sessional GPs blamed agency fees and the inability of...