Category: Pharmacies

Information for pharmacies on how Locumate works for you and your team.

The benefits of Pay Next Day

Posted on | by Locumate

In today’s fast-paced world, financial stability and flexibility are highly valued; one emerging trend that is gaining traction is the concept of “Pay Next Day.” Pay Next Day is a payment option allowing individuals to receive their wages for a day’s work the next day, rather than waiting for the traditional pay cycle. This article explores the numerous benefits of this innovative payment method and how it can enhance financial well-being for locums!

Pay Next Day – Improved Cash Flow:

One of the primary advantages of Pay Next Day is the improved cash flow it offers. By receiving wages the next day, locums can access their hard-earned money sooner and effectively manage their finances. This accelerated payment cycle can alleviate short-term financial burdens, such as unexpected expenses or urgent bills.

Financial Planning and Budgeting:

Pay Next Day empowers locums with greater control over their financial planning and budgeting. Knowing when and how much money will be available enables better budgeting decisions, allowing individuals to allocate funds more efficiently. With a clearer understanding of their income, pharmacists can proactively plan for expenses, prioritise savings, and work towards long-term financial goals (that dream holiday to Europe?).

Pay Next Day – Enhanced Employee Satisfaction and Productivity:

Pharmacies adopting Pay Next Day can significantly boost locum satisfaction and overall productivity. Timely payment of wages instils a sense of financial security and trust in the pharmacy-locum relationship. By ensuring that pharmacists have access to their wages without delay, pharmacists can create a positive work environment that enhances morale, reduces financial stress, and fosters increased productivity.

Empowering Gig Economy and Freelancers:

The rise of the gig economy and freelance work has transformed the employment landscape. Pay Next Day aligns perfectly with this shift by providing a payment option catering to independent workers’ unique needs. Freelancers and gig workers often face irregular income streams, making it challenging to manage their finances effectively. Pay Next Day offers them the ability to access their earnings quickly, helping them smooth out income fluctuations and create stability in their financial lives.

two female pharmacists wearing white coats back to back, highlighting the benifits of pay next day locumate feature.

By providing immediate access to wages, this payment option empowers individuals to better manage their finances, reduce debt, and improve their overall financial well-being. With its potential to increase locum satisfaction and productivity, Pay Next Day is a win-win solution for both locums and pharmacies!

How pharmacies can benefit from having locums

Posted on | by Locumate

Locums have been essential in supporting pharmacies during times of cover, whether it be for annual leave, sick leave or when it generally gets busy. However, for a lot of pharmacies, the need for a locum can be an important decision, especially when costs, efficiency and disruption to workflow need to be considered.

Pharmacies & Locums help each other.

Although these are all important factors to take into account, pharmacies still need to ensure they are adequately staffed according to the workload and busy periods in a pharmacy. With Locumate, we understand time can be a constraint to organising locums; therefore, we have put simplicity and ease at the forefront of our design. Allowing the managers and owners to focus on running their business!

Pharmacies - Enhancing Skills and Knowledge in Pharmacy Education and Training

What are the main 3 reasons for pharmacies to employ a locum?:

  1. Rest & Recharge: having a locum cover shifts, especially annual leave, allows the pharmacist to take time off with the comfort of having a qualified, experienced colleague come in and work their shifts. It is essential for pharmacists to work at the peak of their ability through a proper work-life balance, where taking a break should be a priority. 
  2. Reduce workload: if a pharmacy finds it challenging to manage workload due to reduced staffing levels, locums can help fill in the gaps and reduce some of the stress in pharmacies. Having adequate staffing levels helps to assist with tasks such as webster checking, vaccinations or serving patients, is important in maintaining customer satisfaction, delivering quality healthcare and boosting team morale.
  3. Fresh perspectives: sometimes locums can offer new ideas and solutions to processes or workflow optimisation. They have usually worked in a variety of different settings and can help contribute by offering insights from their experience. 

In summary, although locums are there to cover a shift, it’s important to recognise their contribution goes far beyond this. With a locum that feels welcomed and supported in their work environment, it can present as a great opportunity to improve on existing efficiencies and give an employee a well-deserved break.

Compliance and Why it’s so important in Pharmacy

Posted on | by Locumate

Understanding the Importance of Compliance in the Workplace

We often discuss the critical role of maintaining compliance in our workplaces. So, what’s the reason behind this? The simple answer is that uniform compliance helps establish a structured, law-abiding workplace environment. At Locumate, we deeply value and steadfastly commit to ensuring compliance for all our clients.

More Than Just Following Rules

Compliance isn’t just about abiding by rules; it plays a vital role in the practice of pharmacy. It’s a fundamental requirement for guaranteeing the safety and quality of medicines, safeguarding patients’ and consumers’ health and rights, and circumventing legal and ethical dilemmas for pharmacists and pharmacy owners. Compliance aids in covering all aspects of pharmacy practice, such as licensing and registrations, patient care standards, quality assurance, and adherence to laws and regulations.

Ensuring Compliance with Locumate: Features and Support

Achieving the advantages of compliance and evading the perils of non-compliance can be accomplished by implementing effective procedures in your pharmacy. Locumate aids this process by continuously updating, introducing, and modifying features that ensure consistent compliance. For instance, when Covid Certificates became mandatory for all pharmacists, Locumate quickly integrated this requirement into the platform. Compliance remains our utmost priority, and we consistently innovate to embed it across the platform.

Focusing on Compliance in Locum Hiring

One of our significant emphases is on establishing a comprehensive compliance package for locum hiring. Pharmacies must clarify the terms and conditions of their contract with locums, such as duration, rate, payment method, and cancellation policy. Furthermore, it’s essential for locums to understand their self-employed status and responsibilities to pay tax and professional indemnity insurance.

Streamlining Compliance Process with Locumate

With Locumate, as soon as a locum accepts a shift at a pharmacy, a binding contract takes effect. All necessary shift details are contained within the platform, simplifying invoicing processes. The platform also creates a separate invoice containing the super contribution for the locum.

Pharmacy compliance and locum hiring management through Locumate app

Ensuring Compliance from Start to Finish with Locumate

Locumate ensures compliance at every stage of the process from the beginning to the end of an engagement. Thus, you can be confident that your pharmacy is establishing a safe, legal, and compliant workplace.

Download Locumate Today!

Locumate is available on the Apple AppStore and Google Playstore.

Alternatively, visit app.locumate.com.au to get started!

Thriving Outside Your Comfort Zone: A Guide to Growing as a Pharmacist through Challenging Experiences

Posted on | by Locumate

As a locum pharmacist, it’s common to find yourself in unfamiliar territory, whether you’re working in a new environment, with unfamiliar colleagues, or dealing with new patients. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a challenging but rewarding experience that can help you grow both personally and professionally. In this article, we’ll explore how you can embrace challenging experiences and get the most out of them as a locum pharmacist.

Growing as a Pharmacist -Embrace the Challenge

The first step to getting the most out of a challenging experience is to embrace it. Rather than seeing it as a negative, try to see it as an opportunity for growth. Facing obstacles may not always be pleasant, but they can guide you in where to go next. Obstacles shift our perspective by equipping us to handle what is thrown our way.

Instead of viewing setbacks as roadblocks, choose to see them as opportunities for self-improvement. Leaning on your mentors during difficult times can also be beneficial in providing advice or a different outlook on the situation (see our article on mentorship for more information on the importance of mentors and finding a mentor).

Be Prepared

Before stepping into a challenging situation, it’s important to be prepared. This means researching and learning as much as possible about the new environment or situation you’ll be working in. You can ask other pharmacists who have worked in that particular pharmacy or area before, research the area or pharmacy branch online, or reach out to the person who hired you for more information.

Utilising the chat functionality in the Locumate app can be particularly useful in ensuring effective communication between you and the pharmacy. It will allow for an exchange of information to ensure that you are well-prepared before you start your shift. Visit the AppStore or Google Playstore to download Locumate.

Growing as a Pharmacist – You have to keep an open mind

When you step out of your comfort zone, it’s important to keep an open mind. You may encounter new ways of working or different perspectives from your new colleagues. Try to be open to these new experiences and ideas, and learn as much as you can from them. This can help you develop new skills and perspectives that you can bring back to your work as a pharmacist, professionally and personally.

Learn from Your Mistakes

Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a challenging experience, and you may make mistakes along the way. However, it’s important to learn from these mistakes and use them as opportunities for growth. Take the time to reflect on what went wrong and what you could do differently in the future. Reflecting with a mentor can also be beneficial. This can help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future and become a better pharmacist overall.

Take Care of Yourself

Finally, taking care of yourself is important when stepping out of your comfort zone. Challenging experiences can be mentally and emotionally taxing, so it’s important to practise self-care. This can mean taking breaks when you need them, getting enough sleep, eating well, and doing activities that help you relax and recharge. If you require additional support, the Pharmacists’ Support Service is available all year round (every day from 8 am to 11 pm AEDT). The service provides a listening ear over the telephone to pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and students.

Professional pharmacist explaining prescription A Guide to Growing as a Pharmacist through Challenging Experiences

Embracing challenging experiences can be a rewarding experience for locum pharmacists. By embracing the challenge, being prepared, keeping an open mind, learning from your mistakes, and taking care of yourself, you can get the most out of these experiences and grow both personally and professionally. So, the next time you find yourself in a challenging situation, take a deep breath and see it as an opportunity for growth.

Pharmacies save over $250k in agency fees within 3 months 

Posted on | by Niamh Foley

We’re proud of the fact that Locumate offers a genuine solution helping pharmacies save money, find staff, fill shifts, and connect with suitable locums. Whether it’s an emergency shift, a long-term fill, or an additional resource to scale up or down depending on your pharmacy’s needs, we know that our locum pharmacists are solving plenty of staffing challenges. 

So today, we’re delighted to announce that in the last three months, we’ve saved our retail pharmacies over $250,000 in premium agency fees alone. This means pharmacies have more freedom and flexibility in spending their money, affording them many more hours of locum resources. 

And, with the Fair Work Commission announcing a 5.2% increase to minimum wages from July 1, we know that pharmacies are going to need to be more budget conscious than ever. 

However, we’re also proud of the fact that we give pharmacies affordable locum support without compromising locum wages. 

We’re committed to providing pharmacies with a fair and accessible service, one that also benefits locums with flexibility, choice in their rates and shifts, and control over their work. 

To access our wide range of locums, and save on premium agency fees, join Locumate today. 

Low pharmacy wages: how we’re working towards improvement

Posted on | by Niamh Foley

Pharmacy Wages: A Contentious Topic in the Industry

It’s easy to see why pharmacy wages continue to be a contentious topic, particularly among pharmacy students. 2021 data revealed that pharmacy graduates are among the lowest paid in Australia, with a starting median salary of just $48,000. According to the Professional Pharmacists Australia report, “Community and Hospital Pharmacists Employment and Remuneration Report 2019-20”, pharmacy graduates continue to be some of the poorest paid graduates in Australia. For multiple years in a row the commencing rates of pay for pharmacists have been the lowest of any study area.

Challenges in the Pharmacy Sector: Low Pay and Stress

And as if that wasn’t enough, the report states that “poor pay, stress and a lack of support, particularly amongst the discount chains, continues to ferment a crisis in the sector that will see talented individuals abandon pharmacy for greener pastures.”

Our Approach to Improving Pharmacy Wages

As an organisation passionate about fostering the next generation of pharmacists and providing support to locums and pharmacies, this is a worrying trend. But it’s one we’re actively working to combat.

Empowering Locums: Taking Control of Pharmacy Wages

With a generally low Pharmacy Industry award, we believe in giving locums the ability to set their own rates, taking into account their scope, experience, market rate, and preference. We believe that empowering locums – no matter how much experience they have – means that they’ll be more satisfied, while pharmacies will have better transparency and oversight of how much a locum charges.

Towards a Tiered Approach to Setting Pharmacy Wages

But that’s just the start. We’re working on the functionality to deliver a tiered approach to setting rates. That is, a locum will be able to select a rate attached to clear outcomes and expectations. So an administrative based pharmacy shift might be lower than a customer-facing shift. This benefits the pharmacy, too. A pharmacy will be able to budget according to the work and the type of locum they require, while having a clear understanding of expectations.

Future of Pharmacy Wages: Our Commitment

We’ve only just started exploring and working towards this feature, but it’s on the horizon and we’ll keep you posted every step of the way. We’re eager to be part of the conversation – and hopefully the solution – to improving wages in our sector.

Resourcing over the holiday season

Posted on | by Niamh Foley

Navigating the Busy Holiday Season in Australian Pharmacies

Whether it’s sorting out repeat prescriptions, gift buying, school holiday season, or regional pharmacies dealing with sunburnt holidaymakers, it’s no secret that summer in Australia brings with it a busy time for pharmacists. Now, we’re not complaining here; ask any pharmacist and they’ll tell you that a bustling store is one hundred times better than a quiet one.

Staffing Challenges During the Holiday Season

But mix an increased demand with regular staff on leave and all of a sudden what should be an exciting, lively time turns into a recipe for stress, understaffing and customer dissatisfaction.

Maintaining Balance with Locumate During the Holiday Season

But just because everyone else is having a great time on holidays doesn’t mean you can’t relax, either. That’s where Locumate comes in.

Locums: Make the Most of the Holiday Season with Extra Shifts

For locums, it’s a great time to pick up extra shifts, and we’re here to help make finding those shifts easier than ever. By creating a free profile and sharing your availability and rates on the Locumate app, you’ll be able to browse jobs according to your preferences. From there, you can accept shifts and communicate with pharmacies directly. You’ll know exactly how much you’ll be paid (great for holiday budgeting) and what software a pharmacy uses before accepting a shift. Submit invoices and get paid on time, and view your schedule in our handy calendar.

Pharmacies: Ensure Smooth Operations During the Holiday Season with Locumate

For pharmacies, Locumate locums can help fill gaps in your rostering, from adding extra resources during peak times, to finding someone to cover for your regular staff quickly. Creating a job is quick and easy, and once a locum approves it, you’ll be able to communicate directly for a smooth arrival and transition. You’ll also be able to see how much a locum charges up front (which is also good for your holiday budgeting)!

Enjoy a Stress-Free Holiday Season with Locumate

So remember, the silly season doesn’t have to be stressfully silly. Don’t get caught out by being understaffed this summer. A little bit of planning and harnessing technology can go a long way. Find out more at: https://locumate.com.au/