Your 1st choice Getting ready to Locum A short guide to help you get started on your new journey Getting ready to Locum Welcome to Optom Locum Service, we hope to share a long and beneficial relationship with you. This guide will help you prepare for setting up your business and organise yourself to be a successful, in demand locum. There are a number of things you need to do before you start your first placement. We recommend that you seek guidance from an accountant to ensure that you set up your locum business in the most appropriate manner. Optometry Victoria has put together a document that provides relevant information about: • Diļ¬erent trading structures available to locums • GST • Medicare • Superannuation • Insurance • PAYG Tax, and • Financial Planning You can find it online here: http://www.optometry.org.au/vic/practice-resources/locums/ It is important to recognise that even though you will be earning excellent income as a self-employed locum, you will not get any other benefits you would as an employee, such as: • superannuation • sick pay • holiday pay, nor • maternity leave Also, you will need to pay tax and GST (if registered) on a regular basis. It would be best to speak with your accountant about how best to manage these financial responsibilities. Paperwork Once you have selected a vacancy that you would like to apply for, and are accepted, you will need to supply us with some other information, including your ABN and AHPRA registration details and the bank account where payments will be made to you. Once the paperwork is done you will receive confirmation of your first locum placement, with details of dates, hourly rates etc. and in no time at all, you will be on your way! If you are doing a FIFO locum, your travel and accommodation will be organised for you. Payments, Expenses and Cancellations Payments Be sure that you keep your timesheet up to date and at the end of each week have the store manager sign the timesheet. You then send it to us for processing. Your payment for this placement will arrive in your bank account no later than 30 days from receipt, but usually sooner. Expenses Expenses that have been approved such as travel costs should be submitted at the same time as the timesheet, along with receipts for them. Cancellations If for some reason you are unable to fulfil a locum placement that you have booked, please let us know immediately. To be highly regarded as a locum with our clients, you must be reliable. We do understand that on occasion you may be unable to fulfil your obligation. If, however, you cancel multiple times you may risk being offered future placements by our clients. Tips to help you be a successful locum Organisation – being organised is very important for a locum, not only with your calendar but in the workplace. You can’t leave behind any referrals, reports or letters for someone else to do. You are responsible to make sure that nothing is left unfinished at the end of your placement, unless of course you leave detailed notes for the next optometrist and give them to the store/practice manager to pass on. Timeliness – be early for your first shift at the placement so that the staff have time to go through all the logins and systems with you. On all other days make sure you are on time for work and do not run late with appointments wherever possible. Adaptability – as a locum you will be thrown in the deep end with every placement you undertake. You cannot have the attitude of ‘this is the way I do it’, you need to quickly integrate with the team that you now find yourself a part of. Select your locum placements carefully – if you are new to locuming we suggest that you take a short term vacancy to start off with, perhaps a couple of days or a week-end. Once you are up and running become more daring and try places that you may not have heard about, you can find some amazing places that you hadn’t expected you would like. If you have any further questions, we're here to help. Locuming is an exciting professional challenge that will provide you with personal and financial freedom and the ability to work when and where you want.
