Stop the Lowering of Locum Optometrists Rates

With fees and travel costs and increased risk of practice, locum positions demand a realistic renumeration nationwide. Of course newly qualified locums may be all too keen to accept a lower wage in the ever saturated market however a regulated minimum fee should be administered to protect the role and ensure high standard of locums across the country.

I definitely agree with this. Big companies are trying to constantly bring the rates down. We shouldn't stand for this!

We definitely need to put a cap on the locum pay as it is devaluing the optometrist job

Rates should be higher- cost of living higher. Rates rise with inflation

I Agree . Optometry work has become more demanding and challenging.

Daily rates have been the same or lower since the mid-nineties. This means that every year we are being paid less and less as inflation slowly eats away at our fees. £250 in 1996 is the same as £420 today according to Bank of England inflation figures. That means to stand still re 1996 fees, we should be paid £420 today. I work as hard as any employee and treat any practice that I work in as if it were my own.

About time we stood together as a profession

Yep rates need to be kept high relative to other sectors. Like I.T professionals engineers have laughed at the measly rates we can get compared to their contracting rates

Rates being offered in Northern Ireland now as low as £145.

Locum optometrist daily rate of at least £300 week days & £350 a5 the weekend.

We need to stop the wholesale devaluation of our profession

Locum rates should not be standardized, considering the extra costs locums have to pay for with regards to pension and other work benefits.

I am a locum and my daily rate for the past 4 years has been 400 weekday and 425 saturdays. I work 6 days a week and booked for up to two years in advance. I blame optoms for the low rate because most optoms do not negotiate their rate. Remember companies need you more than they you need them! Stop the cowardness and negotiate your rate. Don't allow yourself to be bullied into a low rate. The rate should be cap.

I agree

Thanks to mr Perkins and his sausage factory they devalued our profession in exchange for turnover Locum optoms earning 250 and seeing around 20patients I know gps locums getting paid 255 for 3hours work. Thank goodness the economy is going down the drain Let's see how the green sausage factory copes with its high overheads and dwindling Nhs budget and footfall. Let anarchy hit the towns

Free tests are not in the public interest because they are only possible if spectacles are prescribed which are not really necessary. Free tests are only possible if locums are not paid sufficiently to earn their living from eye examination fees alone.

Don't reduce rates. It's unfair

This is a very serious matter if nothing is done. Thank you for addressing this issue

Locum optometrist rates have been unaltered since the late 90s. Considering the increase in house prices, increased cost of living, and the RPI in real terms our salaries have drastically fallen. Earning £60,000 in the mid-90s seem like a lot of money these days £60,000 is not a lot of money at all. We need to make a real joint effort to maintain our salaries. Realistically the profit in optics is still very high, if we were paid anywhere between £300 to £400 a day a practice would hardly suffer. My suggestion would be for the group administrators of this site to arrange a meeting for Locum optometrist somewhere Central. Signing a petition may be affective, however I feel it would be far more effective if we had a joint Force/steering group who represent us Officially!!

Yes the current rates do not reflect the work we do!