Locums: ‘We’re just passionate optometrists’

A brief break during a busy Monday morning in London offers the opportunity to make a new acquaintance. I leave my still unfamiliar testing room to meet a smartly dressed fellow clinician, he is like myself a locum optometrist. The increasing frequency of such occasions leads me to believe the number of clinicians choosing self-employment is rising. But what is the appeal of becoming a locum optometrist?

Perhaps it is better to first understand who we are in order to comprehend why we’ve chosen to take on this lifestyle. All too often I’ve overheard myself described as ‘the locum’. A title which somehow portrays a certain hollowness in the person it describes. In fact, we are like many of our colleagues; passionate optometrists.