Locum Organiser and Lantum merger: Q&A

In December 2017, we announced that Locum Organiser has merged with Lantum. Following that announcement, we wanted to share this Q&A to provide more information as to what this merger means for you.

Ishani Patel, GP Co-founder of Lantum and Chris Mew, Co-founder of Locum Organiser.

Why has Locum Organiser merged with Lantum?

Locum Organiser was created to help locums reduce the admin burden of being self-employed. I (Chris Mew, Locum Organiser Founder) originally built it for my wife, a GP locum, who was spending hours on end sorting out her locum admin. I wanted to free up her time so that my family and I could see her more! It soon became obvious that many other locums had the same problems. We launched as a company and quite quickly became the go-to toolkit for GP locums. We were the first site of its kind.

We have added lots of functionality over time in response to feedback from GPs. Most frequently, we have been asked by locums to help them source jobs. I looked at building this into Locum Organiser, but I soon realised it’s not as easy as it sounds. I decided to have a look for a partner. I didn’t want to partner with a locum agency because I wanted a partner that shares my values of saving time through technology and putting control back into GPs hands. I chose Lantum, it has the most developed technology, the team are amazing and I could really see myself working well with them.

Practices love Lantum which is why Lantum has a constant stream of jobs for GPs, they have e-signing pension forms and have a team to help locums get paid more quickly.

Partnering with Lantum has enabled me to deliver jobs to the GPs of LO within a matter of weeks - to do this from scratch it would have taken me maybe years. Already, the “jobs-in-the-diary” function, the first part of our integration, is proving very popular.

How does Locum Organiser show Lantum jobs in the calendar and how do I apply?

Locum Organiser sends only your postcode and your chosen work radius (this is non-personally identifiable information) to the Lantum site, which then returns the closest 5 jobs for each day and a link to see further details on the Lantum site. To apply for these jobs, you will need to create an account on Lantum, thus opting in to Lantum’s service.

Can I opt out of seeing these jobs?

You can switch the function on and off in “Settings -> Getting Work”. If you’d like to see only those jobs closer to home, the radius in which you’d like to work can also be altered there.

Why can I not see any jobs in my calendar?

If there are no jobs in your calendar, it means Lantum does not have any live sessions within your preferred range for the given month. Lantum is committed to covering more regions across the country; if you don't see work in your area please feel assured we are working hard to expand into those areas to offer you more choice.

For those in areas where there are few jobs in local practices,  Lantum now also offers NHS video consulting sessions i.e. telehealth, that you can do remotely so regardless of where you are based, there are options! If you are interested in this email anna@lantum.com.

What else has changed in the diary ?

Nothing. You can still use the diary in exactly the same way as before - to enter any work you like, from any source.

What does the merger mean for my data in general?

As Lantum is the now the parent company of Locum Organiser, it has access to the data on Locum Organiser. I (Chris Mew) am now employed by Lantum to run LO day-to-day so this is essential for the continuation of the service and per the original LO privacy agreement.

Lantum will not interfere with the job logs in your LO diary. We consider LO to be your personal area for logging information, unless you ask for LO work to be moved to Lantum.

You may wish to bring your LO work over to Lantum for faster payment or e-pension forms, but this would only ever happen should you opt for this.

Lantum will only use the data in accordance with the LO privacy agreement. Lantum’s access to this data is compliant with data protection and privacy laws, and we manage data protection as the highest priority.

What are the benefits of finding work on Lantum?

Lantum is a platform that enables GPs to find and book local work online. Lantum is not an agency; it does not dictate where you work and you negotiate your own rates with the practices. It is a more efficient way of finding work directly with a practice. Benefits of working via Lantum include

• Opt-in next day payments
• Automated invoicing
• Pensionable work
• E-signed pension forms
• GPs working over 70 hours a month are eligible for the Lantum Gold rewards programme which offers a choice of non-work related benefits, such as cinema or restaurant vouchers.

Lantum has been recognised for its work by the NHS, most recently in being awarded a place on the NHS England Innovation Accelerator.

Can I get a discount on Locum Organiser if I use Lantum?

Yes, you can indeed!

• If you are approved on Lantum, you can have LO at the discounted rate of £10 per month
• If you work a job in any given month via Lantum, receive 50% off your next LO payment
• If you work over 70 hours in any given month via Lantum at two or more practices, you become Lantum Gold and you receive LO for free

What new features can I expect on Locum Organiser?

In the future, we will look to link up the products in other ways to save GPs time. Features users have already asked for include: automatically placing jobs booked in Lantum into Locum organiser and having invoices generated by Lantum appear in Locum organiser.

I’ve got feedback on new features I think would be useful - who do I tell?

We are open to feedback and suggestions as always so if you have any questions please do reach out to us by emailing locumorganiser@lantum.com