The Rural Locum Support strategy aims to establish a dedicated pool of two locum physicians within the Division to: support and sustain practices, facilitate recruitment of permanent GPs, enhance continuity of care, and strengthen patient attachment. The NIR Division will, in collaboration with Northern Health, PSP, and other partners, develop and pilot a Division-specific locum program consisting of two components:
- A pool of two FTE “floater” locums to be made available to/shared across all NIRD communities for practice coverage
- Practice coaching to facilitate the locums’ transition to the community and to optimize the locum experience.
A Locum Support Committee will work with multiple stakeholders to develop a mechanism to identify and prioritize community and regional locum needs, match and assign locums, and introduce the locums to the community.
Practice coaching (PSP) will support/enhance the locum experience and improve the potential for locum pool physicians to convert to permanent physicians in the community.
This strategy will leverage the Physician Recruitment Strategy processes, resources and partnerships. In addition, a strong partnership with the regional network of PSP coaches and resources from the Rural GP Locum Program will be optimized.