ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2026
Consultations with locum doctors in UK general practice: longitudinal analysis of electronic health records.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLocum doctors are vital for maintaining healthcare provision, especially in general practice. However, their levels of use, role, and impact remain relatively understudied and official statistics cannot be compared between UK countries.
aimTo explore locum use more comprehensively in the UK, over time and across geographies. DESIGN AND
settingA retrospective cohort study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD from April 2010 to March 2022, analysing consultations across UK general practices.
methodConsultation types were categorised by GP type (locum versus permanent). Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regressions modelled the association between locum consultations and patient and practice characteristics.
resultsBetween 2010 and 2022, 914 UK general practices contributed to the dataset. UK locums provided more care than previously estimated, with a 2019 (pre-COVID-19 pandemic) mean of 14.9% (standard deviation 20.7) and median of 7.5% (interquartile range 2.3-17.5) of all consultations, indicating substantial variation. Over time, the use of locums in the UK remained relatively stable, but this masks different trends within the UK. The study found that use in England is increasing, in Scotland and Northern Ireland decreasing, and in Wales is flat. Regression analysis found that variation in locum use was largely unexplained by patient and practice characteristics.
conclusionThis study indicates higher use of locums across the UK than available NHS statistics would suggest. These differences are probably because of alternative ways of measuring GP activity (consultations versus hours worked). Regional and country differences highlight diverse workforce challenges where local solutions may be needed. These findings contribute to understanding NHS workforce dynamics and may help inform strategies for primary care service delivery.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.