When did you last take two weeks off?
For a lot of practice owners the honest answer is years, and the reason is rarely the money. It is that taking leave means finding a replacement, and finding a replacement is a second job you do between consults. A bank of GPs who already know your rooms turns that search into a message.
Three things a single practice actually needs.
Leave you can take, a permanent GP when that is the real problem, and a list that survives both.
Book the holiday first, then the locum
Most owners do it the other way round and therefore never do it. A bank of GPs who have already worked your rooms means the dates come first and the cover is a message rather than a search you run between consults.
When the real answer is another GP
Our team runs the search directly: the role, the patient mix, the location and what the market is actually paying. No locum placement required first, no percentage of billings, and no fee if the GP you find was on your bank already.
Keep whoever works out
A GP who covered your leave in March is reachable in September with credentials still current. For a practice with no second site to borrow from, that list is the whole of your reserve, and it is worth more than any single booking.
Nothing off the top.
What booking leave looks like when cover exists.
- 1
You pick the dates
Not the dates you can get cover for. The actual two weeks, booked like anyone else books leave, before the search starts.
- 2
The sessions go to your bank first
GPs who have worked your rooms see them before anyone else, because continuity matters more to your patients than speed does.
- 3
Then wider, if it needs to
If your own list cannot cover the fortnight, the sessions reach GPs beyond it. Whoever covers joins your bank, so next year's leave starts from a longer list.
- 4
And the practice is still yours when you get back
Continuity of care held, patients not sent elsewhere, billings not paused. The point of cover is that the practice does not notice you were gone.
Sometimes the answer is not a locum.
If your practice needs another GP rather than a fortnight of cover, say so and we will run the search. We will also tell you plainly when the package or the location is what is holding it up, which is not what a recruiter paid on placement is incentivised to say.
GP practice staffing, answered.
How can a GP practice owner take leave without closing?
By having a locum lined up before the leave is booked, from a bank of GPs who have worked your rooms before. The reason most owners do not take leave is not cost, it is that finding a replacement is a search they have to run themselves on top of a full list. A standing bank turns that search into a message.
Can I recruit a permanent GP without arranging locum cover first?
Yes, and most practices should. If the real problem is a vacancy rather than a week of leave, our team takes the role directly: the practice, the patient mix, the location, what support is realistic and what the market is paying. You are not required to book a placement to have that conversation.
How long does permanent GP recruitment take?
Longer than anyone wants, and any recruiter quoting you a fixed timeline for a permanent GP in a regional practice is selling optimism. What moves it is how clearly the role is described, how realistic the package is, and whether the candidate has any prior connection to the area. We will tell you which of those is working against you before you commit.
What does a doctor bank do for a single practice?
It is your own list of GPs who have worked your rooms and whose registration and indemnity are current. A group moves a doctor between sites; you cannot, so that list is the whole of your reserve capacity. It is also what makes leave, conference days and sick days survivable rather than theoretical.
Do you take a percentage of billings?
No. Service fee percentage, mixed billing, bulk billing. All of that stays between the practice and the GP exactly as it does now. StatDoctor does not sit in the billing relationship and takes no share of it, and takes no margin on a locum rate either.
Is there a fee if a locum becomes our permanent GP?
No conversion fee and no clause requiring you to pay to keep someone. A locum who becomes your permanent GP is the outcome everybody wanted, and charging for it would make the good ending the expensive one.
We are rural. Does that change anything?
It changes what works. The pool of GPs willing to travel is smaller, so notice, rate and accommodation do more of the work than any platform does, and a GP who has been to your town before is worth considerably more than one who has not. We can widen who sees the role. We cannot shorten the drive.
StatDoctor is free for doctors, takes no margin on the rate and no share of your billings. Practices pay for StatHospital; pricing follows the size of your bank, so one practice is not paying for a hospital's platform. No charge for an initial conversation.
Is it leave, or is it a vacancy?
Tell us which, and what you have already tried. The answer changes what we would suggest, and sometimes the answer is that we are not the right fit.