Locum vs permanent GP: which to hire, and when
A locum keeps the lights on. A permanent GP grows the practice. The trouble starts when a stop-gap quietly becomes the staffing plan. Here's how the two really compare, and how to know which one your clinic needs.
Almost every clinic owner reaches for a locum when a room suddenly empties. It's the right instinct, patients still need to be seen. The question is whether you're using a locum to buy time for a permanent fix, or to avoid making one.
What a locum GP really costs
Per day, a locum can look comparable to a salaried doctor. Sustained, it rarely is. Locum day rates sit well above the equivalent permanent cost, and when booked through an agency there's a margin on top. Crucially, it's pure holding cost: money spent to not fall further behind, not to build the practice. A locum doesn't grow a patient panel, doesn't take on care-plan or chronic-disease management continuity, and walks out the door with no lasting attachment to your clinic. Three months of locum cover can quietly cost more than the search for a permanent doctor would have.
What a permanent GP gives you
A permanent GP is the opposite trade: higher commitment, far better return. They build a panel that stays, take ownership of complex and ongoing care, contribute to the culture of the practice, and turn an empty room into a compounding asset. Every week a permanent doctor is in the chair, the value of that chair grows, where a locum simply maintains the status quo at a premium.
The continuity problem nobody prices in
The hidden cost of leaning on locums is continuity of care. Patients notice when they see a different face every visit; some drift to a practice that can offer a regular GP. Rotating locums fragment care plans, chronic-disease management and the trust that keeps a panel loyal. That erosion doesn't show up on an invoice, but it shows up in your billings, and it's the reason a "temporary" locum arrangement so often ends up quietly expensive.
See what the vacancy is costing while you decide.
When a locum genuinely makes sense
Locums earn their rate when the gap is defined and temporary:
- Parental leave or a sabbatical, where the permanent doctor is returning to a known date.
- A sudden departure, to keep patients seen while you run a proper permanent search.
- Seasonal or short-term surges that don't justify a permanent headcount.
In each case the locum is a bridge, not a destination. The danger sign is when you can't say when the bridge ends.
Why the permanent fix keeps getting deferred
Most owners would prefer a permanent GP. They settle for rolling locums because the permanent search feels slow and uncertain, job ads return overseas applicants needing sponsorship, recruiters charge $25k–$40k with no guarantee, and the months drag on. So the locum stays "just a little longer," and the holding cost compounds. The real problem isn't a preference for locums; it's that the permanent route is broken. Fix the route and the dilemma mostly disappears.
A faster path to a permanent hire
The permanent search is slow because job boards only reach the small share of doctors actively looking. The doctors worth hiring, the experienced, settled, fellowship-qualified ones, aren't on Seek; they'd move for the right opportunity but they're not applying. Reaching that passive 90% directly, by specialty and location, verified against AHPRA, and responding the same day, is what compresses a multi-month search into weeks. Do that, and a locum becomes what it should be, a short bridge, not the plan.
A locum buys you time. A system buys you the permanent doctor.
Next: see what GP recruitment really costs, learn how to hire a GP in Australia, or book a call.