Ben Ratcliffe

We are the independent membership body for GP locums and salaried GPs in the UK. Founded by GPs for GPs, we’ve spent 25 years supporting, listening to and engaging with sessional GPs. We now have an audience of over 7,000 GPs. Since 2015, we have run an independent GP locum booking system, LocumDeck. Created by NASGP in collaboration with GP locums and practices, our platform makes booking easier for both parties. Over 3,000 UK GP practices use LocumDeck to book GP locums. In 2023 our platform LocumDeck was named Digital Solutions Provider of the Year by Cogora's General Practice Awards. On LocumDeck, practices book GP locums – not the other way round. We designed LocumDeck so GP locums can show availability to practices. As well as supporting GPs and practices, NASGP has now extended LocumDeck to support nurses, healthcare assistants and administrators, and will soon cover all primary care staff in the NHS. NASGP was founded in 1997 by Dr Richard Fieldhouse who recognised the challenges faced by GP locums. Richard formed a collective of GP locums in Chichester which became the very first GP locum ‘Chambers’ – a new concept in the world of general practice. Since 2020, we have offered funded regional partnerships to support ICBs to fund NASGP membership for GP locums working in local practices. GPs say we provide ‘invaluable’ assistance, that ‘all aspects of GP locum work have been made easier as a result of NASGP membership’ and that LocumDeck is ‘a must-have for any GP locum’. One member said: ‘Within a day of putting my sessions on, I was booked up for the next six weeks.’ GPs can work remotely on LocumDeck and our tech partner for remote work, GPintheCloud, has been shortlisted for an HSJ award. Other partners include the RCGP and Bluestream Academy. Our chair, Dr Fieldhouse, has represented the voice of sessional GPs on BBC radio, national newspapers, and in the trade press, including Pulse magazine and GP Online.