The best locum platform is the one that helps you secure appropriate work on acceptable terms in the places you can realistically reach. A large national user base is less useful than a small number of reliable local practices that offer sessions matching your availability.
Lantum and NASGP LocumDeck both deserve a place in a GP's evaluation, but their usefulness should be assessed against the whole working arrangement: discovery, agreement, preparation, delivery, invoicing and payment. This comparison uses published information reviewed on 18 October 2026, not a test of current shift availability in every area.
Understand what each platform is for
Lantum's clinician offering connects GPs with flexible work and provides supporting workforce functions. For an individual GP, its practical appeal is the ability to find and manage work through a digital route rather than relying entirely on separate emails and telephone calls.
NASGP's LocumDeck information describes tools for organising sessional work. The Suffolk GP Federation's account of its LocumDeck-based service is a useful real-world explanation of direct GP-practice relationships, including setting rates and terms and managing availability.
The distinction is not simply app versus website. It is how the proposed booking is formed, which organisation is engaging you and what administration the arrangement removes. Check the actual agreement for each session rather than inferring employment or pension status from a platform label.
Test local relevance before judging national reach
Define a realistic working radius and the sessions you can safely accommodate. Include travel reliability, parking, school-run traffic where relevant and how an unfamiliar clinical system affects the first visit.
Then assess what you can actually access. A platform may show opportunities that are unsuitable for your availability, require additional onboarding or are limited to an approved workforce pool. Registration is not the same as immediate access to every advertised session.
A practical two-week exercise is to record suitable opportunities without committing to unnecessary work. Note location, session content, time, stated fee, onboarding burden and how quickly the practice responds. This produces a more useful comparison than general claims that one platform is always busiest.
Compare session terms, not just the headline fee
Before accepting, clarify consultation volume, appointment length, administrative duties, home visits, duty work, supervision and the expected finish. Ask how overruns, additional tasks and cancellation are handled.
A session described as four hours may not consume only four hours of your day. There may be travel, system access checks, clinical follow-up or documentation afterwards. That does not make the arrangement poor, but it should enter the comparison.
A useful written agreement protects both parties. The practice should know what it has booked, and the GP should know what responsibility they are accepting. Repeat work becomes easier when the terms are clear rather than renegotiated informally at the end of every session.
Use an effective-rate calculation
Consider two hypothetical sessions. Session A pays GBP400, costs GBP20 in travel and consumes six hours including commuting and administration. Its contribution before tax, pension and other overheads is GBP380, or about GBP63.33 per committed hour.
Session B pays GBP360, costs GBP5 in travel and consumes four and a half hours. Its comparable contribution is GBP355, or about GBP78.89 per hour. These are illustrative numbers, not advertised Lantum or LocumDeck rates.
The lower headline fee produces the better time-adjusted result in this example. That does not settle the decision: clinical support, continuity, pension treatment and personal preferences may also matter. It does show why searching only for the largest hourly figure can be misleading.
Separate membership, booking and payment costs
Ask what you pay directly, what the practice pays and whether the proposed arrangement changes either figure. Confirm any optional payment-acceleration charges, subscription fees, transaction charges or additional services rather than assuming the visible rate is the whole transaction.
Some LocumDeck access is supported by regional arrangements. The Suffolk service is an example of a locally funded programme, not evidence that all GPs everywhere receive identical free membership. Check the current eligibility and conditions in your own area.
Payment timing matters, but early payment is not automatically free or guaranteed. Establish the contractual payer, approval process, required timesheet or invoice and expected settlement date. The best interface cannot remove a delay caused by missing approval if no one has responsibility for resolving it.
Keep pension and tax questions separate
NHS pension eligibility depends on the nature of the work and engagement, not merely on whether software can produce a form. The BMA's introduction to NHS pensions for locum GPs is a useful starting point before assuming that every session can be pensioned in the same way.
Similarly, a direct practice relationship does not automatically settle employment status. A platform's commercial model should not be used as shorthand for being outside off-payroll rules or for receiving employment benefits.
Keep the evidence with the booking: contract, agreed fee, work completed, approvals and payment record. Use appropriate professional advice for uncertain arrangements. Administrative automation is helpful only when the underlying classification and information are correct.
Use both only when they have distinct jobs
A GP may sensibly use one route to discover new practices and another to organise established direct relationships. The potential benefit is diversification. The risk is duplicated diary entries, inconsistent terms or accidental double booking.
Maintain one reliable source of truth for availability. Before advertising a session as free, check every confirmed commitment. Avoid accepting conflicting bookings in the expectation that one can be cancelled later.
Review the combination after a defined period. Which route produced repeat work, manageable administration and reliable payment? Which merely generated notifications? Remove unnecessary complexity rather than assuming a professional toolkit improves with every additional account.
Include preparation in the toolkit
For an unfamiliar practice, a short preparation routine can be more useful than another marketplace subscription. Confirm access, local escalation arrangements, referral routes, results handling and who is responsible for outstanding work after the session.
Ask iatroX can complement clinical reference and learning during a portfolio career, while local policies and original sources still need checking. It is not a staffing platform, an induction substitute or a reason to accept work beyond competence.
Choose Lantum, LocumDeck or a combination based on suitable local work and the complete workflow. The strongest commercial outcome is a sustainable set of well-defined sessions, not the largest number of apps on the phone.
Related reading: improving locum earnings without adding hours and the locum GP administration and learning toolkit.
FAQs
Is LocumDeck a conventional locum agency?
NASGP and the Suffolk service describe a model supporting direct GP-practice relationships. The actual terms of your engagement still need checking; the description does not automatically determine tax or pension treatment.
Can I use Lantum and LocumDeck together?
Yes, provided the arrangements permit it and you maintain an accurate single diary. Evaluate whether the two routes provide distinct value rather than creating duplicate administration or conflicting availability.
Which platform offers the highest GP rates?
There is no verified universal answer. Compare suitable sessions in your area, including workload, travel, unpaid administration, payment arrangements and any pension or contractual differences.
Add clinician-facing reference support to your locum toolkit with Ask iatroX.