In this episode of the Pharmacy View Podcast’s Rx to Riches stream, international host Michael Alexander, a Pharmacist, entrepreneur, digital health enthusiast, Co-Founder of Audirie, and the Regional Vice-President of Health Plans at Omada Health, speaks with Surge Singh, Co-Founder of Locumate and Locumate.ai. Surge shares how their platform is transforming the way Pharmacists connect with locum opportunities, addressing inefficiencies that have long plagued the industry. What started as a personal frustration—when Surge’s wife received an unexpectedly high invoice for a locum Pharmacist—led to the creation of a holistic talent orchestration platform. By leveraging high-tech solutions and combining technology with human interaction, Locumate has grown from a simple marketplace into an end-to-end staffing solution, making it easier for Pharmacies to find the right professionals quickly and efficiently.
Over the past 2 years, Locumate has evolved significantly, expanding from a transactional marketplace into a comprehensive workforce management system. Initially, Pharmacies sought locums through external agencies, but Surge and their team recognised a broader issue: many Pharmacies first search within their internal networks before turning to external sources. To address this, Locumate developed a seamless solution that integrates internal talent pools, personal networks, agencies, and marketplaces, allowing Pharmacies to access the best professionals at the click of a button. This shift positions Locumate as a true orchestration engine for healthcare staffing, ensuring that the right professionals are matched with the right opportunities.
Finding a suitable locum has often been compared to a blind date—uncertain and sometimes mismatched. Locumate is solving this by incorporating shift feedback data to identify workforce gaps and partnering with training providers like Audirie and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. By integrating AI-driven talent matching, the platform now ensures that the best-suited locum is placed in each Pharmacy, rather than just filling shifts. Demand from industry professionals has also led to Locumate’s expansion into other healthcare sectors, including physiotherapy and podiatry, further cementing its role as a scalable, multi-sector solution.
Surge shares the journey of expanding into the U.S. market, a process that began with a chance conversation at an accelerator program and led to a pivotal meeting at the NCPA conference in Kansas City. Despite initial scepticism, a simple chat over a pumpkin spice latte with the CEO of the California Pharmacy Association resulted in a strategic partnership with the American Pharmacists Association, opening doors for Locumate in the U.S. However, breaking into the market required board approvals, legal navigation, and compliance with strict regulations, particularly in California. Surge emphasises the importance of having a clear networking strategy, validating business models before expansion, and being prepared for a long-term journey rather than expecting immediate success.
Looking ahead, Locumate is positioning itself as Australia’s first AI-enabled job board for Pharmacy, with plans to expand into the U.S. and other allied health sectors. The platform is broadening its scope to include Pharmacy technicians, retail staff, and students, while also focusing on workforce skill development through collaborations with organisations like the American Pharmacy Association. In the next five years, AI-driven recommendations will help Pharmacy professionals identify ideal career paths based on their skills and personalities, removing guesswork from job matching. Surge highlights the need for a mindset shift in the Australian Pharmacy industry, urging professionals to embrace technology-driven workforce solutions rather than resisting change. Ultimately, Locumate aims to revolutionise Pharmacy workforce management, ensuring that both professionals and employers benefit from a more structured, data-driven approach.
Topics Covered
- Locumate’s Journey
- Revolutionising the Locum Industry
- Holistic Talent Orchestration
- AI-Driven Talent Matching
- Expansion into Allied Health
- Expansion into the U.S. Market
- Compliance and Legal Navigation
- Data-Driven Career Guidance
- Workforce Skill Development
- Need for Mindset Shift in Pharmacy
Key Quotes (Time Stamps)
- “So, whilst Locumate a business was doing well, I’m like, we’re not fixing what we set out to fix, which was holistic solution for all of the steps. So, the 18-month journey has been how do we address that problem and that kind of, I guess, is the evolution of Locumate into Locumate.ai.” (6:13 – 6:32)
- “It was the evolution of Locumate from a marketplace to an orchestration engine that connects you to all the different pools of talent. So, day one in Pharmacy, it’s how do I give you access to your internal pool? How do I give you access to your network? I mean, a lot of people refer to that as their black book of locums. Then, go out to a marketplace or an agency, and we have to be comfortable with saying we as the original Locumate, I don’t care where you go as long as you have access to talent, because that is the problem we want to solve.” (7:45 – 8:23)
- “Step two is, okay, now we have the data, we can see the gaps. How do we make sure that people train for the right skill sets? How do we identify those gaps? And then when an opportunity arises, matching the right people with the right opportunity with Pharmacies that provide a particular service that’s required and delivered by a particular resource.” (10:41 – 11:02)
- “As the platform evolves, as we have more data, as the AI components get more data, learn, then we can not only match the right resource to the right opportunity, but the best resource to that opportunity.” (11:13 – 11:25)
- “But what we’ve built with Locumate, the technology, can quite easily be transferable to other sectors where it’s same problem, right—I need someone; I look internally then I look externally and then I go to an agency. And, funnily enough, we were approached by the people from the other sectors, we weren’t actively doing sales or business development or marketing in those sectors at all.” (13:38 – 14:03)
- “If you look at the new generation of workers, no one wants to work in a single Pharmacy five or six days a week. So, at that stage, they saw it as the flexibility of it—to give people options where to work in a market like the US. And obviously, at that stage, we were still a marketplace but developing the internal pool, the network, the agency. So that just kind of added to the overall benefit to the ecosystem in the US.” (20: 14 – 20:43)
- “Pharmacy’s first AI enabled job board launched this morning in Australia and it will be launching in the US as well. And the same functionality will be available to other allied health partners that utilise that platform. So, now we’ve got a holistic platform that can target different role at what types should I say, and then we’re building in the capabilities to attract additional role types other than just Pharmacists. So, holistically, dispense technicians, retail staff, students, all of that in the one platform as well. And then strategically working with groups to help their members get access to the talent that they need wherever they may be.” (29:19 – 30:03)
- “You need a use case to get benefit out of AI and the use case that we have is how do we get the best person into your Pharmacy for the right opportunity.” (41:07 – 41:16)
Important Time Stamps
- Building Locumate: A High-Tech Solution to Pharmacy Staffing Woes (1:10 – 4:30)
- Fixing the Talent Shortage in Pharmacies: How Locumate is Changing the Game (4:35 – 8:38)
- How Data and AI Are Fixing the Locum Shortage in Healthcare! (8:40 – 16:08)
- From Australia to the U.S.: Locumate’s Bold Leap Into a New Market (16:10 – 20:43)
- Breaking Into the U.S. Market? Here’s What Aussie Founders Need to Know (20:46 – 28:23)
- Breaking News: Pharmacy’s First AI Job Board is Here! (28:27 – 31:35)
- From Intern to Industry Leader: The Future of Pharmacy Careers! (31:38 – 38:00)
- More Than Just Filling Shifts – Matching Talent to Opportunity (38:02 – 41:38)
- Surge Singh on Why Australian Pharmacies Need to Embrace Tech—Now! (41:42 – 45:14)
