In this week’s episode of the Podiatry Legends Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking again with Hayley Uden, creator of the HeyLucy! app. If you’ve ever struggled with finding locum cover or if you’ve thought about dipping your toes into locum work, this episode will change the way you think about staffing in podiatry.
The Problem with Locuming
For years, locuming in podiatry has been messy and inconsistent. Clinics often rely on Facebook groups or expensive agencies with restrictive contracts. Locums themselves face uncertainty about pay, conditions, and logistics. The result? Stress for clinic owners and fewer opportunities for podiatrists to explore locum work.
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Enter HeyLucy!
Hayley describes HeyLucy! as if Uber and a dating app had a baby. Clinics post available shifts, locums view opportunities, and the app takes care of everything else, from invoicing to end-of-day payments. It’s streamlined, transparent, and designed to remove the awkward conversations about pay rates, superannuation, and GST.
Benefits for Clinics
Clinics save time, money, and stress. Unlike traditional agencies that often add hefty hourly fees, HeyLucy! charges a percentage per shift, keeping costs predictable. Clinics also avoid payroll headaches because payments are processed directly through the app. That means less admin and more time for patient care.
Benefits for Locums
For podiatrists, HeyLucy! offers flexibility and freedom. You can work when and where you want, whether it’s a few days a month, during school holidays, or while travelling. Next‑day payments make locum work financially attractive, and locums can choose opportunities that match their skills and lifestyle.
A Broader Impact on the Profession
Hayley and I spoke about how HeyLucy! could help strengthen podiatry by keeping more practitioners engaged. Semi‑retired podiatrists, parents returning to work, or clinicians who only want part‑time hours can now rejoin the workforce without long‑term commitments. This helps clinics fill gaps and ensures patients continue to receive care.
HeyLucy! is more than just an app; it’s a solution to one of the most significant pain points in podiatry today.
If this episode sparked ideas for your clinic, please share it with a colleague. And if you’d like personalised help with your marketing or business strategy, email me at tf@tysonfranklin.com and let’s talk.
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Tyson E Franklin: [00:00:00] Hi, I am Tyson Franklin, and welcome to this week’s episode of the Podiatry Legends Podcast. Podcast designed to help you feel, see, and think differently about the Podiatry profession. With me today is Hayley Uden. She has been on the podcast before was episode 2 57. We worked out that was April, 2023.
Hayley said, that was a long time ago. Now, Hayley is, you’re not in clinic anymore, are you? You’re working at the university a couple of days a week and. You have kicked off something called, HeyLucy!, and that is what we are gonna talk about today and we’re gonna help promote the hell out of it so everybody knows what it’s all about.
So how are you doing today?
Hayley Uden: I’m good. Thank you, Tyson. Very good.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. What is, HeyLucy!, let’s just dive straight into it. Let’s talk about, HeyLucy!.
Hayley Uden: Done. Done. So I like to explain, HeyLucy! is as if Uber and Dating app had a baby that is, HeyLucy!. So we are your fully [00:01:00] automated online. Allied Health locum platform.
It’s as simple as a clinic needs a staff member to fill a shift. They post the shift to the platform, and then our locums who are registered on our site, take said shift. We make it easy after that point, all the invoicing and pay, and everything’s automated for the clinic and the locum and it’s that simple.
So we are aiming to fill what it is. And I know you would’ve talked about it a lot Tyson, about the staffing shortages that people are experiencing. Yeah. And we want to make it as easy as possible for clinics to keep being clinics because I know the stress that’s out there. And even easier for locums to maybe take up Locuming as an option for them, because up till now.
We don’t have a central database for Locuming if we just talk about Podiatry on its own. There’s no sort of central list that you can run down and think, oh, I’ll give that person a call. We’ve all got various little [00:02:00] black books and things and friends that you ring when you need someone to cover your clinic, but there’s no central location for this information.
And also it is challenging when someone rings you and says, Hey, can you cover my clinic? Next Friday I’ve got something on
There’s always these awkward conversations of, well, how much are you paying per hour? And do you pay super GST? All these questions come up that people often don’t know the answers to.
So we’ve simplified it for everybody to make it really transparent.
Tyson E Franklin: Because I have seen in the past where somebody might post something in one of the Facebook groups. I’m moving this area. Is anyone looking for a locum for a couple of weeks or a couple of months? Or I’ve seen somebody else say, Hey, we are thinking about going away for a couple months.
Does anyone wanna come and do locuming? But it is, it’s all like word of mouth. Or they might, go to a, an employment agency and say, Hey, I’m prepared to do this. But it is it’s very messy. And you have, being a past clinic [00:03:00] owner, I never used to worry about it ’cause I, ah, it’s just too hard.
Hayley Uden: Just that extra thing on your list that you think, I don’t know enough. This is too confusing. I can’t be bothered. The other thing with use using agencies are that there are some fairly large restrictions. Some of those being for a locum, when you take a locum position through an agency, they actually put a block on you being able to be employed by that clinic.
So just say you go along to this rural location and you do this wonderful two week locum experience and you think, gee, I really like this place. I would like to work here. And they need an employee. Employee. They actually put a restriction on you being able to do that. And from the clinic’s perspective, they make them pay like a stipend amount.
For that privilege. So it can be up to a couple of grand for you to say, okay, I’d like to employ this locum to my clinic, which I think is. Not fair or for anybody? No, I [00:04:00] think employment should be an open process. So there’s that restriction. There’s also, when I was a clinic owner as well, we looked at having a locum for a day and the administration cost to the clinic for having that locum for a day meant it was no longer worth me having a locum for the day.
We would’ve been in the red that day per hour. So we think clinics pay enough money. Everyone in with a clinic, your hands never come out your pocket, do you? You’re throwing money at everybody. So I think less fees to clinics, and that might mean that we have slightly higher wages for locums potentially as well, because there’s not that administration burden that’s required.
So it’s also a really good opportunity for locums to try something new, which I think would be great because you might not know which area of Podiatry you wanna settle into just yet. And you wanna try some different style work. As you said, you might be moving to a new location and just not sure which clinic to, be employed by.
So maybe you might wanna [00:05:00] do a bit of locum work around and meet a few different colleagues. So
Locuming gives you that benefit as well.
Tyson E Franklin: I can even see it. People that own a business who wanna have a bit of a holiday somewhere different. I go, I wonder what it’s like. Absolutely. Just to live somewhere else.
And they go somewhere for just a couple of weeks in an area that they like and almost have a holiday and work at the same time. My niece is a nurse and usually when she gets her holiday breaks, ’cause she loves being a nurse, she actually does locum work at different parts around Australia and absolutely loves it.
Hayley Uden: Other professions have this capacity already. So nursing has had this locuming style platforms for a long time. So do medicine. And obviously our trades have it , they could pick up work on hirer pages and things like that around the place, but we just didn’t have it for allied health.
So when we were traveling, we went on a three month caravan trip with our children from Adelaide to Queensland. A lot of driving [00:06:00] and very brave. It was very brave. Every time we I discovered I’m more of a hotel person. Tyson on that. Oh yeah. Caravan. Probably not my passion. We did some amazing things, but.
Every time we stopped somewhere, I thought, gee, I could do a day’s work while I’m here. I’m in a rural location. I know they probably would need it, but there’s no one to call. I didn’t know who how to seek that out. So you could go on a traveling holiday like your niece and plan your holiday as to where you’ll locum next.
’cause you can search nationally throughout program. You might be thinking I might go to Tasie, which we hope more people do because they’re so short staffed in Tassie. Yeah. Go down for a Tazzie holiday and work for a month while you’re down there as you hop around.
Tyson E Franklin: What I like about the idea is like you mentioned Tazzie and as soon as I think Tazzie, I think food ’cause they have amazing food down there, fresh produce, wine. So you can go down there for a bit of a foodie and wine holiday and at the same time work in a couple of [00:07:00] places and Tassie’s not hard to get around.
So you, it is the best of both worlds.
Hayley Uden: Most of us are podiatrists because A, we got into it ’cause we like to help people. We know that’s the type of people we are. But it’s also a really good feeling to help your colleagues. And when I locum for my friends and colleagues here in Adelaide at the moment.
You get a different sense of enjoyment out of the day. Yes, I’m there being a Podiatry, but I know that I’ve covered for so and so who really needed the break is having a holiday finally. Or maybe they’re having sick leave because they’ve been so sick.
So it gives you a really warm and fuzzy feeling that you’ve actually been able to help one of your colleagues in a profession that we want to support.
So I think it’s, it’s probably the best enjoyment that I’ve had from a workplace is knowing that extra level of help that I’ve provided. It does make you feel really good. It does be like the superhero in to save the day. [00:08:00]
Tyson E Franklin: So, I was gonna say, so this is an app that’s gonna be on that’s on the phone?
Hayley Uden: Yes.
Tyson E Franklin: At the moment it’s only available in Australia.
So anyone listening overseas just get excited about it, but it’s not there yet. Yes. I wanna point out to people, you’re not paying me to be on the podcast. I asked you to come on the podcast when I heard what you were doing. So this is purely just to let the profession know that this service is currently available.
You can download the app and you can start using it. ,
Hayley Uden: So available from the Apple store? Yeah, so as an Apple app, also from the Android store. And you can also access us straight from the web browser and you can give us a call as well.
So we actually do a fair bit of handholding at this early stages. So when clinics in particular have multiple sites that they operate from, we actually help onboard you so that you have access to a dashboard. From that dashboard, you can manage all your clinics in one stop. We help people come on board.
If you’re a clinic owner with multiple locations, we do [00:09:00] that with you. But anyone can sit on their couch at nine o’clock at night and download the app and start putting their profile together.
Tyson E Franklin: If you were a Podiatry, like in the uk and you’d say previously been in Australia, or you wanted to work in Australia, it’d be another thing that you could at least reach out to some of these places through the app and at least start talking to people.
Hayley Uden: Everyone always ask me, what do you need when you’re doing this style of work? So we have a lot of information on our website, but when you go through the onboarding process as a locum, you do need to upload your relevant documentation, your AHPRA number, et cetera, so that we check that to make sure that your ridgy-didge, that’s a good idea.
So clinics know that’s all been updated. And as a clinic, you also create your profile. You can put pictures, you can talk about what type of clinic you are, what kind of. Software or what kind of assistive technology you use in your clinic. So any locum can look at your profile and check that’s the type of clinic they have experience to work in.
So everyone’s profiles are [00:10:00] up there to look at it at any time. A little bit like a dating app, except you’re not swiping sideways. So you can see who the locum is, what they’re about, and also vice versa for the clinic. And to do that, there’s no cost. So no one pays anything to be on our platform either, which I think is worth pointing out.
So you can set up your profile as a locum or a clinic at no cost, and clinics can post a shift at no cost. The only time a cost is incurred is at the end of a shift being filled. But that’s all stipulated obviously in the app and on our website. So there’s no harm in having a look, getting your profile up and seeing if there’s any shifts you might like to look at.
So there’s definitely no cost involved in any of that process.
Tyson E Franklin: Yeah, I might jump on there myself.
Hayley Uden: We get you out there. What we’re talking about before, Tyson, all these holidays, you like to go on,
Tyson E Franklin: I told you Yeah, if any, yeah, I would go to Norfolk Island. I would go to Hamilton Island. Anything that’s got island in it, I would probably, I’d probably go and work there for a little bit, just for a bit of a [00:11:00] break.
Hayley Uden: So if I get a request coming through from an island, I know where to send it. I’ll get you set up on the, I’ll get you set up on the platform. We’ll get Tyson out to you soon if you’re in an island. Island you might,
Tyson E Franklin: kangaroo Island. That’s an island. What I was gonna say, and you said when we were talking off air, that the clinics put in the price range that they’re prepared or that they want to charge.
This is how much we’re prepared to pay, and the locums put in, this is how much I’m prepared to take to actually work. And therefore the app links them together like a dating site.
Hayley Uden: Your preferences are loaded into that background, so it helps with the filtering of what shifts you are seeing.
It’s also really handy ’cause as a clinic and you are putting up your shift you start playing around with the hourly rate into the box, it automatically starts calculating underneath what the super contribution will be and also if any GST requirements. There. So you can see all that in real time.
So if you think, oh, I think today I [00:12:00] can afford $60 an hour. Yeah. And then you see what the other requirements are, you might be like, oh, actually maybe I could afford $70 an hour and see if I can attract someone quicker. So it is calculating all this for you right in front of your eyes so that you know all the information that you are providing before you get an invoice in the mail, so to speak.
I think the real benefit here is that the clinics will set the tone for what they’re willing to pay, and locums will start setting the tone as to how they want to work. So no middleman is interfering with the price where, as through an agency, they set the rate. Yeah. It doesn’t matter who you are, they say we’re paying $60 an hour and that’s it.
And it’ll be the same often for a new grad versus a 20 year career person. We don’t stipulate any rates. It’s all gonna be set by the marketplace. And because our fee, if we’re talking about fees, Tyson, to be upfront, we charge a percentage fee to the clinic on the volume for the day, excluding the super.
So at an agency, you actually [00:13:00] pay a set rate per hour. So for instance. Just a fictitious agency might say, look, we are paying keeping round figures. We’re gonna pay the locum $70, but we actually charge the clinic $110 an hour, so you know that it’s costing you $40 an hour of administration every hour.
We end up coming in way cheaper per hour because we just charge a volume percentage, not an hourly fee. So I want there to be fewer barriers for clinics covering their books. ’cause it’s a horrible feeling. You’re desperate. You need someone, you don’t wanna let your patients down, but you really need sick leave.
You don’t wanna be hit also with excessive administration fees on top of that. So that’s what we’re trying to limit
Tyson E Franklin: here. And the other thing you said that I thought was great is the Podiatry gets paid at the end of each day. Is that right?
Hayley Uden: That’s my biggest selling point. I even forgot to say it.
So we have the capacity when a Locums time sheet’s been completed, which pops up on the [00:14:00] app and you say, this is how much I worked and this was my break. The clinic then verifies and says, yep, that’s correct. As soon as that approval happens, we release money straight into your bank account. So as a locum, you can turn up, do your shift, and sometimes, depending on your bank, you might have money in your bank before you even go to bed that night, which is.
So that’s our pay next day feature. The benefit of that is that a locum goes away really happy. They got their money, they continue on their holiday or doing whatever they do with their life. And it also means for a clinic, you’re not having to put them into your, you don’t have to send all their details to the bookkeeper who then has to put them into zero.
Who then has to put them into payroll, who then has to pay them in your pay cycle and that’s variable. You might do your shift, but the pay cycle’s not for another two weeks. Or it could be a month cycle. So it takes all that onus off the clinic. There’s no locum waiting for money.
Everything’s been paid keeping everyone happy. So part of that, it’s just about being as convenient [00:15:00] as we can to clinics and keeping locums really happy so they get out there and share their skills because. We talk about shortages, and I know that we definitely are in a tight spot right now, but if you look at registration data, there’s still 6,000 of us registered.
Some of those are non-practicing, but we’re all out there and that number hasn’t dipped greatly over the last five years. It’s stayed around that 6,000 mark, so we’re all out there somewhere tyson, I believe that we are working differently. I think a lot of us have dropped part-time because of perhaps.
Balance or parenting requirements or caring requirements. So if we can mobilize all 6,000 of us more intuitively, we could share the workforce better because clinics are already under the pump. And getting a full-time worker now and even a part-time employee is just becoming harder to attract for [00:16:00] lots of different social cultural reasons.
So I like the idea that we might be able to just mobilize and share the workforce better so that everyone’s getting a bit of coverage. And obviously when you get out there working as a locum, you’ll start to meet new people. Meet new colleagues, find different ways of doing things. It’s a really great learning experience and networking experience.
All of a sudden now you’ve got colleagues in Queensland that you know very well and Northern New South Wales, so it’s just a nice networking experience as well.
Tyson E Franklin: Plus if you’ve worked with that person and all of a sudden they’re going, we are going away around the same time next year. Are you prepared to do it again?
You can set up regular work. Absolutely. But I’d mention to you too, that like I know a lot of podiatrists that have had clinics, had it for, 20, 30 years. They sold their clinics. They’re now doing other things. But they’ve said to me I’d work one or two days here and there. I’d work for a week.
But they just don’t worry about it because there is no central [00:17:00] spot where they can just log in their interest and go, okay, now I will work a couple of days.
Hayley Uden: I’m a little bit in that category at the moment. I’m just. I’ve pulled the brakes a little bit on some of my clinical load, but every now and then, you just get the vibe, don’t you, Tyson?
And you’re like, oh yeah, I could do a couple of days. My back’s feeling good. Everything feels all right. I could grab a couple of days. And so this gives you that capacity that you could duck in and out of the workforce at your choosing, which I think for anyone in the era of either maternity or paternity leave era where you’re juggling lots of hats.
This is a wonderful way to return to the workforce. Without that you’re not locked in. You can pick and choose the work when you want, but then having said that, every time our school fees roll around Tyson, I’m like, gee, I might go grab a shift somewhere just to top out that I need to find a bit of money that we forgot about.
So you can top up your income this way as well, which is quite nice [00:18:00] with. The cost of living and things going on. So it’s a really nice way for people to reenter the workforce or just stay involved in the workforce, in the capacity that they want, rather than thinking, I really don’t want full-time or part-time.
Tyson E Franklin: Say for example, a regional area, and I’ll just use Cairns as an example ’cause that’s where I live. But I know in Cairns, I think there’s about eight or 10 Podiatry clinics scattered around the place. I would have no idea. Even if I was going, oh, I’m prepared to work a couple of days this month or a couple of days next month, there’s no way other than having to reach out to every one of them individually and say, I’m prepared to work for a couple of days.
And then you’re gonna go through what are you gonna pay? And you’ve got all that rigmarole you’ve gotta go through. And I’m sure there’s regional areas all around the country that are exactly the same thing, where there’s a retired or semi-retired podiatrist who still knows what to do, and there’s half a dozen clinics around them [00:19:00] who are going, oh, I wish there was somebody that could work a few days.
Hayley Uden: And who might be a bit more flexible with that capacity, just pick it up at the last minute as well. And we know, like in clinic world, when you’re a clinic owner, we know the types of leaves that come up. We’ve got maternity leaves that potentially occur that you need to cover. Hopefully you’ve got longer sick leaves.
If someone needs surgery or something like that, maybe you’re in a position to be taking a little bit of holidays that you would like to cover so you can plan ahead. With something like, HeyLucy!, and be like, I need someone in November for four weeks. And you can have that person locked in well in advance.
Or you’ve got that short term capacity where it’s nine o’clock at night. You’ve just had the. Your staff members rung up sick and you think, oh God, what do I do with the diary tomorrow? Because I’m already in clinic tomorrow? You can put up the shift in, , couple of clicks on your phone and just see if you can nab someone at the last minute as well.
So you’ve got both ends of the spectrum to cover like quick [00:20:00] emergency covers versus planning for longer covers that you might need to attract someone.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. I have a question. This might be a silly question ’cause I’ve never done Locuming before, but does the Locum have their own provider number for where they are and they use that for every spot they work at as That’s my locum number.
How’s that work? So
Hayley Uden: our locum number still, sorry, your provider number still follows you per location. Yeah, so the way that works now is that you through a website or a lot of us just do it on our phone, you jump into your Proda account which is also where you can manage Medicare payments and all sorts of things as a clinic owner.
But you jump into your PRODA and you literally say there’s a button there to add a new provider number. It takes, I think there’s about three pages of , select the following items and put in the clinic’s address and a few other bits of details, and it instantly gives you a provider number and you rock up the next day with said piece of paper [00:21:00] the next, oh, so you can do it that
Tyson E Franklin: fast.
Hayley Uden: Yeah, that they’re instant. Yeah. The only provider number that’s no longer instant is the one that new grads get first, and I don’t know why, but it still comes in a snail mail. So that one actually arrived as in the mail and they can’t work without it. Yeah. But after that first one, we can all jump into PRODA and just spit them out as required.
’cause they follow your location.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. The
Hayley Uden: next most frequent question, I should probably dive into it, not that I have the best solutions, is that clinics always ask, but how do I add it to high caps? And there is no quick turnaround currently, and lots of tech people talk about this. Why is this such a problem?
There are lots of limitations, but you can’t add it to your high caps usually without a two to three day, or maybe slightly more delay. So if you have a locum who’s coming and you’ve got time, you could have them all loaded up onto your high caps ready to roll. [00:22:00] But if it’s a short-term cover, you might not have done that in time.
So I believe the official line is that you would invoice patients for the day and then they need to do their own Medicare rebate against the locums provider number. Yeah. ’cause it wouldn’t be automated on the system just yet. It’s actually not too hard to do, but there are too many barriers between private health insurers, Medicare, high caps, that it just doesn’t, there’s no bridging of that at the moment, but it’s a super quick process.
It’s crazy how,
Tyson E Franklin: what I don’t get about providing numbers. Yeah, you
Hayley Uden: can’t do that. Yeah.
Tyson E Franklin: What is, through AHPRA we have a registration number. Why can’t our registration number be our provider number? That just goes wherever we go. We have the same registration number. We don’t have to change.
It makes no sense.
Hayley Uden: Or even service before, is there a locum number that you apply for? Yeah, so that just becomes like almost like a mobile provider number. I’m not sure. I don’t know the [00:23:00] ins and outs well enough, but there is still the onus on the locum to get that provider number and then the practice manager will keep it on file.
Or if they’ve had time, they’ve loaded to high caps and it’s all working well in advance of the locum getting there. But yes, so your PRODA account is where you do all that.
Tyson E Franklin: Which could be helpful too if you work somewhere. They said, Hey, we’d love to get you back for another week next year. That once you’ve got your details and your provider number for that clinic, they keep that on file and can make the process easier in the future.
Yeah,
Hayley Uden: because it’s all location based. If you’ve already been at that clinic, you’ve already gotta provide number there, which is handy.
Tyson E Franklin: Before we go any further, I just wanna take one step back and Yes. Get you to explain to people how the name HeyLucy! came about. ’cause someone might be going, oh yeah.
Like I did when we were first talking. Yeah. And went, I’ve gotta ask, what is, HeyLucy!, why? HeyLucy!.
Hayley Uden: I get a lot of emails I now address to Lucy, which makes me a giggle ’cause I think I’m Lucy, but
Tyson E Franklin: that’s fine. So, hey
Hayley Uden: [00:24:00] Lucy came about because when we’re working with our branding team who are coming up with our brand and our colors and our name.
They came back to us with a whole heap of very IT based names, such as, cloud Connect, locum Connect, like lots of very, , very, IT based names boring. Yes. Yeah. And they, none of them were taking me by storm. And then during a branding process, which you’d be aware of, Tyson. Yeah. You often make.
Like avatars of the people you are selling to, who are your clients like you can do in your clinic. And so we had two main avatars. It was the locums and obviously the clinics ’cause they’re our two populations that we are looking after. And we had nicknamed the Locums, locum Lucy, that was her persona.
And the clinics were locum Dave. That was the persona of the clinics. And you had to go through, what age group. What are they, what are they about? What are they like? And so that’s how that came about. And then when I was saying, [00:25:00] look, none of these names are really grabbing me. The brand coordinator, Jason, he said to me, but do you know what we call it around the office when we refer to your project?
He said, we all just say, HeyLucy!. And everyone goes, oh yeah, that one, the locums. And it’s an instant recall when they were saying it in the office. And he said it is got a really quick recall. It has a nice personality. You can use the personality in your marketing over time. And so we went with it in the hope that it has a quick recall for people.
’cause I’m assuming there’ll be a practice manager at the front desk at some stage going, oh my God, I need a locum tomorrow. What were they called? Oh, it’s Lucy. Their name’s Lucy or something. There’ll be some type of light bulb going off that where we have a personality and that you call Lucy.
HeyLucy!.
Tyson E Franklin: I like that. I think everyone can actually learn something from that is when you’re thinking about whether it’s your business name is really sit down and work out who is your ideal patient, [00:26:00] who are you talking to? And try and make it fit.
Hayley Uden: Yes,
Tyson E Franklin: fit the people that you’re actually after
Hayley Uden: and have a good quick recall.
’cause some of the names, oh man, if we’re talking about it, they were all to do with clouds. It was all , Nimbus, locum connect and stuff. It’s all about the cloud and it’s all this fictitious. So, yeah. Well, it
Tyson E Franklin: sounds awful, doesn’t it?
Hayley Uden: Yeah, so, HeyLucy!. It does. Here we’re, so I’m hoping people have a quick recall when they think, God, I need help.
Who do I call? And, well, I think the good part about it too
Tyson E Franklin: is when we talk to our phones, I’m not gonna say what we’d normally say to my phone, Hey, whatever, because it will come on and start talking to me. But I think that’s like such a common phrase that I think it’s with the marketing people who end up coming up with that idea with you, I think brilliant.
Hayley Uden: They did a really good job. I’ll give them a shout out. They’re called Argon. They are a company here in SA and they did, they were a joy to work with and did beautiful branding for us. Argon, so [00:27:00] A-R-G-O-N. We were extremely happy with the process.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. What else do you wanna tell people about it? Why? Why should they use this service?
Hayley Uden: My passion always comes back to Podiatry, even though we’re allied health based and I really want to be a part of supporting our profession.
Tyson E Franklin: Yep.
Hayley Uden: I really want to support clinic owners, and I would like to think that we can retain Podiatry in our profession longer.
If we can be more flexible with some of the changes and needs that are occurring, and I think that’s where we play a role. If my solution makes life easier for a clinic and it meant they could go to their kids, assembly or something like that, that they usually have to miss or they finally got to have sick leave for their carpal tunnel that they’ve been putting up with or all these things, I would like to think that’s what we’ve provided is just supporting the profession.
Back to the profession. That’s what I care about the most. And having been on both sides of being a locum and [00:28:00] a podiatrist and a clinic owner, I’d like to think that I understand some of the pressures on both sides and where we could find, a better solution and a better fit. So I just hope that I’m part of that solution so that.
We do support the next era of Podiatry. ’cause we all talk about, students coming out and we have less students going in and all these things. And like we were talking about before, Tyson, it’s so important we keep up with the times. Yeah. And I think sometimes in Allied Health there are some parts of us that don’t keep up with the times in our infrastructure.
So I am just happy to be bringing an updated infrastructure that makes life easier.
Tyson E Franklin: And that was why I got you on because when I think it was through LinkedIn, I saw you must have posted something yeah. Reached out to you. And then when we were talking, oh, because we mentioned about maybe coming on the podcast, wasn’t sure.
Then I chatted to you and when you said, I’m doing this and when you tell me why you were doing it, and that’s why I thought, okay, I want to get you to [00:29:00] come on here ’cause I know you’re not making a million dollars from this. Which is why I’m, I said, come on the podcast. You don’t need to pay anything.
Come on here. Just come on and share it because I know it’s going to help the profession.
Hayley Uden: Thank you so much, much for supporting us as HeyLucy! and the profession, Tyson, because it does help when you do have a care factor, doesn’t it? You know that reason for doing what you’re doing, and I.
I truly believe that we can, and that sounds really dire, like save our profession to some degree as to how some people are feeling out there. I really think we can do things differently. We can push the envelope into new directions in our profession. I truly believe our students are coming out with fabulous skills that I never had.
Yeah, and won’t have. They really are coming out. I know they need experience yet, but they are coming out with top tier education in terms of where they’re gonna start pushing the envelope and pushing us into a new era of Podiatry. So I am hopeful that [00:30:00] with the likes of something like, HeyLucy!, we can retain those new grads and keep them buzzing in the profession.
Tyson E Franklin: I love, I’ve been around for so long, so 37 years I’ve seen where it was. Yeah. And where it is now. Yeah. It has changed. There’s so much about it that has changed and there’s so much about it that has exactly the same. And I’ve commented before about how long it takes to get orthotics made and I bang heads with the association.
They know I’m not friends with ’em. ’cause I reckon they’re boring and set in their ways. But anyway, but. Even last week’s episode that came out, which was titled, what Other Careers Are Podiatry Adjacent? And when I was talking to Rebecca Roger about all that, we saying we don’t want people to leave the Podiatry profession, but sometimes people don’t wanna be working full-time.
They, and I think what you are doing is also another career that is Podiatry adjacent. You’re now doing this locum app. You’re still a podiatrist, you’re still gonna work part-time, [00:31:00] you’re still helping profession, but you haven’t just left it altogether, which I think is great.
Hayley Uden: And I think most people out there, like you said, you sometimes feel that bug or I could do some clinic work around here if I knew where to go.
So we all still, I think at the end of the day, have a desire to be involved, even if it’s not full time and assisting our profession. And I think Locuming is a fabulous way to do it. ’cause you really are. You’re helping the profession. I think giving it a title and a space where it belongs and giving the making sure that people understand it’s a very useful part of our staffing workforce.
If we can utilize it a bit better and differently, I think we can fill a lot of gaps.
Tyson E Franklin: I think this episode is fantastic. Following on from last week’s on, it’s just a, it’s a perfect add-on to what we were actually talking about. And I didn’t plan it the way, it’s just the way. Episodes fall.
Hayley Uden: Episode.
It’s the Podiatry, gods the Podiatry Podcast, gods Tyson. That’s it.
Tyson E Franklin: But it’s even [00:32:00] the lining up. But even the podcast itself, the amount of students that I’ve had send me emails who have said, oh I got in Podiatry for this reason. But then they’ve gone through the hundreds of episodes that are available, listen to different people, and they’ve sent me emails just going, I’m so glad I chose Podiatry.
Yeah, my brother did physiotherapy. I’m so glad I did Podiatry ’cause I can see all these different avenues on what we can do. Yes, and oh dear, I’d love to be a student again now.
Hayley Uden: Oh, well, their pharmacology knowledge, their minor surgical procedure knowledge. They really are coming out with a great skillset that they’re gonna hone and take us to absolute new levels in Podiatry.
So I have. Great faith in the students we’re putting out. I really do. They’re a great bunch of kids and I really hope we don’t lose them straight up when they hit some of those things that we’ve all experienced, but we’re all still here. You know where your first job might not have been your passion and you [00:33:00] move on.
Yeah. Or the first niche area that you thought you were gonna love you actually didn’t love, and now you want another opportunity to try a different curriculum based area. So I hope we just don’t lose them straight up and look if they just wanna surf. And do a bit of Podiatry, get in your van and go locum.
Keep your work life balance the way you want it to be. If that’s how you wanna live. I think that would be fabulous. That freedom, if they don’t have a mortgage yet, would be lovely. Or rent your house out, go on a big traveling holiday, so I am hoping just the freedom to choose your work hours as well might keep more of our pods in the profession if they’re feeling that.
We’ve all felt it. That feeling of I’m a little bit worn out of people. The people and the helping is hard. It’s hard being full-time, I believe personally as a clinician. So I think giving yourself it’s okay to take. A slightly different approach to your work life balance, and that might mean two [00:34:00] days a week every now and then, or it might mean I only do half days.
I did that for a friend and they rang me up and said, can you help me out over the school holidays in a beautiful location in Adelaide, took the family to Moonta which is a beautiful area of south Australia. So my husband was fishing. The kids had a great time, but I said to her, look, I’m just hitting a point where you can either have me do two full days a week.
Or I’ll do four half days.
Tyson E Franklin: Yeah.
Hayley Uden: Because I can push through the morning, get to lunch, and be done with the day. I’m just, ’cause I’m getting a bit, older and my back and things like that. I know if I push the full day, I’m not gonna be happy I’m gonna be really. Feeling all those feelings, but half a day, gimme four and a half hours.
I can do it like a, easy. Yeah. I have to ref, I’ll have to
Tyson E Franklin: refine what I said before I could work anywhere on that’s an island and half a day at a time,
Hayley Uden: half a day like you hit the morning. I’m in a good mood. I’m there. I’m vibing with patients. We all [00:35:00] know sometimes the afternoon slump can be challenging.
Tyson E Franklin: Oh yeah, I do. Yeah. Sorry. But no, I don’t mind. , I love, I used to love if I was doing just a morning.
Hayley Uden: I
Tyson E Franklin: don’t mind. I get up early.
Hayley Uden: Yeah. And
Tyson E Franklin: I can just power on from, five in the morning.
Hayley Uden: Yeah.
Tyson E Franklin: Through to midday, one o’clock, and then by the the afternoon.
Hayley Uden: Yeah. I would rather have the afternoon off.
Yeah, you own.
Tyson E Franklin: Yeah.
Hayley Uden: And other people might wanna work the other way. They’re like, I really like sleeping and I like slow mornings and I wanna go to the gym and I wanna surf and I wanna do all these things in the morning, but I’m really happy to work in afternoon. I think having these conversations are so important.
’cause we’re all kind of, well, back when I first took my first job, there wasn’t an option. You did full-time. Yeah. Didn’t. So I think being, giving clinics the capacity to be more flexible as well. ’cause a lot of our structures aren’t very flexible, but if you know you have a locum coming and you can set up the shifts to match how it’s gonna work, I think gives clinics another avenue for employment as well.
So it’s not just [00:36:00] all set for a nine to five Monday to Friday type workplace.
Tyson E Franklin: Yeah, I can just picture a Podiatry. Male or female.
Hayley Uden: Yep.
Tyson E Franklin: Waking up early in the morning, gonna the gym, going from the gym to the surf. Having a surf. Yeah. Going up. Having a coffee. Having breakfast. And they’re in a, an area they haven’t been to, so it’s almost like they feel like they’re on holidays.
Yep. And then yeah, around 11 o’clock moseying on into the clinic. Yep. And doing the afternoon. Yeah. And doing that, whether they do it three days a week. To help out, but at the same time, yeah, have a bit of a holiday and ’cause I, I think with a lot of younger people coming through now, the one thing I hear is they don’t want assets as much as what we did in my era.
Yes. Yeah. They want experiences. Yeah. And I think there’s a lot of podiatrists around that have clinics in parts of Australia that are amazing places and could offer great experiences for these people.
Hayley Uden: Yeah.
Tyson E Franklin: And make the profession [00:37:00] really happy.
Hayley Uden: And this is a, it’s a, it’s the ultimate try before you buy it.
As you said, you might never have been to that location before. Find out you actually love being there, and PS is a great clinic to be a part of, and one day it could become your asset if that’s where you are headed. So. Try before you buy. And also for clinics to try a locum before they might wanna employ them.
I mean, you don’t often get that experience to see them in action before. You know you’ve got your probation period and you’re thinking, God is the three months coming up. I don’t wanna miss it. In case you want to move someone on gently. But this is that ultimate almost try before you buy. You’ve got someone wonderful coming through.
You get to meet them, see them work, maybe tweak a few things, and then you could offer them a job if that’s how it all. Comes together. So that ultimate try before you buy and yet look when we’ve just moved into a house that we spent two years renovating and we have created more space, Tyson, ’cause I don’t know if my kids are gonna have mortgages or be able to afford a mortgage one day.
So [00:38:00] that concept of having assets has changed and whether it be a housing asset or a business asset, there’s still a, it’s changed in terms of people, it’s changed heaps capacity.
Tyson E Franklin: Yeah. Yeah, I know when I was younger, we had record collections.
Hayley Uden: Yes.
Tyson E Franklin: And then from record collections it went to cassette tapes. Yeah. And then you had CD collections. Yeah. Now my daughter turned 21 last weekend, and I don’t think she would own a cd.
Hayley Uden: She streams it and just pays the subscription. Yeah.
Tyson E Franklin: She doesn’t own videos or DVDs because everything gets streamed. And even if you wanna buy ’em, you still buy ’em online.
So that Absolutely. They’re not into actually tangible owning anything. And I used to, you’d get software and I got annoyed years ago when you used to go, where’s the manual?
Hayley Uden: Yeah.
Tyson E Franklin: Used to have a hard copy manual that could flick through the pages and scribble notes in, and now, yeah, it’s, oh, if you want the manual.
You can just download it. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Has changed. And I think we, the profession needs to [00:39:00] change with the times everyone younger coming through is evolving and adapting to all that. So the whole profession needs to do that,
Hayley Uden: need to change and dire straits, if we’re thinking about it, our poor clinic owners, and I say poor because I feel for them out there at the moment.
Without them, without small to medium clinics out there doing what they do and slogging some of the time the way they do there are, there is no employment. ’cause we know there’s only x amount of public positions that people can win. That doesn’t vary greatly, but it’s our private practices that keep our profession going.
And if they all can’t keep going. Where do we go? Like, where do our new grads go? Where do our, pods go? So we need to keep them going. And staffing is one of those ways that we can assist with that so that they don’t think, God, I’m just gonna shut the door and walk away. I just can’t do this anymore.
So, yeah, things have gotta change. We need to mobilize our [00:40:00] workforce. We need to share the workforce perhaps a bit better as well with something like this and just support each other.
Tyson E Franklin: I think it’s fantastic. So Hayley, I wanna thank you for coming on here again and talking about, HeyLucy!. I think what you’re doing with this app is fantastic and be great for the profession, and it would be great like 12 months time, get you back on.
Where did it go? You might have to charge in 12 months ago. ’cause you might be, I see you’re driving around a Porsche at the next Podiatry conference, just drinking out of a, like a gold fluted glass or something like that. Then I’m gonna say, well, it’s your shout. Or
Hayley Uden: if we bump into each other on an island, Tyson, that’s when you know that I’ve done well.
Tyson E Franklin: Oh yeah. And you own the island. Yeah. You go, I own an island. I need someone to come over here.
Hayley Uden: Isn’t that the ultimate in the tech world being bought out by some big player? But no I will be here. We have so many more verticals planned. We obviously, Podiatry is my [00:41:00] baby physios. Our next. Current and next big baby to push.
And then we’ve got ot, there’s speech, there’s exercise physiologists, so we can support the multi D environment as well. So that’ll be the next part of the push into other areas.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. And yeah.
Hayley Uden: Okay.
Tyson E Franklin: Hey, so I wanna thank you for coming back on the Podiatry Legends podcast and I look forward to watching this space and seeing what happens.
Hayley Uden: Thank you so much, Tyson. I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
Tyson E Franklin: Okay. See you later. Bye.