To think this isn't right or fair? Nursing, illness and promotion.

[Writerwannabe83]

I feel like I'm flooding AIBU this morning but this post is not a moan but about being baffled about something that has happened at work.

There is a nurse on the ward I work on who has been a Sister (band 6) for donkey's years and unfortunately she had a deterioration in her health last year which she is finally on the mend from but Occupational Health have declared her as medically exempt from night shifts in relation to her illness. As a result she has been told she can no longer be a Sister and they have downgraded her to a Band 5 staff nurse.

Surely this isn't allowed??

I am currently senior Band 5 and have been thinking about going into Band 6 territory but I am also medically exempt from nights due to a chronic condition I have and I'm now worried that I will never be able to progress.

I spoke to my colleague about it (a separate one from the Sister involved) and she said that the Managers are allowed to make this decision even if the reason for not doing nights is officially medical (as decided by OH) as opposed to a personal choice.

My friend was going on about the contracts saying we need to provide 24 hour care which is why Band 6 wouldn't be appropriate but if that's the case they shouldn't let people with medical conditions (that prevent some shift work) from being a nurse full stop if that's their stance. It's madness to say 24 hour care is essential for a Sister but it doesn't matter if you're Band 5. I don't understand why the ability to do the job is based around whether the nurse can do night shifts.

I'm just confused by the logic of it and I genuinely feel that not allowing some nurses to progress simply because of a medical condition they have is discriminatory?

Perfectly happy to be told I'm BU and would love it if someone could explain to me why legally it's allowed to do this.

It may be that the band 6 contracts say including night duty but that the band 5 ones do not necessarily. I agree it seems unfair but I would imagine there are loads more band 5s than band 6s so to ask others to cover her 'share' of night duty would be a bigger ask.
I am not sure if there are rules surrounding it though - if you phone your union they are good at giving advice.

I think it is allowed, legally speaking, if the illness/condition/disability means the person in question cannot fulfil the requirements of the role after all possible reasonable adjustments have been made/considered.

Some roles are exempt from certain sections of the discrimination act.

Some roles require certain things and that is just a fact.

If the band six is a supervisory role and there are only two sisters, one can't be expected to work all the night shifts? And rightly so.

yes sometimes there is a duty on employers to accommodate health issues and they clearly have but they cannot be expected to alter the 24 hour working day or the shift rota............owing to your health needs

I think it sounds discriminatory but talk to hr about it as there maybe abother reason your colleague was moved to band 6 other than nights.

Have a look at your job description. Read what the shift expectation is for band 5 vs band 6

Ime the lower the band the more you're expected to do the grunt work, take crappy shifts etc. It surprises me that a more senior nurse would be expected to do more night shifts than a band 5. Generally the big perk of promotion is better hours!

If go have a chat with hr, or your department manager/head.

I work on quite a big ward and we have 10 sisters and 15 staff nurses.

On a night shift there only has to be one sister present.

I mentioned Band 6 positions when I had my job interview (they knew I didn't do nights) and they said Band 6 positions were only available to full time staff, which I wasn't. They didn't say anything about my medical condition being a barrier. Maybe because they knew I'd turn down the job offer if that were the case.