Wife at work today

[Damonlufc88]

So my wife works in a nursing home. Today she is working 15:00-19:00 (she works around my shifts) when she got work she was told she had to chaperone a resident to the hospital (35 minutes one way) this was at 15:30 fast forward to 6pm she is still there, resident seen the doctor and now informed that the resident needs to wait 2 hours for a blood test... Friday at 8pm. Am I being unreasonable to think that her work should have made arrangements for another staff to take my wife out at 19:00 from the hospital? Or is she expected to sit there all night whilst the resident is seen to?

This will depend on her contract I’m sure, but yes probably. At the least she should be paid for the overtime.

No YANBU at all

Part and parcel of working in health care. Why is it bothering you so much? Does it bother your wife?

Although yes, she should be paid overtime.

Yes it bothers her that she wasn't Pre warned with a phone message as they are quick to contact her if they need extra staff in because someone has failed to show. Also work knowing we have ASD son is the reason she came off working late shifts

What does her contract say? I teach, so my working day ends at 3.30. I've often thought about what I would have to do if a situation arose on the way home or similar - I would have to stay with the child. I have a duty of care that - usually - trumps any contractual issues. Having said that, it doesn't trump my own dependents' safety.

She will be paid her extra hours I assume but their is no overtime rate where she works

Yes, it's disrespectful of her employers to assume she could stay on ad infinitum.

Where YABU depends on how often it happens, once every few months unreasonable to complain if she is paid overtime. Once a week YANBU.

Honestly it happens all the time. I feel her pain, if there is no staff cover a patient can't just be left. It is something she will need to discuss with her boss.

Do you have to go to work? I worked in the NHS and was often hours late home for various reasons but I would have told them what time I had to be home if it had been really important ie childcare.

Depends on her contract, I guess. Do you never have to work late, OP?

Hi. She just phone her employer and they should arrange for member of staff to take over. Yes, in this line of work, these things are par for the course and you need to be prepared to be a bit flexible but boss should not presume you will stay.

At my work I wld arrange that someone from the next shift should go to relieve her.

Have they said they won't relieve her? Has she asked?

I worked in care homes for years and this was standard unfortunately. 9 hours over was my worst and I was still expected back in the next night!

What I mean is, I would stay until my boss found cover and the cover came to relieve me. It's ok to have a life outside of work. Far too many bosses try to get away without arranging a cover working on the presumption/assumption that you will just stay.

It takes the piss big time. I was once a carer and i worked a 14 hour shift where j had to take a resident to hospital. 15 hourd later no one took over and they had the audacity to say i had to stay until she was discharged at 10pm. Baring in mind i had just done 14 hours and it was now 9am

Martha That doesn't surprise me at all. Some bosses just can't be bothered to do their side of the job properly, meanwhile they are telling you about your duties and obligations!

I did an escort to hospital once, I had to accompany resident on ambulance transport. Arrived at hospital at 9am after starting shift at 7am, were collected from hospital at 4.30pm. Bearing in mind my DC left school at 3pm, my DH couldn't leave work and I had to phone everyone I knew to sort my kids out, as well as the food shop I'd ordered for 4pm. I was beyond fuming - I had no food or drink, no money and I wasn't paid after 2pm until I kicked a stink up. Patient also had challenging dementia and the hospital said on arrival she was too difficult to assess let alone treat so the whole thing was a highly stressful waste of time .

Very standard for care homes. Are you kicking off for her sake though, or yours??

Pretty standard in the NHS, we knew we wouldn't be relieved because shifts are run on so few staff and also we might be in a hospital 100 miles away so even if someone could get there and relieved me, I would not be able to get back on my own. Your wife knows this is standard you can't work in healthcare and not know. I have to say well done on her care home as I have seen CH staff just abandon patients the minute they hit A and E.
If there was a real issue I am sure they would send relief but that will mean the night staff who are normally skeleton anyway will be even shorter.
I used to volunteer when I was single and child free, the cash was handy and it made for an easy shift to be honest.

I think your wife should raise it with her line manager at the first opportunity. It is not acceptable, what if she had a child being looked after in a nursery etc she would not be able to stay.

Your wife should tell them she is working her agreed hours, and any extra hours must be organised in advance. One of the other carers should have arrived to relieve her at 1900 when her hours were finished.

The nursing home will be keen to keep her happy and working there, so they should agree, if they do not there are plenty of others that she can work for that do not take advantage of their staff.

She's in a caring profession so I assume this might happen now and again. I don't understand why you are getting so het up about it.

Also if it is a routine doctor's appointment the blood test could have been arranged for another day. If it was a medical emergency then the patient would have been taken to hospital. Your wife perhaps need to be more assertive.

I worked in a GP assessment area and if we had a care home resident in with a carer, they usually got a night shift worker over to replace them.