I'm a nurse in a private nursing home and I can honestly say I love it, it's a nice place to work etc. But there have been some issues with night staffing lately and last night the agency nurse who was supposed to cover the night shift didn't turn up. There are usually 2 nurses on duty on nights and 3 on days. So the nurse who was going to take over from me came to work but the nurse who was supposed to take over from my colleague didn't.
She contacted the manager and was told that if no other cover could be found then she (or I if she didn't) would have to stay overnight and she would be accountable for anything that would happen if she left, but that she could sleep for a few hours in the middle (not even slightly possible). Surely that is illegal and surely if anything then went wrong on the night shift then the nurse would be in trouble for working 24hrs straight and then making a mistake? My colleague is now looking for another job because of the way it was handled and I'm a little worried about being in the same situation again and whilst I would normally be happy to stay if there was no alternative, I'm pregnant and nearing my maternity leave and have SPD so am finding a normal shift exhausting.
In the end another nurse came and covered the shift but it was just lucky that she was free and happy to do the extra, otherwise I'd probably have stayed as my colleague was in floods of tears at the thought of having to stay after a busy day.