flexible working as a staff nurse in NHS

[MissVic101]

Hiya. I am in my 4th month of mat leave out of 12 and am starting to think about how my return to work as a staff nurse on a busy ward is going to work. Staff work a variety of early/late/night shifts. There is only one member of staff on my ward with a child younger than school age and although I didnt have the foresight to ask for details I know she has had loads of issues getting fixed shifts that fit with her nursery days. She is still expected to work nights shifts that coincide with the days she has no child care so ends up working a night shift, caring for her son in the day and then back for the next night shift. I can only assume she made the official requests for flexible working, but it would seem either it has been refused or it is not working well for her. I think I have a good relationship with my manager and I am meeting with her next week to discuss the return to work. I am planning to ask to reduce to 30hrs which I dont think will be a problem but also ask for my shifts/days off to be on set days. I am just wondering if anyone has any experience or tips on requesting flexible working within the nhs. Am I right to think if they have agreed to flexible working for someone else they would have an obligation to agree to yours ie a precident has been set? Thanks in advance.

They don't have to agree to yours simply because they have agreed someone else's, no. Otherwise they would have to consider potential future impact of other applications when granting flexible working to anyone.

They should be able to agree to set shifts, in which case you can fit your childcare around this. If they don't agree, they have to give you a reason why they can't accommodate your request.

Many hospitals have an agreement with a local nursery re flexible nursery days for shift workers, this may be something worth investigating.

I have never worked anywhere in the NHS that has allowed set shifts, although I'm sure it may be possible for some. My workplace sometimes allow one set day a week for mums of young children and also for grandma's wanting to look after grandchildren for a set day each week, but I don't think this is a formal thing agreed through senior management, more likely just the team leader who does there offduty helping them out really. I spent most of the time when my children were young doing weekends/ nights etc basically all the unpopular shifts and then using a flexible childminder who didn't mind if shifts changed each week, although I realise I was probably very lucky to have her.

hmmm. Thanks for your responses. Meeting is tomorrow and am planning to ask for two days I will definitely be working ( any shift) and one day I will definitely be off. The rest allocated as they wish. I dont think that is unreasonable and surely protects their business interests as well as my own needs for work life balance. We shall see how it pans out.

Having worked in the nhs I can't see you getting this.

Say there are ten nurses in a ward, six get pregnant and all come back wanting two set days, guessing those won't be sat and sunday. The four left get all the nights/weekends. Unfair.

Nowhere I have worked have allowed set days for ward nurses. Sometimes they will allow a set rota over a month. With the number of days/nights/weekends over a yearly period worked out and divided into a month.

Where I used to work there was some flexibility but staff were also expected to be flexible. I would say what you have proposed is a mixture of rigid/flexible and as long as the days could be worked out around whoever else already may have some fixed shifts could well be workable. It really depends on your manager and ward policy.

I am happy to do nights on the same rotation I always have - once every couple of months and would also accept one of my fixed days being a weekend one. To be honest nights and weekends tend to be much in demand given the rate of pay and more chance of having a tea break. Baking a cake to take in with me might up my chances

So the result is that they are happy to fix a day off more than one if I want but more reluctant to fix days on. Manager suggested to put the application in and be specific about what I cannot do.