Shift work- nursing (is this legal?)

[sunchild77]

I'm a hospital nurse so 12.5h shifts, I'm new to nursing so don't shoot me down at my lack of knowledge about shift work. I do a 37.5 hour working week. Next week is my 4 shift week, so my shifts Are, thurs fri Sat sun night shifts, finishing on the Monday morning at 8am. I'm expected to be back at work to do 12.5hr day shifts Tues Wed thurs that week, starting at 0730 on the Tuesday. :( :( I'm gonna be on my knees..
Is this fair? It doesn't feel it.
Just wondering anyone's thoughts... I can't swap it.

Rcn guidance says you should really have 2 full nights sleep after coming off nights.

scadmin.rcn.org.uk/-/media/royal-college-of-nursing/documents/publications/2012/october/pub-004286.pdf

That's really bad off duty, but not illegal as far as I know. Have you got a good amount of days off afterwards?

Brutal. I've done the odd single night onto single day, that's bad enough when you struggle to get back into a good sleep pattern. I think you would be well within your rights to approach your charge nurse about it. It's not safe at all.

That is a really crappy off duty OP however your only required to have 12 hours in between as a rest day. So Monday will be your rest day. Can you not speak to your line manager to alter or alternatively can you get a swap with a colleague? Welcome to the world of nursing x

It's legal, pretty crappy but legal.

Welcome to nursing.

I did most of my nursing life before the 12.5 hr shifts were introduced, but yes, it can a punishing schedule and yes, it is normal and expected. I worked the E/L/N routine (7-3, 1-9,9-7 + report times) and we worked 8 days on/2 off, then 7 on/4 off. We worked lates to earlies (getting home about 10pm and leaving again at 6am).

Nursing is a tiring job!

Oh that's a rubbish rota, I'm sorry I suspect you will find two things. Firstly, your working week will run Monday to Sunday, so the 4 nights are all part of week one, and night shifts are counted from the day they start, not the day they finish. So on your rota, Monday will be listed as a day off for you. The other thing is that the Working Time Directive limits you to 48 hours work per week, but it is averaged over 17 weeks. So your 4 shifts in week one are 50 hours, but they will meet WTD when averaged with your 3 day weeks.

However, a 12.5 hour shift isn't compliant with the WTD, as it usually involves a 1 hour unpaid break, which means that the length of time on the ward is 13.5 hours, so the rest requirement of '11 hours continuous rest in 24 hours' can't be met when you are scheduled to work consecutive shifts. Most Trusts who run 12.5 hour shifts pay 'WTD directive pay' in this circumstance, but some Trusts are altering shifts to comply with the WTD.

We used to do eight nights on and six nights off but often did half a night rota finishing on a Sunday morning to be coming back on a twilight (or late half) which would be a 3:30pn start the same day.

That's really bad off duty. Where I work it's rare for nurses to do three day shifts in a row, I think there is even a new rule in our policies to prevent it. See if you could swap with someone. But as someone else said they only have to give you 12 hours between shifts but to go from four nights to three long Days in a row with one day off in between is ridiculous

Absolutely awful but not illegal sadly... I would've expected you to come across this in your training though tbh - did you not do the same shifts as your mentor as a student?

If you're genuinely concerned about your ability to work safely doing these shifts, then you should have a word with whoever's in charge of off duty - some nurses prefer to block their shifts up like this so they get more rest days off in a row... if you prefer them spread out then speak up, you're no good to your patients if you're exhausted.

Being brutally honest the shifts did me in, and I did not miss them what so ever when I became too ill to ward nurse. I'd worked 12 hour rotational shifts as a hca in mental health, but I found it far more brutal on a surgical ward as a newly qualified.

Oh I did plenty nights as a student, just to never this particular pattern of hell :(
I'm going to have to suck it up. Thanks. For the thoughts though!