Do you work 12.5 hr shifts in the NHS?

[Mumto1boy1girl]

Hi,

I am on sick at the moment as struggling to cope with the crazy working pattern we have at work (NHS, I'm not a nurse btw). Our department is open 24hrs a day so includes 12.5hr nightshifts (3 per 4 weeks).

At the moment, we work a mixture of shifts in a week:
Early shifts 8-4 (7.5 hrs)
Late shifts 12-8pm (7.5 hrs)
Nights 1945-0815 (12.5 hrs)
They are mixed in together and also include weekends. We can end up doing 3 nights and 3 other shifts in the same week! It is grinding me down. I have had one weekend day off in the last 5 weeks! I am not seeing my children and my house is a tip. My days off are given to me after nightshifts when I am either in bed or tired. So, no quality time off! My mental health and physical health is starting to suffer. BTW we never used to work like this (we did on-call previously and got a day off if called out) so it was forced on us. Job used to be 9-5 with occasional SAT/SUN mornings. No where near what it is now and definitely NOT family friendly!

I am thinking of suggesting I do 3 x 12.5 hr shifts a week and insist on 4 days off a week. I have asked to reduce hours but they are so short staffed (as people are leaving, no bloody wonder) they said NO. I am wondering if I bunch my hours together it will help. If I am doing a late shift I always find it frustrating sitting around waiting to go to work.

I don't want to lose my career (nor my home).

Any suggestions?

First, can you talk to the person writing the off-duty?
Then put your polite requests to your manager (in writing).

Then HR / Occupational health if you feel that your chaotic shift pattern is causing your health to suffer.

They should be doing all they can to keep you in work!

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be around soon to help. Good luck!

Occy health to speak to them regarding shift impact on your health.
Check the work life balance policy , there should also be an erosta( if your trust uses it) or some king of roster policy. Speak to HR

Sounds like my place. We do a mix of earlies lates and nights and always get days and nights in the same week. We only get 2 days off after nights, one of which is the actual Day you finish so you've worked the equivalent of a full shift on your day off. We also work 150 hours a month rather than 37.5 a week so they can literally roster you for Monday to Sunday (Not an uncommon occurrence) to get around it. It's killing me and I have barely any work life balance...policy is basically suck it up. And they wonder why staff retention is so bad.
Sorry I couldn't help....its shit.

Hang on do we all work for the same trust 🤔

That is awful. I couldn't do that. I work 12.5 hour shifts, luckily only 23 hours in the week, but all our shifts are long. Full timers do three shifts a week, with a fourth week with four shifts.

Can you suggest a change over to long days and nights? You will work far fewer shifts, and it's much more economical and easy to staff. If not, head to HR and OH.

Formerly,

Same here. If we work nights we are supposed to have 2 clear days off but day 1 is the day we finish our nightshift (at 0815) so we have already worked 8 hrs of that day. We then go to bed! Hardly a day off!
TBH I think managers are taking the p*.
I doubt HR and OH will do anything as others have been through similar to me and have come away with no solution.
This is why I was questioning whether, or not, 3 x 12.5 hr shifts would be easier but I wouldn't want to be rostered for any other shifts close to it.