Night Nurse - Rota

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

SmegSlayer — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:27:01 GMT

My friend's contract makes it 'legal' for them to work outside the working time directive. Their weekday on call is separate from their weekend on call so a couple of weeks ago my friend did:

full day (11-7) on Friday, then on call, worked saturday then on call saturday night and all sunday then worked full day on monday then on call monday night (which happened to have a c-section with a new grad who got calls from the owners nearly every 20mins and the new grad kept ringing my friend to check she was sayng the right stuff, then full days until finally time off on saturday!

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Sal the 1st — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:38:01 GMT

I feel that the veterinary industry is now taking more notice of the working times directive than it did - and whilst it benefits some it doesnt benefit others.

24 hr cover has to be provided somehow and if it isnt possible to for a practice to use an ooh provider either geographically or financially then increasingly nursing staff are taking the strain. I await the hail of bullets but have to say that overall the conditions for nurses working ooh are a lot better than they were when I started in practice. It isnt an excuse I know and I would like to think that very soon the working times directive will equally apply to nursing staff.

I can empathise with nursing staff that are now doing night shifts as a result in change of contract to cover extra shifts but for those that take on a job knowing that night shifts are expected as part of the hours I have to say you have accepted this and were presumably happy with it when you signed your contract.

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

SmegSlayer — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 08:12:15 GMT

i used to work in a hospital where nights were part of the normal rota and u'd do one every 2 weeks (ish!). You could sleep if there was time but the nurses took all the calls and were on their own in the practice. one night i had 23 inpatients to myself! Also had to get all the washing done, any other jobs u were behind with etc.

Mon-Thurs was 5pm-9am

Fri 6pm- 11am (none of the receptionist would work saturday so poor old night nurse had to cover for the morning)

Weekend sat 6pm-8am the sunday 6pm-9am

I used to have to go to college on Mondays and after a busy weekend it was torture! I was sent home by my lecturer more than once after falling asleep at college

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

hayley brodrick — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:18:27 GMT

I worked in an emergency service run by a regular practice. Did tuesday night to tuesday morning. 6.30pm to 8am or so which covered ten practices i think. Could sleep if it was quiet but had patient checks every two hours. Depending on how complex the cases were the vet would get up and we'd do them together or we took it in turns to get a bit of extra sleep. That bit was fine but weekends started at 6.30 friday night and went through to 8 monday morning! Including the days!! Could sleep if there was time by all means but phone would ring all the time. Usually managed about 5 hours the whole weekend!!! However the vets were awsome at helping!

Other place i worked your night shift was one every 5 or 6 days. You started at 10am then worked through to 7pm when all other staff left. Then carried on through the night - vet didnt seem to have any responsibility for inpatients - that was all me all night with at least 4 infusion pumps and the phones. Then once everyone came in at 8 the next morning you had to carry on working until 12!!! totally illegal - did it once then didn't go back!

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Phrin Vernon RVN — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:13:27 GMT

Oh, and I think that was approx once a week. Weekend duties were Saturday & Sunday morning (I think) but on the premises all the time! It was a small time vet hospital who really pressed their nursing staff in order to maintain that status!

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Phrin Vernon RVN — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:11:16 GMT

At my current practice we dont have to do nights, but at one place I worked at, nurses did a half day, then in at 6 till 11pm, then slept on the premises and did 7am-12am the next day!

OK, but if there was a full ward you got no sleep and were KNACKERED! Had to be in the following day at 8am too!

Oh- and we were salaried, so no extra pennies for it! And the salaried wage was pretty poor! Even for an SVN!

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Kim Buckley — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:52:54 GMT

We have to do both days either side of our night duty (during which we are allowed to sleep if quiet). It sucks!!! and totally illegal! I leave on Thursday though and I'm doing my last one tonight! WHOOP! WHOOP!

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Lisa Whitehouse — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:49:02 GMT

We have 4 nurses doing nights 1:4 weeks staring sat night weekend shift longer ( 7-8 approx) weeknights 9-7.30 but they are allowed to sleep from midnight as long as no patient care needed. vets take all the calls.

hope it helps

Re: Night Nurse - Rota

Vicky RVN — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:04:16 GMT

We have 4 nurses, 3 of which do nights. We don't do weekend nights, they go to vetsnow. So mon-fri split between 3 nurses on a 4 week rota. One nurse does 8 nights, 2 do 6, on a rolling rota. On a night shift start at 10am, go home at 7pm if no inpatients (phones go to vetsnow). If there are inpatients nurse stays in. Shift finishes at 3pm the following day.