Night duty

fin54

Hi, I work for the NHS constant night shift for the last 5/6 yrs, now they want to change it to rotating day and night shift.
This will involve the day staff and night staff although night staff stands to lose a lot of money.
I though once you had been doing a job for over two years it didn’t matter what it said on your contract , my contract does say nights and day’s when needed and another girl’s job was advertised in the paper as a night shift post.

getmore4less

I think they need to consult.

What are the justifications for these changes?

Are they resonable, could be night cover is a problem for holidays/sick or some other reasons reducing staff maybe.

As well as trying to go for a custom and practice, I am permanant nights you can't change it, I think the trick is to get the day shift people to complain a lot about not wanting to do nights, remind then that if they have difficulty adjusting to changing shift patterns they need to be accomodated.

Is there any H&S angle.

fin54

Cut backs I think although nights are covered by night staff but they are getting over time for covering sick leave and A/L.
Going by what I hear their is a few day staff very interested in it as they will earn more money with shift allowance's etc, but night duty workers will lose out, no H&S as far as I know off

getmore4less

fin54 wrote: »

Cut backs I think although nights are covered by night staff but they are getting over time for covering sick leave and A/L.
Going by what I hear their is a few day staff very interested in it as they will earn more money with shift allowance's etc, but night duty workers will lose out, no H&S as far as I know off

Asuming this is A4C and grade 4-7 then the cost saving is minimal,with overtime paying 50%(100% sun/BH) and nights alltready at 30%(60%) grade 1-3 the savings are even less.

Cheaper to use TOIL or employ extra part timers and try to get them to cover since they don't get overtime rates till they are upto full time equivilent anyway.

longhauladdict

Hiya

Not public service myself, but they do need to consult with you about any changes. This would be considered a big change, so should take reasonable time to consult (ie not in one week!).
If you do not accept the change to your hours, they can terminate your old contract and then re-engage you on the new terms and conditions, (length of service should be protected). However if you fail to accept this, you could resign and claim constructive dismissal- I would see CAB for further advice, or your HR department

fin54

CAB sounds good, will give them a phone to find out legal situation , thanks

picasso2

Have you spoke to your union about this ? They would be your best source of information.

If you are not in a union and work for the NHS I would join one pretty quick.Not just for this but difficult times ahead .

jools27_2

They can put you on notice for the change if youve worked nights for over 2 years, its 50- something days notice, cant remember exactly, brain is currently numb, but it can be changed if managers want to

Kaz2904

They'll get around it by saying it's a matter of Continuing Professional Development. They say that when you're on nights, you deskill (not sure how they work that out as you actually have less staff at night, less Dr's etc so more responsibility- well, we do in my trust).
We had a training session the other day and the matron said that the government would be looking to stop enhancements anyway and that with her "union hat" on, we'd better all start thinking of justifications for why we receive higher pay for unsocial hours. -Apart from the fact that they are unsocial hours obviously!
The trouble is, since the world has now become a non stop 24 hour society, it is not uncommon for people to have to work lates, nights and weekends. It did used to be uncommon which was why it was rewarded with higher pay. Now it's an expectation from nearly all jobs that you have to do some unsocial hours. What gets me is who on earth is going to look after the children who aren't at school when both parents are having to work weekends and evenings too (not just NHS, went on a ranty tangent there sorry!).

fin54

Kaz2904 totally agree with you, I work night duty because it suits my family needs, as far as training goes, I am at the top of my band 2 as a care assistant (been doing the job for 20 odd years) and being blocked from doing NVQ's to take me into a band 3 job, think the H.S stinks at the moment and wish it was time to retire

getmore4less

fin54 wrote: »

Kaz2904 totally agree with you, I work night duty because it suits my family needs, as far as training goes, I am at the top of my band 2 as a care assistant (been doing the job for 20 odd years) and being blocked from doing NVQ's to take me into a band 3 job, think the H.S stinks at the moment and wish it was time to retire

With band 2 you allready get 44% for nights so they only save 6% by cutting the overtime

remind them that all the day worker not doing nights now need night work assesments idealy before they start.
http://www.nhsemployers.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/AfC_tc_of_service_handbook_fb.pdf
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