Work with no breaks

alien765

My wife works with adults with autism and came home Thursday evening in tears after being assaulted yet again. She started work at 8am Wednesday and finished 8pm Thursday and apart from 10pm Wednesday to 8am Thursday when she was sleeping in and still on duty and not allowed to leave the building she was on duty the whole time with no breaks is this legal.

elsien

If your wife works in a care home or similar, doing a shift pattern then the usual rest break rules do not apply and her rota should include compensatory rest breaks.
There is some information about rest breaks towards the bottom of this page, although I can't vouch for its validity.

https://www.crunch.co.uk/blog/contractor-advice/2011/07/26/care-workers-what-are-your-rights-at-work/

I used to work in a similar setting, and those shift patterns were normal in some places although I always considered 24 hours to be long enough - it's not fair on either staff or residents if people are too tired to do their jobs properly.

It is usual in care to not be able to leave the building on a break. However unless your wife is lone working, in which case there should be a lone worker policy in place, it is also usual for staff to take 5 or 10 minutes for a cuppa and a bit of time to themselves when it's quieter, while the other staff support the residents.
There should be a risk assessment in place with regards to managing challenging behaviour, incident forms for when an assault has taken place, and it would also be good practice to have a debrief and to give the staff member concerned time to gather themeselves and to consider whether anyone else should step in to cover at that point.
If these aren't in place, she needs to be discussing it with her line manager. Work places have a responsibility to safeguard their staff and although there will always be people who are challenging, there should be mechanisms in place to manage that so that the wellbeing of the person and the staff supporting them is being fully considered.

alien765

Thanks for replying your answer is as I thought but the 10 minutes for a cuppa doesn't happen so someone screaming in your ear for 12 hours is a long day .

custardy

tough gig.Your wife has my respect Not a job I could do.

alien765

Thanks and the way social care in this country is going nobody will do it then we are in for some major problems

xapprenticex

You've got to be a very special person to do that job AND care about your patients. So kudos to your wife.

Art_Deco

Is your wife a lone worker? If not she needs to make sure she takes any chance she can for a break even for 5 minutes to recharge her batteries , this is all to common in this type of job, make sure all incidents are reported to management, how is she expected to restrain / manage challenging behaviour etc on her own.

ohreally

Join a union, situation is unlikely to improve and this can be used as an organising issue to encourage others to join.

elsien

alien765 wrote: »

Thanks for replying your answer is as I thought but the 10 minutes for a cuppa doesn't happen so someone screaming in your ear for 12 hours is a long day .

If someone is screaming for 12 hours a day then they need more support than they're getting, and I'd be concerned their care plan was inadequate. It can't be much fun for them either if they're showing that level of distress.

alien765

They are happy screaming shouting if you know what I mean. I don't know but what my wife says it's their last chance before being institutionalised

alien765

There is no option for a 5 minute break they are understaffed so tomorrow she is handing in her notice