Nurse made to work 24 hours straight. Is this legal?

TylerDurden36

Hi. My partner is a nurse in a private care home. Last night she was working a 12 hour night shift 7pm to 7am. A few hours into her shift the nurse who was meant to be starting at 7am rang in sick. The company couldn’t get anyone else in to cover this shift and couldn’t get an agency nurse either so told my partner she had to stay and cover the shift. So she will have worked for 24 hours straight through. She is the only nurse in the building which is a 2 floor care home with around 40 residents. Anyone know if this is legal? Sure isn’t morally right but could do with knowing where she stands legally. Thanks.

anticlaus105

If she has opted out of the working time directive and her contract allows it, then I believe they can enforce it (which really doesn't sound right to me but was put froward by a HR professional). Otherwise she would have to agree.

onwards&upwards

It’s not safe practice, but neither is leaving the home with no nurse.  

I hope the management continued to try and find a nurse to relieve her ASAP, no matter how much that cost, and allowed her to sleep for a few hours when she could.  If not maybe it’s time to look for a job elsewhere if not.

sharpe106

Even opting out of the working time directive, does not mean they can force you to work overtime. They can ask and you can either accept or refuse. Also if she is still at work and has worked 24 hours I would be getting them to provide a taxi to take her home as it is not safe driving after working all those hours. 

Nebulous2

sharpe106 said:

Even opting out of the working time directive, does not mean they can force you to work overtime. They can ask and you can either accept or refuse. Also if she is still at work and has worked 24 hours I would be getting them to provide a taxi to take her home as it is not safe driving after working all those hours. 

It's a bit more complicated than that however. If there is no-one to cover, as a nurse you can't leave or it could impact your registration.

The employer should be doing what they can, including trying to get somebody else in.

Thrugelmir

Did she actually work for 24 hours? Or was she on call some of the time. 

mattyprice4004

She can’t just leave the home without one, so it’s fair enough - but an awful situation. 

Unfortunately it’s not that uncommon - my partner is in exactly the same role, and has had the same happen. 

Treated her to a takeaway when she woke up after a long sleep  

BrassicWoman

work, or be in the building?

Andy_L

You are entitled to  a rest period of 11 hours in every 24. However there are get outs in the event of, among other things 
"the job needs round-the-clock staffing so there aren’t interruptions to any services or production (eg hospital work)"
Nevertheless they are still entitled to "compensatory rest" to make up for it

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

unholyangel

Andy_L said:

You are entitled to  a rest period of 11 hours in every 24. However there are get outs in the event of, among other things 
"the job needs round-the-clock staffing so there aren’t interruptions to any services or production (eg hospital work)"
Nevertheless they are still entitled to "compensatory rest" to make up for it

https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work

It's the employee's duties that need to be continuous, not the employer's (gallagher v alpha catering). That is to say, it's designed to cover situations where maybe a surgeon is in the middle of an operation, they can't just go on break or end their shift because they're due to. They'd need to finish the operation first.