Common Rostering Rules

There are lots of different rostering rules that can affect booking shifts depending on what you are trying to book and when the system will also consider what you have booked already. For yourself the errors will always appear on loop as 'you can't book this shift as it breaks a rostering rule' no matter what rostering rule is being broken.

Below will explain some of the most common rostering rules you may come up against when working on the bank that would prevent you from booking a shift.

 

Max hours in one week

This one can either be for a max of 48hrs but if the opt out form has been signed and processed, the max hours in one week will be 64hrs. even if you have signed the waiver, you cannot go over the max of 64hrs.

Also to note, the waiver is only applied to the max hours rostering rule and no others, meaning other rostering rules can still stop you from booking shifts.

 

Night shift before or after a day shift

This one is in place to stop staff from working a day shift and then a night shift starting on the same day, or vice versa.

This rostering rule will also apply if you are attending training during the day. Going this long without sleep puts yourself as well as patients at risk.

 

Continuous rest periods

It is important that staff get enough rest. You need 24hrs of continuous rest in every 1- week period and 48hrs of continuous rest in a 2-week period. The system factors this on the shift start and end times. Sometimes it can look like you have met this requirement as no shifts are booked for a day or two, but it will be the physical hours that can fall short sometimes and prevent a shift from being booked.

 

Minimum hours of rest between shifts

I believe the minimum hours of rest between shifts is set to 9hrs, trying to book a shift that doesn't allow enough rest between shifts will stop you from booking it for your own health and wellbeing.

 

Pattern of duties

This one is a little trickier to predict or explain but mostly comes up if you are booking a mix of types of shifts.

For example, you have a range of day shifts but then try to book a few nights shifts or twilight shifts here and there, sometimes it can make the system flag it as its not falling within the trend of other shifts booked. Max shifts in a row - the maximum number of shifts worked back-to-back is 5.