Working hours

Rest breaks during a shift

Your breaks should always:

• Be uninterrupted
• Be away from the workstation
• Be during working time
• Not be taken at the start or end of the working day
• Not overlap with the daily rest

Daily rest breaks

Students should have an 11-hour break between shifts. Where this is not possible, you must be given “equivalent compensatory periods of rest” or “appropriate protection.” Please note that the 11 hour break between shifts does not include travelling to and from work.

For example; If you work a late shift, 12.30h to 20.30h, and your next shift is an early shift 07.30h to 15.30h this provides an 11 hour break.

Working long days in the clinical areas

Long days should only be used where the student’s supervisors work long days, and the appropriate break between shifts, outlined above, are maintained. Students should be aware of the balance between completing hours; fulfilling their learning needs; levels of fatigue; and travel time which can be up to 1.5 hours. Shift patterns will vary across programmes and different placement experiences.

12-hour shifts should be considered in the context of patient safety; the physical and psychological demands of shift work; the smooth running of the clinical learning environment, and up to 1.5 hours travel to and from placements for students.

In some clinical areas the 12 hour shift is actually 13 hours e.g. the shift starts at 07.30h and finishes at 20.30h This 13 hour shift will include a 1 hour break (or 2 x half hour breaks) which is deducted from the hours worked and up to 30 minutes break (or 2 X 15 minute breaks) which students are entitled to but wilI not be deducted from the hours worked.

Example:
Start of shift: 07.30h
End of shift: 20.30h
Break at 09.00h (15 mins; entitlement), Break at 13.00h (1 hour; discretionary), Break at 18.30h (15 mins; entitlement)
Total hours worked: 13 hours
Total hours which can be claimed: 12 hours

If students are on a long day, they may need to alternate between 3 and 4 shifts per week over the course of a month or have a shorter shift at the end of the placement to account for any short fall in overall hours required for that placement.

Working short days in the clinical areas

Students can ask to work short days (8 hours) even if their supervisors work long days. On a short-day students are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid meal break and a 15 minute tea/coffee break. This means that they will record 7.5 hours on their timesheet (e.g. InPlace).

Example:
Start of shift: 07.30h
End of shift: 15.30h
Break at 09.00h (15 mins; entitlement), Break at 13.00h (30 minutes; discretionary)
Total hours worked: 8 hours
Total hours which can be claimed: 7.5 hours

Working Weekends

Experiencing a placement at weekends is required if this fits the needs of the service and if it is required by your course. Service provision and ways of working are different at weekends and therefore it is beneficial to experience this before you qualify and indeed essential on certain programs.

Working night duty

Students are required to undertake night duty if it is required as part of their programme.

In the interests of safety, students should avoid walking to cars or public transport, for example, during the middle of the night.

Recording of placement hours

Placement hours are recorded on an online system called PEMS:

There is a full guidance sheet on how to complete the online timesheet in the shared documents section within InPlace.

Completing the required number of hours

There is a requirement for learners to undertake a defined number of clinical learning /practice hours over the course of the programme. The programme plan is designed so that learners can achieve these hours if all the clinical experiences are completed as planned. Learners who miss parts of their allocated clinical practice (whether that be hours or specific experiences) may make up additional hours when they are working in clinical practice. See the section ‘Making up missed placement hours’ below. Learners will not normally make up additional hours during theory weeks.