NHS Trust admits nurses have been receiving insufficient rest

East Cheshire NHS Trust has revealed that many of its nurses have been working illegal shift patterns, without sufficient hours of rest.

The problem has been put down to a fault within the Trust’s rostering system, which broke the European Working Time Directive protocol.

Those who were working a late shift followed by an early shift were the main nurses affected; failing to receive the minimum 11 hours rest between shifts.

As of yet, it is not clear how long the problem has been within the rostering system, or indeed if other trusts have been affected, but the Trust has resolved the problem and, looking forward, all shifts have been made compliant.

With an ongoing staff shortage and rise in nurses working 12 hour-plus shifts, it does raise the question of how often similar problems are occurring in other setting across the UK.

One thing Kare Plus will always endeavour to ensure is that all our nurses and healthcare providers operate in a manner that avoids such difficulties. We are here to support the already strained nurses and NHS to help provide a better working environment for our staff and improve the welfare of our customers.

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