National Rota Rules

AVERAGE WEEKLY HOURS

The hours of work contained in a reference period are summed and divided by the duration of the reference period in weeks. The result must not exceed 48 hours.

The TCS rule which this rule is based on takes its definition of the “reference period” from the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR). This is defined as a rolling period of 26 weeks by default for doctors, but employers and employees can agree on shorter and potentially fixed periods. In practice, this tends to be the period of a rota cycle for a junior doctor rota.

TOTAL HOURS PER WEEK

No more than 72 hours may be worked in any period of 168 hours (7 days).

SHIFT DURATION

A shift denotes any continuous period of work.

A shift cannot last more than 13 hours.

REST AFTER ANY SHIFT

There must be at least 11 hours of rest separating any two shifts.

CONSECUTIVE SHIFTS (ANY LENGTH)

No more than seven shifts of any length may be worked on consecutive days.

Where a shift crosses midnight, this will be counted as two shifts being worked on consecutive days.

This rule is more precisely defined as: there cannot be more than seven consecutive days containing work.

REST AFTER CONSECUTIVE SHIFTS

If there is a series of shifts which spans seven consecutive days as described above, there must be a period of 48 hours immediately after the end of the final shift which contains no work.

CONSECUTIVE LONG SHIFTS

A continuous period of work is counted as a long shift if it lasts more than 10 hours.

Two long shifts are considered consecutive if their respective start times fall on consecutive days.

No more than four long shifts may be worked consecutively.

REST AFTER CONSECUTIVE LONG SHIFTS

If four consecutive long shifts are worked (as defined above), there must be a 48 hour period beginning at the conclusion of the fourth shift which contains no work.

CONSECUTIVE NIGHT SHIFTS

A continuous period of work is counted as a night shift if it contains three or more hours which fall between the hours of 23:00 and 06:00.

Two such shifts are considered consecutive if their respective end times fall on consecutive days.

No more than four night shifts may be worked consecutively.

REST AFTER CONSECUTIVE NIGHT SHIFTS

Any night shift as defined above which is not followed by another consecutive night shift must have a period of 46 hours immediately after it containing no work.