Creating a nurse rota

An important part of managing veterinary nurses is ensuring that there are an appropriate number of nurses in all of the different areas, at all times, within the practice. A good rota will help to ensure a smooth running and efficient practice and also maintain staff morale, especially if the rota is fair.

As Garrett (2008) explains, ‘A survey carried out by the management analysis indices (MAI) team in March 2008 found that the typical management time taken for creating staff rotas for vets, nurses and receptionists can be over 600 management hours per year in larger practices (those with over 30 staff)’. Therefore the more information and help obtained with compiling rotas, hopefully the less time will be spent producing them.

Veterinary nurses are increasingly becoming ‘fee’ earners within practices, with many practices now running very effective nurse clinics and nurse consultations. If a practice uses veterinary nurses to conduct clinics and consultations they very often monitor the nurses’ performances and some practices base remuneration and bonuses on the turnover that nurses generate from the clinics and consultations. If pay and performance is reviewed it is imperative that the veterinary nurse rota is fair, allowing all nurses who take part in the clinics an equal amount of time in the consultation and clinic areas. By having the same amount of time it gives the nurses an equal proportion of the clients available, enabling them to generate even amounts of turnover. From a client perspective it is good to have a pattern as to which nurses run which clinics on particular days as most clients like to build a relationship with the nurse and will prefer to make appointments with the same nurse each time they visit. This can be particularly important in weight clinics, where the nurse can follow the patient's progress from start to finish.

External factors

When creating a nurse rota it is important to ensure that the person has a firm knowledge of the external factors that may affect the rota, such as working time regulations (WTR), maternity and paternity leave, adoption leave and nurse training.

WTR

If the practice provides its own out of hours cover, and the veterinary nurses remain on premises for this, then these hours will be subject to the WTR. If the nurses have not signed an agreement to confirm that they have opted out of the WTR then the hours that they work on a weekly basis will need to be carefully calculated to ensure that they are not exceeding the limit and also that they are receiving adequate rest periods between working shifts (Table 1).

The WTR as outlined by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, 2010a), provides rights to:

• A limit of an average 48 hours a week
• 11 consecutive hours' rest in any 24 hour period
• A 20 minute rest break if the working day is longer than 6 hours
• 1 day off each week.

Maternity and paternity leave

It is important to understand any statutory leave that staff may be entitled to, for example maternity leave, especially if the rota is produced many months in advance or an annual rota is utilized.

The European Union Pregnant Workers Directive, states that all pregnant employees (providing they have notified the practice correctly and have worked at the practice for the allotted amount of time) are entitled to 26 weeks' ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks' additional maternity leave, (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, 2010b).

If the employee decides to return to work after the ordinary maternity leave or part way through the additional maternity leave, this may mean revising the rota, particularly if the rota is more than 8 weeks ahead, as employees only have to give 8 weeks' notice to return to work after ordinary maternity leave or during additional maternity leave (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, 2010b; Business Link, 2010a).

In addition to the above, another factor that can affect rota production is paternity leave. An employee qualifies for statutory paternity leave (SPL) on the birth of a baby if they:

• Have, or expect to have, responsibility for the baby's upbringing
• Are the biological father of the baby and/or the mother's husband or partner (including same sex partner or civil partner). A partner is someone who lives with the mother of the baby in an enduring family relationship, but is not an immediate relative (Business Link, 2010b).

An employee can choose to start their leave:

• On the actual date of the baby's birth (whether earlier or later than expected (Business Link, 2010b)
• On a date — as notified by the employee — falling a specified number of days after the actual birth date (whether earlier or later than expected)
• On a date — as notified by the employee — falling after the first day of the expected week of childbirth. If the baby is born later than this date, they must delay their leave until the date of the actual birth.

Eligible employees can choose to take a single block of either one week's or two weeks' SPL (Business Link, 2010c). If the person taking the paternity leave wishes to take it on the actual date of the baby's birth, this could mean very last minute notice, leading to alteration of the rota (Table 1).

Adoption leave

Employees are also entitled to adoption leave, which can affect rota production (Table 1).

An employee can choose to begin their statutory adoption leave on either of the following:

• The date on which the child is placed with them for adoption
• A pre-determined date no earlier than 14 days before the expected date of placement and no later than the expected date of placement (Business Link 2010d).

Student nurse training

In addition to the statutory entitlements already mentioned another factor that may affect rotas is student nurse training. If the student nurses are on college courses requiring 1 or 2 days a week at college, then these days will need to be taken into account and incorporated into the rota. Some colleges prefer students not to be on duty the night before college, and this may also need to be taken into consideration.

In addition, any degree students who undertake block periods of time at the practice, for example 10 weeks through the summer holidays, will also need to be considered if they are incorporated into the rota.

All of these external factors will have an affect on the production of rotas. Therefore, even if they are areas not normally managed by the person who produces the rota it is important for them to understand them, and possibly meet regularly with the member of staff who does deal with them so they can be up to date with any relevant legislation affecting the practice and therefore the rota.

Internal factors

As Garrett (2008) suggests, any special requests need to be taken into account when creating the rota. Some practices provide a request book or ask staff to email in their requests. If this is done it is important that the nurses know how far in advance requests are required to enable efficient production of the rota.

Obviously stating that special requests are required a certain period of time in advance does not always work and there will inevitably be certain times when employees have last minute problems and requests, possibly once the majority of the rota is complete. These situations can be difficult to deal with and it would be helpful to the person creating the rota if the practice provides some clear guidelines on the kinds of situations the rota can be changed for. However, if the person producing the rota can be flexible for the nurses, this may make them more likely to help with similar situations in the future, for example when a nurse is off sick and another nurse who would not normally work that day is asked to cover.

If the rota can be produced in advance it will be of benefit to the nurses. If they know what their working times will be for the following weeks, it will enable them to organize their private life so they can arrange doctors' appointments, school events and other appointments around their shifts. This will reduce the number of last minute requests, helping both the person creating the rota and the nurses.

Having a list of any continuing professional development (CPD) courses that nurses may be on, and taking them out of the rota for the day, is imperative when creating a rota. It is also an advantage to have a list of any nurses who may have appointments to see representatives from drug companies and also a knowledge of when drug companies are providing any in-house training such as lunch meetings, to enable the required nurses to attend if possible.

One of the major problems with rotas is ensuring that they are fair, it is always worth saving past rotas, especially ones that include Christmas, New Year, Easter and bank holidays. This is to make sure that the same person each year does not end up always working the same holiday.

Producing the rota

There are many different methods for creating a rota (pencil and paper, spreadsheets) and now there are also specific computer programs available, such as the rota manager software produced by AT Veterinary Systems. Many practice management systems allow rotas to be uploaded onto the system; this is especially useful for practices where nurses conduct consultations and clinics, so that all of the practice knows who is available when, much the same as for the veterinary surgeons.

In the author's opinion it is useful to use a computerized method so that the rota can be electronically saved making it easy to alter if there are any last minute changes to make.It can also then be emailed to staff and to branch practices.

When producing the rota it is useful to start with a list of all of the areas within the practice where a veterinary nurse is required and any relevant skills or experience required, for example if there is a specific position for a nurse to be conducting schedule three procedures then it is imperative that the veterinary nurse placed at these times is a qualified, registered veterinary nurse with the relevant experience of the schedule three procedures that may be required.

Once the rota has been produced with every area covered and all requests, holidays and CPD taken into account, then it is always worth asking another member in the practice to have a look at the rota and effectively ‘proof read’ it. This can be invaluable as they may quickly identify if the same person is in two places at once or that someone is missing from the rota. However, it is crucial that the correct person is chosen to help, as they need to have a good knowledge of how the rota works in practice and not have prejudices about who works where. Often someone who is not included on the rota is ideal. Obviously if a rota software package is being used then the program should do these checks.

The main concern is that the person who must produce the rota is happy using the chosen method.

Types of rota

Some practices have a set rota, the same each week; this option means the rota only needs to be altered if there is a change in staff roles or positions and for holidays. With this method everyone quickly learns where everyone is scheduled to be.

This type of rota can be done by having each persons name on the rota or by numbering the various areas within the practice; each person is then allocated a number for the week. This can make production of the rota easier as only the list with the people's names and numbers needs changing.

In a practice where nurses have time off for working nights, and the rota changes with the out of hours rota, this can also be done well in advance and can possibly be on a rolling basis. This type of rota can also be produced either by name or numbers.

Conclusion

It is important to have as many facts as possible before starting a rota; these facts will be made up of any holidays, CPD, maternity, paternity or adoption leaves, special requests and college days. It is then important to use a rota production system that works for the person producing the rota and to get the rota ‘proof read’ by another person if not using a rota management program.

Once the rota is produced and distributed it is essential to save a copy to enable a log to be kept of the duties performed by staff and to monitor who has worked which special dates such as Christmas. The main concern is that the rota is fair, the nursing team agree and understand it, and it ensures a smooth running practice.

The majority of people dislike change, so a consistent and accurate rota will be good for morale and team work.

Key Points

• A good rota will help to ensure a smooth running and efficient practice and maintain staff morale.
• When creating a nurse rota it is important to ensure all of the external factors that may effect the rota are understood.
• Producing a rota in advance will be of benefit to the nurses.
• The person producing the rota must be happy using the chosen method of production.