The impossible task!

It's taken around fourteen hours of senior ward staff time to produce and yet it's likely to be the most controversial four week duty rota of the year!

The Christmas & New Year off duty is notoriously difficult, with the pressure of requests from staff, matrons and heads of nursing expecting all major holiday days to be covered and fitting in the correct amount of weekend and night staff into this 'special' week.

No one wants to work on the bank holidays, yet full time staff members still have to fit their hours into the working week and with the added pressure of two full time staff on career breaks and two other staff on maternity leave this has been a very difficult puzzle.

I must admit to a slightly cowardly finale to the duty preparation... As I finished the plan yesterday, tying it into the four weeks beforehand to ensure it was as fair as I could make it, I then placed it in the duty folder and made a hasty exit from the ward. Having worked hard with the deputy sister to make the Christmas & New Year weeks work as best possible, I'd then had to fiddle with the rota's as we tried to knit the four weeks prior to the duty into place (this being written by the usual staff member who thankfully produces most of the off duty!) that had been been completed and sent to me yesterday. It was always going to be awkward fitting things in but we've together managed to make something that should cover most shifts pretty well but I expect a backlash from some people, who'll always find some reason to question our decisions.

Next step is to face the music and try to listen to the rants and explain our reasons to those who probably won't want to hear them. Whilst I view the Xmas Off Duty as a bigger picture of ensuring we are adequately staffed, I remember the days when all I saw was my own shift pattern and know that others still think like this. It's hard to put perspective on such a demanding time of year when we're often working around families, friends and commitments.

And I know I'll feel guilty about some people. It's been so hard to try and fit in the requests everyone made (and we always acknowledged that these were simply requests and not a definitive plan)but again, some people see these requests as determining their duty plan despite what you may communicate to the contrary.

I'm kind of dreading going to work this afternoon but I know that the best way is to simply get it over and done with and hopefully let the dust settle over the coming weeks. I will listen to those with genuine reasons for questioning their rota and will of course allow people to swap between themselves so long as the skill mix of qualified and unqualified staff is maintained but I also know that it's impossible to please everyone and there's going to be some upset.

Maybe I need a few more staff who simply don't celebrate Christmas... There're plenty of religions out there who have other cebrations I could honour...! Jxx