Some of the largest rota teams at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust are trialling self-rostering, allowing doctors to have more say over their own schedules.

It’s part of a general shift focussed on making shift patterns fairer and more sustainable.

The trust wants to extend self-rostering to more teams and is backing up the changes by rolling out electronic rostering, which will improve rota notifications and make sure doctors receive at least 6 to 8 weeks’ notice of their shifts.

A raft of other measures includes cutting duplication in mandatory training by recognising learning completed elsewhere. 3 repeat modules have been removed.

Study leave expenses can now be reimbursed earlier, so doctors are not left out of pocket, and a clearer annual leave policy is in the works.

The reliability of the core administrative systems that resident doctors are also a major focus. Payroll errors are now consistently below 1%, giving doctors peace of mind that they’ll be paid correctly for their work.

Next steps include a study leave policy for locally employed doctors and more improvements to the quality and relevance of mandatory training.