Rest Between Shifts Entitlement
European Working Time regulations (EWTR) set out minimum rest period of 11 consecutive hours of rest between working days (12 hours if under 18 years of age).
EWTR has also set out minimum weekly rest periods between shifts:
Weekly Rest Periods
| Minimum Uninterrupted Rest Hours | Number of Days |
| 24 hours | 7 days |
| Two 24 hours | 14 days |
| 48 hours | 14 days |
Compensatory Rest
Where the daily and weekly entitlements outlined above are broken by the undertaking of work, most commonly through on-call, compensatory rest should be given. Principles to be used when developing working patterns and to determine if and how much compensatory rest is applicable were approved by GAPF, following agreement by the GAPF T&C Sub-group and BMA Local Negotiating Committee (LNC). The principles which can be accessed here should be used when devising any local protocol.
Leave
Annual leave ensures that every member of staff has adequate time away from work for rest and respite. There is an expectation on every member of staff that they will fully utilise their entitlement to annual leave during the holiday year. There should be mutual agreement between you and your manager. Requests for specific dates should normally be accepted and agreed and should only be refused if there are justifiable service/staffing reasons for so doing, if this is the case you will be expected to be flexible.
Under WTR the minimum amount of 28 days rest or 210 hours per leave year (pro rata for part time employees). For health and safety reasons employees are not permitted to work in any other post they may have with NHS Grampian during this period of statutory leave. Employees and Managers both have a responsibility to ensure this is enforced. This will enable employees to have an appropriate period of rest from work within NHS Grampian.
The NHS Scotland annual leave policy which apply’s to all agenda for change staff is available on the intranet here:
nhsgintranet.grampian.scot.nhs.uk-Toolkit-Annual-Leave-Policy.pdf
(Please note that intranet links can only be accessed on NHS Grampian computers, if you need further information please speak to your manager)
Annual leave details for medical and dental staff can be found in their terms and conditions available here: