Emergency Services could reap the benefits from changes to working hours
Date: Friday 24 October 2005
Police forces across the UK are being urged to consider a radical new approach to calculating their working hours.
A new system which has already been introduced for ambulance and fire service staff could bring huge benefits to police.
East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) has just introduced a revolutionary rota that will slash the working week to 37.5 hours.
Lothian and Borders Fire Service was the first in the country to try the new method of calculating working hours, and delighted staff have hailed it a huge success.
Police constabularies across the country are now showing interest in the approach.
The radical move provides flexible staff rotas whilst aligning service delivery with better customer care.
As well as benefiting staff by enabling them to work around family commitments, the method also improves service delivery by matching staffing with busy and quiet times.
Manchester based Working Time Solutions (WTS) has pioneered the approach which is set to improve quality of life for 1,000 paramedic, technician and control room employees at 38 locations across the East Midlands.
Paul St Clair, Assistant Director (Operational Support) at EMAS, says the implications of the new approach are huge.
He said: “It will allow us to see how many ambulance journeys we need to provide per hour and align staffing and resources with that.
“The system will also enable us to move to self managed rotas, so teams can choose between themselves when they work and when they have
time off.
“This will mean better service provision at our busiest times, whilst staff have more flexibility in their working hours.
“The whole system will improve efficiency and be more cost effective.”
He added: “We are excited about the change. I have spoken to other users of the WTS system and they are very happy with it. If we get similar results we will be delighted.”
Now EMAS plans to introduce it in other parts of the organisation that have shown an interest.
The WTS system has also been used successfully in the private sector. Staff at Colman’s Mustard were so happy that absence rates halved and efficiency rose from 55% to 85%.
The pioneering approach switches from traditional work patterns to a system of hours worked out over the whole year, called annualised hours.
Kevin White of WTS said: “People in the UK work the longest hours in the European Union – but our long-hours culture doesn’t make us more efficient and can seriously damage productivity.
“Annualisation allows shift patterns to fit production and service requirements....cutting down on costly overtime and labour wastage, but giving employees more acceptable leisure time.
“We expect the system to be greatly beneficial to the East Midlands Ambulance Service.”
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