It would be interesting to know if the shift duration is actually to be 14 hours (12 + 1/2hrs work with 1 x 1hr and 2 x 1/4hrs breaks) which is the sort of setup my daughter sometimes works nursing up in Manchester. Either way not my idea of safe working practice for either patients or staff.

Although I don't work in the health service I have worked 12 hr shifts and I can tell you I have been so tired at the end of a busy shift that I have made mistakes.

Lives aren't threatened by mistakes apart from possibly my own. Nurses should not have to work these sort of hours on a regular basis. Long shifts causes tiredness, tiredness causes mistakes, mistakes costs lives.

Lets not forget these people have to travel to and from work, eat, have some sort of family life and yes they also have to squeeze some sleep in too, before going back to work.

Let these brilliant people who come up with these shifts, work these shifts and maybe they won't be so willing to impose them on others.

I find it awful these long shifts are allowed in such important professions. Drivers, pilots etc are not allowed to work such long hours? I wouldnt trust myself after regular 12 hour shifts to make correct decisions or be able to hold my temper? Its ok on occaisions or temporary but surely on these longs shifts a persons ability to think, act correctly and their temperament must suffer?

It makes no sense - except to the educated idiot in the office. I suspect that changing the shift pattern reduces the wage bill - all good in theory, but what then happens in practice is that staff sickness increases and agency nurses are called in to cover absences - and this solution costs a great deal more than might be saved by shift pattern changes. Bureacracy at its finest. Too few managers can think independently and innovatively anymore. They rely instead on institutional dogma, pointless meetings and costly consultations which solve nothing, but generally succeed in worsening an already difficult situation.

I have also worked 12 hours at at stretch for months at a time. It is utterly debilitating, led to mistakes and eventually led to me leaving the job. That we would force essential members of society to suffer this is deplorable.I am very disappointed that the Hospital is considering this inhumane treatment. I would not be surprised if there were a loss of nurses from the Hospital as a result. This potential loss of years of invaluable experience and dedication to the profession is a risk to patients and is totally unacceptable. I do not want to see strikes at the Hospital but I really hope the nurses stand up for themselves on this. The public would certainly be behind them on this issue. Shrewsbury Hospital is a good Hospital but the management are making a bad mistake over this.

I wonder who actually thinks these things up. Do they understand the law and their own responsibilities.

12.5 hours of work is in deed actually longer than that because you have to add breaks so at least 14 Hours. Presumably that would 3 days a week out 7 so a two shifts covers 6 days. How do they cover the other day? Or is it a 5 shift system where the staff constantly change their work over a long shift pattern. But that can't be so because night shifts have less to do and are therefore have lower staffing levels on wards. Does this mean that out patients will be open through the evenings or will that staff be on a different shift pattern. I see no end of problems just making the system workable in time management.

What happens to the staff who have conditioned their hours to match partners work patterns for child care? Do they care?

Then comes the safety aspects. Obvious these differ with each ward A & E could be very dangerous where as stroke recovery and rehab might be OK in the nights but not in the days. Do theatre nurses work 14 hours at a time? Can I go in early in the shift because I don't want them attending me at the end of the shift. Of course the management who imposed a long shift system would be held both corporately and individually responsible for any mistakes caused in terms of the H & SAW etc Act.

Sack the proposer and ask the staff how the system can be sensibly improved with out danger.

We know the government wants them to fail so maybe this is a dictated efficiency intended to undermine the operating efficiency of the NHS in order to justify privatisation. As tax payers we should be challenging the management of this hospital which has just set about an efficiency scheme that has plunged them into even more debt. Are the health experts or business managers? As business managers they need to realise that health services do not work that way because it matters if you fail, people die.

This type of shift pattern was in place at Stafford Hospital throughout all their recent problems although I think the shift has been slightly shortened now. There may have been no lessons to be learned from their experience but I do find it hard to believe that exhausted staff offer the best way to look after ever increasing numbers of ever more complex patients. Anyone who has worked this many hours at a stretch will know that the ability to concentrate decreases towards the end of the shift. I do hope the nursing body are allowed to express any reservations they may have in a free and open forum.

As your wife is a nurse what does she say about the proposal?

I used to work 12hr shifts , it meant you only worked 12 days in each 28 days, okay I wasn't being at the beck and call of a ward of patients, it was driving a 150mph police patrol vehicle sometimes with arms on board.

I was actually looking forward to this as I work at the PRH, however I was soon disappointed to hear that A&E will be exempt, however we are able to work a 14 and a half hour shift if they need us to. I on the other hand feel almost forced to do nights (as this is a ten hour shift not eight) so I am able to have extra time with my ever growing children. I work full time because my partner and I were bashed by the recession, due to him working in construction and I have missed milestones ( including first words and steps) in my youngest daughters life which i will never get back due to having to work full time so we are able to survive, WITHOUT draining the economy by taking all I can in benefits. I can work 4 night shifts or 5 day shifts, and i would rather work nights to have the extra time at home with my children. Despite this I still find it very difficult to support a family of four with the feeling of running in a hamster wheel. I have been trying to move for four years as I currently have no insulation, no double glazing and not so much as an over bath shower. These things are the least you can expect from most council houses nowadays and if I was a single mother getting all the benefits I could get my hands on I would have little problem moving or having work done to the house. I know this because I know other council residents who find ways to screw the system, yet as an honest working, tax paying FULL RENT PAYING TENANT it would appear I am not entitled to these things until 2021, so it's another long winter whereby I spend £30-£40 a WEEK so my children don't find themselves with pneumonia by Christmas.

I would appreciate some incentive to work as at the moment it appears the only time you get what you want is if you are claiming every benefit you can from the state and all I want to do is watch my children grow up and be able to support my family like a working mother should!!

Strangely a colleague who works at Shelton Hospital in Shrewsbury, and part of the same NHS Trust, has had her shifts changed from long days to 1/2 days in the quest to save money and provide ?better patient care none of this seems to be joined up, is it likely that it is the same person who made these decisions or are they completely unconnected!!??

Good luck with managing holidays and covering sickness. Fancy working 37 hours in three days and then be expected to help cover leave anyone? Or maybe they'll use Agency or Bank staff for that. So that'll save money then....

Hi everyone. I am a nurse in critical care and I have worked 12.5hr shifts for 7 yrs now. It is an intense area to work in and you do get tired but you get full time hrs and pay for only working 3 days a week! The main reasons for getting tired are that you have to fight for everything for your patients now and the work load has increased but there are less nurses!! I could not go back to working 7.5 hr shifts now! The thought of possibly having a run of 10 shifts in a row doing earlies, lates and nights doesnt bear thinking about! With 12.5hr shifts you feel like you are having days off and are getting chance to recover from your shifts. It is better for patient continuity as they get to know the nurses who are looking after them and the nurses know the patients and notice changes in thier health more quickly. Also the covering staff isnt as bad as you would think. To cover 24hrs working short shifts you would need 12 nurses if you had 4 nurses per shift, but with 12.5hr shifts you would only need 8 nurses. And a really big bonus is that if you do work your 3 shifts together the begining of one week and the weekend the next week you have a week off inbetween without using any annual leave.