{"id":10941,"date":"2026-05-26T15:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rldatix.com\/en-uki\/?p=10941"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:28:11","slug":"bringing-fairness-flexibility-and-confidence-to-emergency-department-rostering-through-digital-self-rostering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rldatix.com\/en-uki\/resources\/bringing-fairness-flexibility-and-confidence-to-emergency-department-rostering-through-digital-self-rostering\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing fairness,\u00a0flexibility\u00a0and confidence to Emergency Department rostering through digital self-rostering\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust provides acute care, including emergency and general hospital services to over 330,000 residents in South West Surrey, as well as providing regional specialist cancer services for up to two million people. Within its busy Emergency Department, Consultant workforce sustainability, fairness and wellbeing had become a growing priority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using RLDatix Optima<\/a>, the Trust introduced Consultant self-rostering, supported by live session balance monitoring. Underpinned by robust job planning in RLDatix JobPlan<\/a> and configuration of contracted activity using Activity Manager<\/a>, Royal Surrey moved away from a traditional, top-down approach to rota planning towards a more transparent,collaborative and equitable model,with Consultants able to submit and manage their shift preferences, and review their PA balances,through Loop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designing the approach around service demand, job planning and real clinical workflows has enabled Consultants to take greater ownership of when and how they work, while maintaining safe staffing and contractual compliance. The result has been improved flexibility, clearer visibility of workload, and increased confidence among Consultants in the fairness of the roster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, self-rostering is embedded as business-as-usual in the Emergency Department and is being actively explored for wider rollout across other staff groups and specialties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is more than technology. It\u2019s really a cultural change towards shared responsibility, transparency and trust.\u201d <\/p>\nHanna Kelly-Peberdy,
Medical Rostering Manager at Royal Surrey<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The challenge <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before the introduction of digital self-rostering, Consultant rota planning in the Emergency Department was widely perceived as inflexible and, at times, unfair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosters were built through a traditional, centrally managed process that offered limited visibility for Consultants and little opportunity to influence shift patterns. This often resulted in frustration, frequent swap requests and a heavy administrative burden for rota coordinators and operational teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As outlined by Hanna: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTraditional rota planning can be quite rigid. It\u2019s not always collaborative. It\u2019s not always fully transparent.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In a high-pressure ED environment, this lack of flexibility amplified existing workforce pressures, contributing to burnout risk and making recruitment and retention more challenging. Consultants had limited control over work\u2013life balance, and concerns around equity in shift distribution were difficult to evidence or resolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, manual and paper-based processes made it harder to ensure that workloads aligned consistently with agreed job plans and contractual commitments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trust recognised the need for a different approach \u2013 one that could improve wellbeing and engagement without compromising patient safety or service delivery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The approach <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Royal Surrey introduced Consultant self-rostering in the Emergency Department using RLDatix Optima, supported by live session balance monitoring aligned to individual job plans held in RLDatix JobPlan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than imposing a fixed model, the approach was co-designed with Consultants, Emergency Medicine clinical leads, operational managers, Medical Workforce and Medical Rostering teams. The aim was to create a process that reflected real service demand while giving Consultants meaningful input into how the roster is built, supporting fairness, transparency and inclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Kerry Steele, Head of Medical Workforce explains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis came from the department and the Consultants themselves, which really helped with engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Key principles shaped the design: <\/p>\n\n\n\n