What the rota looks like from the inside
It tends to arrive as one spreadsheet for the whole department, with your row somewhere in the middle and a column for every day of the placement. Each cell holds a code: a normal day, a long day, a twilight, a night, an on-call, or a rest day (the BMA's page on public holidays for resident doctors notes these are "sometimes known as zero hours' days"). The times behind each code are set locally, so an N on your sheet is not the same shift as an N at the hospital down the road.
In England, under the 2016 contract, the BMA's rostering checklist says you should get the rota template eight weeks before a post starts and your own duty roster six weeks before. So around a change of post, six weeks can be as far ahead as you can see, while friends with office jobs are booking for three months' time.
The same contract sets limits that are useful when you plan. NHS Employers' rota rules at a glance lists a maximum shift of 13 hours, no more than four nights in a row, 46 hours of rest after a run of nights, and weekends no more often than one in three unless there is a clinical reason that has been signed off. Those are the England rules as NHS Employers published them. If you work elsewhere in the UK, or on a different contract, check your own terms.
Consultants work to a job plan. The BMA's overview of job planning describes it as a week of programmed activities, each usually four hours, with on call written in as a rota frequency. That makes a consultant's diary a fixed weekly timetable with on-call weeks laid over it.
How each part goes into Vennado
| On your rota | In Vennado |
|---|---|
| The whole department's sheet | Upload the spreadsheet or a PDF. If there are several names, Vennado asks which row is yours. A big sheet that leans on a key, pager numbers or shading is the hardest kind to read, so check every shift. |
| Local shift codes | Any code it could not place is listed with its best guess. Correct the times before you accept them. |
| Nights | Read as one shift that ends the next morning. With Allow sleep after a night shift on, the seven hours after each night are blocked too. |
| Zero days and leave | Read as days off, so they count as free. |
| Non-resident on call | Marked as on call. Whether that blocks a window is the plan's choice, covered below. |
| Swaps | Change that one shift by hand, or add the new rota. |
Rota reading can misread. A merged cell, a code with two meanings or a swap pencilled in by hand can all throw it, which is why every shift is listed for you to check before it counts. The guide to turning a rota into a calendar explains what to look for.
Deciding whether on call is busy
The BMA defines non-resident on call as being available to return to work or give advice by phone, without normally being on site for the whole period. Whether that is busy depends on the plan. Supper ten minutes from the hospital might be fine. A match two hours away is not.
Allowing for sleep after nights
With Allow sleep after a night shift on, Vennado blocks the seven hours after each night shift ends, so you are not offered brunch at 10am on the morning you finish. Seven hours is sleep. Recovery takes longer, and planning around night shifts covers which day after a run of nights is really usable.
A worked example
Say you are on four nights from Thursday and finish on Monday morning, with zero days on Monday and Tuesday. On paper you are free from 9am on Monday. Allowing for sleep, Vennado shows you as free on Monday from 3:30pm and all of Tuesday.
Monday, from 3:30pmThe window all three of you share. Tuesday daytime is a near miss: everyone but Cat.
- Work shift
- Sleep after nights
- Everyone free
- Near miss, all but one free
Your friend Cat is a nurse, with earlies, a late and a long day on Tuesday. Ffion is a chef, in the kitchen most evenings. The one window all three of you share is Monday from 3:30pm. You will have slept seven hours after four nights, so make it a curry or the cinema and save the train for another week. Tuesday daytime is a near miss, everyone but Cat, in case she can swap.
Before the rota exists
Around a change of post there may be no rota to add. Tap in what you do know (leave, a wedding, a course) by hand, and tell the group that everything else is a guess. Until your rota is in, Vennado can only show you as free. Add the rota the day it arrives.
What your friends see
They see when you are busy and what kind of busy it is: work, on call, personal or rest. Never what, where or who with. The rota file is read and then dropped. The privacy notice sets out exactly what is kept.
Questions people ask
Can Vennado read a rota spreadsheet with the whole department on it?
Yes. Upload the spreadsheet or a PDF. If Vennado finds several names and you have not said which is yours, it asks. It then lists your shifts with dates and times for you to check. Codes it could not place are shown with a best guess, and nothing counts until you have confirmed it.
How much notice do resident doctors get of their rota?
In England, under the 2016 contract, the BMA says the code of practice gives eight weeks' notice of the rota template and six weeks' notice of your duty roster before a post starts. See the BMA rostering checklist. Other parts of the UK have their own arrangements, so check your own contract.
Does being on call from home count as busy?
You choose, for the whole plan. Vennado marks non-resident on call as on call, and the setting On call counts as busy decides whether it blocks a window. If anything involves tickets or travel, leave it on. It is one setting for everyone in the plan.
What happens when I swap a shift?
Vennado does not sync with rota systems, so nothing updates by itself. Open the plan and edit that shift, or add the new version of the rota and check it again. If the swap was to make a plan work, the day moves from a near miss to a free window once your diary is updated.
Will my friends see my colleagues' names from the rota?
No. Nothing from the sheet reaches the group except your own busy times. The sheet you upload, colleagues' rows included, is sent to be read and is not stored or logged by Vennado. If you would rather not send other people's rows at all, crop a screenshot to the date header and your own row, or paste only your row as text.