Suzanne Barnes is a Sister on the Cardiology B6 Ward at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. She has been doing compressed working hours for just over a year.
"Twelve months ago I was working full-time, but following an agreement with my Matron, I have been able to compress my hours to work a nine-day fortnight. This means that now I complete my contracted hours over nine working days (instead of 10) and have a day off every two weeks.
This new working arrangement allows me to spend more time with my horses and take part in dressage competitions. It also helps me to maintain my levels of productivity, resilience and improve my overall wellbeing.
Other benefits are my travel time and costs have reduced, Band 6 colleagues have the opportunity to develop themselves by covering some of my role on my days off, and they also get an insight into the role of a Sister. I am also flexible on which days I have off so that the needs of patients and colleagues can still be met.
Having the ability to work in a different way has made a big difference to me and I think it is a great way of attracting and retaining our nurses at ELHT."