How long is a night shift?
Remember Patricia Hewitt being heckled by nurses at their conference last month?
One neonatal nurse from South Tyneside challenged the health secretary about the level of staffing on night shifts, adding 'If you would like to come and work a night shift, Patricia, please contact me afterwards'.
She replied 'Of course I'll do that, and it won't be the first one either.'
So the obvious question is - what were the previous night shifts she did? The Department of Health has released this information to the 91Èȱ¬ under the Freedom of Information Act.
It turns out that in May 2005 she visited Ipswich Hospital from 9.00 pm until 10.30 pm. And in April 2006 she visited an ambulance control centre in Manchester from 9.45 pm until 11.00 pm.
It's not quite the 13-hour night shifts I used to do when I worked on Radio 4's Today programme, but I suppose at least I didn't have to work my way through the ministerial red boxes once I got home afterwards.
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