Banding Calculations
DRS bases its banding calculation on the flow chart that is Appendix 1 of The Junior Doctors Contract. Each decision box that is passed through on the way to the banding result is shown along with the result of the decision.
Mostly this process is self-explanatory but there are some points to note:
Based on Work Pattern
Criteria R – Are you resident and carrying out any work after 7:00 pm, or non-resident and doing 4 hours work after 7:00 pm on 50% or more occasions? DRS cannot work out criteria R from the work pattern information as the timing of work and rest within a duty period is not entered. Instead, the criteria R result must be input on the work pattern input screen. When a new work group is created, criteria R defaults to "not satisfied".
For tests that involve weekend work, a weekend is deemed to have been worked if there was any duty after 19:00 on the Friday or on the Saturday or Sunday or before 7:00 am on Monday.
The frequency of an on call rota (1 in 6 etc.) can be input directly on the group details screen. If nothing is entered, the frequency will be calculated by dividing the total number of weekdays in the pattern by the total number on call weekdays. If the weekend on call frequency is different to the weekday frequency it is best to input a considered average for the frequency of the rota.
The test "Do you do a 1 in 6 (inc PC) or more frequent?" is changed for patterns without prospective cover to "Do you do a 1 in 5 or more frequent?"
The test "Do you do a 1 in 8 (inc PC) or more frequent?" is changed for patterns without prospective cover to "PRHO - Do you do a 1 in 6.5 or more frequent?" or "Grades other than PRHO - Do you do a 1 in 7 or more frequent?"
The test "Do you do a 1 in 8 (without PC) or less frequent?" is changed for patterns with prospective cover to "PRHO - Do you do a 1 in 9 or less frequent?" or "Grades other than PRHO - Do you do a 1 in 10 or less frequent?"
Based on Diary Cards
Work levels from diary cards are used in place of most of the values from the theoretical pattern.
Even if calculated duty and work hours are not displayed due to a non complete set of diary cards, the estimated values from the diary cards will be used in the banding.
The same setting for prospective cover is used as in the theoretical pattern. If no pattern has been entered it will be assumed that prospective cover does not apply.
Criteria R can be calculated from the diary cards so the input value is not used.
The frequency of an on call rota (1 in 6 etc.) that can be input directly on the group details screen will be used if it is not zero. If nothing has been entered, the frequency will be calculated from the theoretical pattern (if entered). If there is no other information, the frequency calculated from the diary cards will be used. This approach is used because the choice of monitoring period can have a significant effect on the apparent frequency.
Based on Diary Cards and Pattern Combined
The length of duties and the amount of rest obtained in the diary card study are used to adjust the duties that make up the theoretical pattern. For example, a long day which in theory is from 9:00 to 22:00 might be found from the monitoring results to be on average from 8:45 to 22:45. The pattern is not changed.
In all other respects the analysis is the same as for the work pattern alone.
