6 shifts a month2 people a night
Pharmacies
Pharmacy on-call rotas
The argument about an on-call list always starts in the same place: whose turn it was, and who ended up with the public holidays. Both are countable.
Example setup: 12 pharmacies · a rotating night rota · 1 on duty each night · 2 on public holidays · at most 3 turns a month and 2 holiday turns a year per pharmacy.
A typical setup
The duty is defined as a single night shift and the turn rotates through the pharmacies in the district. The public holiday calendar is applied automatically, and the number on duty can be raised for busy dates.
Which constraints apply
- A monthly ceiling of turns per pharmacy
- An even split of public holiday turns
- No back-to-back turns
- Closures declared in advance
- Keeping neighbouring pharmacies off the same night
The result
The monthly list downloads as a PDF you can post publicly. When a pharmacy declares a closure you regenerate the list, and everyone sees the current version from their own account.
How you set it up
- Add each pharmacy as a member. The rotation is between pharmacies, so each one is an entry in the team. The turn order and the fairness rules then work exactly as they do for people.
- Set the monthly ceiling. A cap on turns per pharmacy per month is what stops the same few names carrying the district.
- Treat public holidays separately. Holiday duty is the part people actually argue about. Give it its own ceiling so it spreads across the year, not across one month.
- Collect closures in advance. Let each pharmacy declare the dates it cannot be on duty before you generate, rather than patching the published list afterwards.
Common questions
Can two pharmacies be on duty on the same night?
Yes. Raise the number on duty for the dates that need it — public holidays usually do — and leave the rest at one.
How is the turn order kept fair?
Each pharmacy carries a monthly ceiling and a separate holiday ceiling, and the distribution list shows the counts, so the balance is checked before the list is posted.
Can a pharmacy be skipped while it is closed?
Yes — mark the closure dates and the rotation works around them. The turns are redistributed across the rest.
How do we publish the list?
Download it as a PDF to post publicly, and anyone with an account sees the current version even after you regenerate it.
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