Hospital on-call is a specific organization of working time in hospitals and clinics. Whether we are talking about normal on-call duty, night care or exceptional on-call duty, it is essential to know the rules, schedules, allowances and associated rest periods.
Find out in this article everything you need to know about on-call duty for interns, nurses and health professionals.
What is normal custody?
Normal custody generally corresponds to:
- Night shift, once a week, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. the next day.
- Childcare on Sundays or public holidays, once a month, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
In some hospitals, Sundays can be combined with night shifts, creating a 24-hour on-call basis, paid twice.
Important rule: an intern cannot work more than 24 consecutive hours.
Organization of on-call schedules
According to the number of interns in the department:
- More than 5 boarders: the boarders fill in the on-call roster themselves.
- 4 interns or less: the schedules are completed by senior doctors.
⚠️ Interns are not obliged to work overtime nights without justification.
Safety Rest: Protect Your Health
After each night shift, safety rest is mandatory:
- Duration: 11 consecutive hours
- Objective: total interruption of all hospital or university activity
This time is not deducted from the salary and allows for optimal mental and physical recovery.
Compensation for guards
Normal Guard
- Full ageing: €119.02 gross
- Half-ageing: €59.51 gross
Additional Custody
- Full ageing: €130.02 gross
- Half-ageing: €65.01 gross
⚠️ Since 2016, all weekend and public holiday on-call duty has been paid €130.02.
Monthly limits
- Less than 4 weeks: maximum 16 on-call (€1,904.35 gross)
- Less than 5 weeks: maximum 20 on-call hours (€2,380.44 gross)
Guards in other establishments
Interns can be on call in another department or hospital. Conditions:
- Prior agreement of the heads of schools
- Official agreement specifying the safety rest
- Respect for the current internship for interns
Special cases and exceptions
- Pregnancy: pregnant interns and nurses no longer do night shifts from the 3rd month.
- Transplantation or removal of organs: exemption from on-call duty with compensation and safety rest maintained.
- On-call hospital staff: requires a minimum of 4 interns to form an on-call line.
- Additional allowance: €20 for unforeseen or displaced on-call duty, €59.50 for cumulative 5-hour slots.
Optimize on-call management with software
Managing hospital on-call schedules can be complex and time-consuming. To better organize your teams, reduce errors and comply with legal obligations, software like eBrigade allows:
- Automated management of schedules and on-call
- Automatic calculation of benefits
- Compliance with safety rest
- Optimized planning for interns and nurses
