Workforce & Rostering — Roster Optimisation

Reducing medical specialty on-call rota clashes by 99%

Using advanced mathematical optimisation to eliminate same-specialty on-call clashes across a 100-doctor, 11-shift medical roster.

reduction in same-specialty clashes: 99%
doctors in the optimised roster: 100+
shifts over a 6-month period: 11

The challenge

When doctors are on emergency medical call, they are generally unavailable to deliver daily patient care within their specialty. When several doctors from the same specialty are on call at the same time, teams are depleted and patient care is impacted. Same-specialty night shift allocations are especially problematic, because those doctors are then unavailable during the day for a full week.

St. Vincent's University Hospital is one of Ireland's major academic teaching hospitals, with 12 surgical and 15 medical specialties, over 50,000 ED attendances and 20,000 inpatients per year. Its medical call roster covers 11 shifts over a six-month period and more than 100 doctors. Avoiding same-specialty clashes while also achieving even shift distribution and appropriate breaks between allocations is an impossible manual task.

Our approach

MedModus built an advanced mathematical optimisation model that eliminates, or at least minimises, same-specialty clashes in parallel with all other rostering objectives and adherence to specific roster rules.

The model balances competing priorities — mandated rules, fair shift distribution, sufficient breaks and adequate specialty cover — rather than treating the clash problem in isolation. The overall objective is to ensure teams have enough cover to provide safe patient care.

The solution

The MedModus RMS optimisation engine produces medical call rosters that respect clinical rules, distribute shifts fairly, and avoid depleting any single specialty at the same time. High-risk clashes that were present in the original manually produced roster — such as an Endocrinology Registrar and Intern on the same week of nights — were reduced to zero or negligible levels.

“MedModus has saved us so much time. The support from their team of healthcare rostering analysts and the quality of the work they do, is great. The quick turnaround time of their optimised rosters is important to us while we manage new intakes of doctors.”

Senior HR Executive, St. Vincent's University Hospital

Outcomes

What changed for the organisation once the platform was live.

99%
reduction in same-specialty clashes
Zero
or negligible high-risk clash levels
Even
shift distribution maintained
Adequate breaks
between allocations preserved
Sufficient cover
for every specialty
100+
doctors rostered across 11 shifts
Faster turnaround
of optimised rosters
Analyst support
from healthcare rostering specialists

Facing a similar challenge?

We will walk you through how this engagement was delivered and what the equivalent first phase would look like for your organisation.

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