The Night Shift 1850-Present: Re-imagining Sleep, Work and Wellbeing for Healthcare Professionals in English and Scottish Hospitals

Night Shift aims to radically re-imagine sleep work and wellbeing for healthcare professionals working at night on the general hospital ward in England and Scotland. Complimenting a burgeoning field of clinical and epidemiological research on healthcare fatigue, the project will reveal the ways in which long-standing working cultures and professional identities have normalized unsafe and unsustainable working conditions. Working across medical, environmental and labour histories, the project will provide the first systematic history of the British hospital at night. By drawing on cutting edge research in the studies of the night, sleep and everyday temporalities, Night Shift will also deliver a new framework to understand the lived experience of night shift work in the hospital. The project team will bring historical insights into conversation with contemporary challenges through semi-structured interviews and Participatory Action Research (PAR) with night shift workers. This interdisciplinary work will feed into better policy and practice supported by partnerships with three NHS Foundation Trusts in the North East of England, as well as the charity sector. Over five and a half years, the project team will deliver an ambitious programme of academic, public engagement and policy outputs, including an exhibition at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).