Should older workers still be expected to do night shifts?

July 10, 2026 — 3:01am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

I work in a hospital. Like many doctors of my generation I have spent decades participating in evening shifts, overnight on-call rosters and emergency call-backs. While I remain committed to patient care and to contributing fairly to the service, I have found that after-hours work has become progressively more taxing over the past several years.

I am conscious that emergency departments and hospitals are under increasing pressure, making roster flexibility difficult. Equally, workforce retention may depend on creating sustainable arrangements for experienced clinicians.

Should workplaces in 24/7 industries introduce age-related reductions in after-hours duties, or should roster equity require everyone to continue participating equally regardless of age unless there is a specific health exemption?

Hospital work would be demanding at the very best of times. I can only imagine how much the pressure would increase as you’re asked to work outside ‘typical’ business hours, possibly affected by disrupted sleep. “Taxing” seems like an understatement.

My first instinct after reading your email was that, yes, age must surely come into consideration for hospital administrators. But I have no........

© WA Today