Hello, I work in the theatre recovery room and I'm afraid I'm not exempt from nights. I tried to argue my case against working nights - that was about 7yrs ago, and the Royal College of Nursing website was featuring a Swedish report at that time, purported to show a link between breast cancer and working nights.
However, that report now seems to have been shown to have flaws in it, and as there's no proven link between breast cancer and night shift patterns, then I've always had to work nights.
I've had two different breast cancer primaries, one in 2001 and the second in 2010 - my treatment has left me with localised nerve damage to my mastectomy site, and damage to my pec muscle. I have a moving and handling assessment, and my Boss is good, but the assessment is not worth the paper it's written on to be honest. They know I find it painful to handle a particular small piece of equipment, because of how I need to hold it, but they still rota me to place it in storage after use, and it's largely up to me to negotiate swapping to a different duty.
If I were to damage this equipment, I would be in trouble for handling it, when my moving and handling assessment states to work within my capabilities, but no-one takes responsibility for just giving that task to someone else, and letting me do something else instead. It's up to me to swap the task, and it makes me feel stupid that I can't do it, and fearful that pain would make me drop the machine. In all other ways, I'm able to do my job normally.
So, my advice to you is to please talk to your Occupational Health Dept about your concerns/worries about working nights/on call, and anything else that may come up - they've been much more supportive of me than my Colleagues, who I know don't actually mean to be insensitive or hurtful, but that's how I see it at times, when I'm already embarrassed about not being easily able to do that particular task.
With much love to you!
Shelley
