Loop Guide and Frequently Asked Questions

General Loop Information Section 1

How do I access Loop from work or home? Q1

How do I reset my password? Q2

Why has IT suspended my account? Q3

Personal Roster Section 2

Why can’t I see my substantive shifts? Q4

How can I see how many extra hours I am owed or owe for my substantive shifts worked? Q5

How do I know my shift has been finalised or submitted to payroll? (substantive or bank) Q6

Bank (KernowFlex) Section 3

How do I book bank shifts? Q7

It says I can’t book because I am forbidden on the ward. What do I do? Q8

It says I can’t book because “You cannot book this duty because it breaks a personal restriction, policy or working time directive rules. Please contact the Kernowflex team or the Unit directly.”. What do I do? Q9

Annual Leave and Bank Holidays Section 4

I don’t have any leave entitlement. Who calculates and inputs it to my profile? Q10

I wish to change my leave request, but the change cannot be saved? Q11

How do I check the correct hours have been assigned for each leave period booked? Q12

It says I cannot submit my leave request because the percentage is too high? Q13

 

General Loop Information

Loop is the portal used to view your roster and book shifts, request, and manage your annual leave. It has replaced, EmployeeOnline (EOL), MeAllocate and the MeApp which have been retired by the software provider.

Loop also offers social functionality, where you can easily connect with your colleagues. On your accounts’ initial set up, your groups and pages will not be instantaneously available but will sync with the main system overnight and show to you the next day. For options for your groups, click the ⋮ for available actions.

Please do not use Loop to report general rostering issues, these should continue to be reported via the usual methods i.e., email rch-tr.rostering@nhs.net.

Please treat Loop as you would any work system, all usual RCHT rules and policies around confidentiality and conduct still apply. Content shared within Loop is for internal purposes only. Unless otherwise stated, posts and comments should not be shared elsewhere.

As public service employees we cannot promote our private business or profit making activities on RCHT platforms. If you run a business see the Declarations of Interests Policy and fill out the conflicts of interest link on ESR. Any posts about profit making services should be offering a specific RCHT staff/NHS discount.

The system will also allow you to view some of your contract details and any skills you have recorded on eRostering. If any of this information is incorrect, e.g., if you do not have the correct skills recorded, please contact you Manager for these to be updated.

 

Q1: How do I access Loop from work or home?

Download the Loop App from the relevant app store for your phone. Search for “Allocate Loop” or scan the QR code below:

                             

Create your Loop Account:

• Use your email to create your Loop Account, it is recommended to use an email address you will always be able to access easily as this is what you will use for logging into Loop in the future, and in case you forget your Loop password. This can be your NHS email or a personal email address.
• If you already use MeAllocate/MeApp, use your Me login details here instead of creating a Loop account.

Once logged in, connect to your organisation using your EmployeeOnline ID and password.

Loop is optimised for mobiles via the app however, you can access via your laptop or desktop PC should you wish. To access Loop on a PC or Laptop, you can use this link: Loop Link. If you are on a Trust PC, there should be a Loop shortcut, if this does not already appear on your desktop, you can download the Loop shortcut from the application catalogue, search for Loop and install:

 

If you prefer the Web version, you can also access this on your phone and set as a shortcut on your desktop. On Android tap the ⋮ and select “Add to Home screen”:  

Alternatively on iPhone, tap on the  icon then pick:

You can also access via the RCHT Staff App (Android | Apple) by going to the eRoster section and tapping the Loop link there.

 

Q2: How do I reset my password?

Click the link on the login screen that says, “Don’t remember your password?”:

The eRostering team will no longer be able to reset your password for you, we are only able to set up your credentials to initially link your account to RCHT. If you are a new starter and have not received these details within 7 days of your start date, please email rch-tr.rostering@nhs.net, including your CITS PC username on the email, for this to be actioned.

• Please be aware that if you also use HealthRoster/Optima and/or SafeCare, these login details are no longer shared or updated simultaneously. If you change your password for Loop, it will not be the same as your HealthRoster/Optima or SafeCare password, unless you set them to be the same.

 

Q3: Why have CITS suspended my account?

CITS suspend accounts that are inactive over a certain period of time in compliance with Trust Policy. Your account can be unsuspended, provided you are still active on ESR/Payroll.

Personal Roster

Viewing Your Roster                                                                                                                                                                        

Select the calendar icon in the menu navigation bar to see your roster.

Swipe to change the view or select the month in the drop down menu:

Once on your roster you can see your approved rosters:

 

For additional information, tap onto any shift you need to check to view its details, for example, this duty has Overtime assigned to it:

Here you can see how much overtime is assigned. Please be aware that Overtime should not be assigned to anyone whose Net Hours show as owing to the trust i.e., that they haven’t worked their contracted hours. If you have been incorrectly assigned overtime, please discuss with your manager.

And this is a Bank/KernowFlex duty:

Requesting Duties

Click on Request Duty within the Loop app:

Then simply select the roster in which you wish to request a duty. A selection of available duties and rest (DO) shifts will appear.

Click on the required shift or day off, should you need to you can add a note at this stage, then tap “Request” to book:

Manager’s note: The requests will immediately appear on the roster, if you cannot allow this request for any reason, you will need to cancel on the roster and discuss with your team member.

If you need to cancel or remove this request, go back into the Request Duty section, tap on the entry you wish to cancel and tap “Remove”, provided the roster has not been Fully Approved:

If the roster has been Fully Approved, you will need to contact your manager to cancel the request instead.

Requests can only be populated on a roster where the request period is still open, where the roster has not been fully approved and published, where shifts have not been assigned and where the request does not break any Working Time Directive rules or personal restrictions. If you do not see any available rosters open to requests, contact your manager in the first instance.

• Please note the roster default for rosters to automatically close for requests is 9 weeks prior to the start of the roster. Your requests are not guaranteed so please keep an eye on your calendar.

Q4: Why can’t I see my substantive shifts?

There are a few reasons this can happen, for example the shifts may not be rostered, or the roster may not be Fully Approved. Roster approval is the process whereby a manager will fully approve the roster in order to publish to staff individual rosters and it should take place no less than 6 weeks prior to the roster commencing. This is a different process to roster finalisation, which takes place after the shifts have been worked, confirming they have been completed as rostered and will be uploaded to payroll as such. Please contact your manager in the first instance, who can then contact rostering if they are unsure.

Q5: How can I see how many extra hours I am owed or owe for my substantive shifts worked?

All your shifts will need to be visible on your roster meaning the rosters have been fully approved by your manager.

On the App, your hours balance can be viewed by navigating to your personal roster calendar and tapping the information  icon. Next to the Hours you will see your hours balance. “Over” indicates you have potentially worked more hours than you are contracted, accruing as Time Owing in Lieu (TOIL):

“Left” indicates you have not fulfilled your contracted hours and the hours shown are potentially owed to the trust:

If tapping the information icon shows this message:

Your hours are balanced at 00:00, meaning no hours are owed to or by you.

On the Web version of Loop, in the roster section click “View More” to see your hours balance:

Ideally, this should show as per this snip i.e., no hours to show as your hrs will generally be balanced at 0:00, or no more than 11 if you are clinical working 11.5hr shifts.

Hours “left” are your contracted hours not yet worked, accrued over time. This will carry forward until you are rostered for more hours than contracted to reduce the balance:

Hours “over” are the total hours you have worked over your contract; these show as a negative balance on HealthRoster:

This will reduce when you are either assigned overtime within usual contracted hours or take time off in lieu. Please contact your manager, should you need to query the balance value.

It is the responsibility of the individual staff member and their roster manager to ensure that net hours are accurately maintained, ideally balanced, and show that contracted hours have been fulfilled. Net hours are not specific to each unit, it is a record of your contracted hours with the trust, therefore please monitor your net hours regularly and raise any issues to your manager as soon as you notice them, so they can be reviewed in a timely manner.

For example, in the screenshot below, as the option to “show cancelled” duties is ticked, you can see that the shifts on the 11^th and 12^th, which are usual working days in this case, are cancelled for some reason and have not been replaced with any other entries like Annual Leave. This is causing the roster to show that there are 15hrs left, or unfulfilled against contracted hours:

  

To rectify this, contact your manager, who can manually input shifts if they have been missed, or leave if you took leave, onto the roster, and the hours balance will then show correctly once again.

Q6: How do I know my shift has been finalised or submitted to payroll? (substantive or bank)

Your shift details will show  when the roster manager has confirmed your shift. Shifts finalised prior to the Payroll upload will be submitted to payroll:

A shift that has been submitted to payroll will show  on the shift detail, however if this is missing it does not necessarily mean the shift has not been paid.

Please cross reference your payslips if you are concerned any shifts have not been paid. If necessary, review with your manager who can also check the audit trail on the system.

 

Bank (KernowFlex)

Q7: How do I book bank shifts?

Click on Available Bank Duties to see a list of duties available to you, depending on the bank posts you have set up. Click on the  to select from a list of filters should you need to:

 

Tap on the duty you wish to work and click Book Duty when you are certain of your choice. If you need to amend or cancel this shift, you will need to contact the Kernowflex Booking Team on 01872 25 5755 option 1 or rcht.kernowflexbookingoffice@nhs.net.

If no Bank duties show as available to you, there are factors to consider that can affect this, for example:

• Duties will not show if they have already started i.e., any day shifts on the day you are viewing.
• Bank (KernowFlex) shifts will not show available on a day that you are already scheduled to work (either via Bank or Substantively).
• They will not show if you have been rostered a “Day Off” as that blocks the day for Rest.
• Bank (KernowFlex) duties will only show to the relevant band, i.e., if your bank posting has not been set up for the grade you are searching for, duties will not show to you.
• Or there may be a restriction on your account - please see points Q8 & Q9 on the next page for more specific errors.

Bank shifts are paid for the weekly period Thursdays to Wednesdays, are submitted to payroll on Fridays and paid the following Friday. Please see “How do I know my shift has been finalised or submitted to payroll? (substantive or bank)” for screenshots of finalised and submitted duty details. Please cross reference against your payslip in the first instance or ask your manager or Kernowflex team to check the shifts’ audit trail, to confirm the shift was finalised and submitted to Payroll in time for the pay upload.

Q8: It says I can’t book because I am forbidden on the ward. What do I do?

Contact Kernowflex in the first instance. You may have been marked as unavailable, your visa expiry hasn’t been updated or your mandatory training has expired. If your visa is showing as expiring prior to the shift date, please contact your HR People Partner.

Q9: It says I can’t book because “You cannot book this duty because it breaks a personal restriction, policy or working time directive rules. Please contact the Kernowflex team or the Unit directly.”. What do I do?

There are working time directives or personal work restrictions which may have been breached, e.g., too many nights in a row. Call either Kernowflex or the ward directly to override the rules, within reason, to book you in. If you have recently been sick, it is also manager's discretion to book you into a shift, so you would need to contact the unit directly to book.

Annual Leave and Bank Holidays

View/Request Annual Leave

Click on Leave icon in the home menu to view a summary of your annual leave. You can view your annual leave entitlement for the year and any annual leave remaining.

Icons show the annual leave status:  approved,  rejected or cancelled, and  requested.

To request leave, tap the  icon in the top right of the screen and input the leave details.

Enter the date(s) you wish to book as annual leave in the screen that pops up, you can add notes if necessary, then tap submit request when ready:

 

To place a request for a partial day of leave, tap the slider next to Full Day, then input the start and end time of the required leave.

To select the time, keep in mind that the system uses the 24 hour clock, so 1pm is 13:

Note: To change the dates or duration, the original request will need to be deleted, and a new request added. You can delete requests from your Episodes Tab, unless it has been approved on the roster, in which case your manager will need to remove or amend this on the roster for you.

 

If any the duration of leave shown for each episode or your entitlement balance is incorrect, please contact your manager.

Q10: I don’t have any leave entitlement. Who calculates and inputs this to my profile?

If your overall entitlement shows as 0, your manager needs to calculate and apply the correct hours to your entitlement within your profile on HealthRoster/Optima.

Please see the Agenda for Change Annual Leave Policy & Annual Leave Supporting Documents for more information on Annual Leave and how your entitlement is calculated.

Q11: I wish to change my leave request, but the change cannot be saved?

The roster has been approved and published; you will need to contact your manager directly to change it on the roster. This will allow them to re-add any shifts for you that were initially cancelled by the leave being approved as well if necessary.

Q12: How do I check the correct hours have been assigned for each leave period booked?

If the bank holidays fall on your working days and your services are not in operation, you should expect your manager to have assigned all those dates as leave for the whole year in advance. This will give you an accurate entitlement remaining balance. The number of hours deducted from your entitlement are shown in the details when you tap on a certain leave episode. If any do not equal your contracted hours for the period, please contact your manager. Zero hours assigned to the leave will show in net hours as hours you owe, and may result in you inadvertently overtaking leave elsewhere, so it is important to review your leave entries and ensure that they are accurate. See ‘How can I see how many extra hours I am owed or owe for my substantive shifts worked?’

Q13: It says I cannot submit my leave request because the percentage is too high?

For clinical staff, where in your team there are 7 or more of your grade type, the maximum percentage of staff allowed on leave is 15%. If it is necessary for you to book leave when the rule prevents you from making the request, you will need to make the request directly with your manager. If your manager approves your request, they will need to request authorisation from either your HON (Head of Nursing/Midwifery) for approval if 15%-18% or the DON (Director of Nursing/Midwifery) if over 18%.

To check the percentage of staff already booked, click the View button next to “Other Staff Leave” when in the screen to request your leave:

 

If you have any further queries or notes for this guide - please do not hesitate to get in touch with the rostering team.