Meet Maya.
Today, she becomes a doctor.
Tomorrow, she joins 150 other doctors in the Internal Medicine Department.
Maya is one of them.
Every day, Maya asks:
Where should I go today?
For Maya, it’s one question.
For the senior doctor who builds the schedule, it’s hundreds at once — who works where?
Get it wrong, and the ICU has no doctor this weekend.
ICU · weekend cover
SatSunDayOseiKhanNight?Reyes
It happens. We’ve seen it.
So how is it decided today?
An Excel spreadsheet. Built cell by cell.
XWard_Rota_2026 — v6_FINAL_final.xlsx
C6
fx
Theatre
A
B
C
D
E
F
1
Doctor
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
2
Osei
ICU
ICU
Clinic
Theatre
3
Khan
Theatre
On-call
ICU
Clinic
4
Reyes
On-call
Theatre
ICU
Clinic
5
Park
Clinic
Clinic
On-call
ICU
6
Maya
Theatre
ICU
On-call
7
Idris
ICU
Clinic
Clinic
Theatre
Rota
Sheet2
+
Now add real life.
Part-time 0.6Wedding in SeptemberMaternity leave80-hour week capRequires senior mentoringExam leave
Every dot is a doctor — and each one carries variables like these.
It stops being a timetable.
It’s an optimization problem.
Thousands of constraints. One resource: people. The most expensive, most stretched one you have.
XWard_Rota_2026 — v6_FINAL_final.xlsx
C2
fx
Theatre
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
1
Doctor
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
2
Maya
ICU
ICUTheatre
Clinic
Clinic
On-call
Leave
Leave
3
Osei
Clinic
Clinic
Theatre
On-call
ICU
ICU
Night
4
Khan
Theatre
On-call
ICU100h
Clinic
Clinic
Night
ICU
5
Reyes
On-call
TheatreNo cover
Leave
Leave
Theatre
Clinic
Clinic
6
Park
Night
Clinic
On-call
ICUNo senior
Clinic
Theatre
On-call
7
Idris
Clinic
ICU
Clinic
Theatre
Night
On-call
Theatre
Rota
Sheet2
+
3 errors
Move one doctor, and three other things break.
This is why Standard Form exists.
Every shift covered, every rule kept, every person balanced.