In short
What this page covers
- The pair on the shift, visible before you publish
- Sessions and lists you set up once
- Swaps that do not live in WhatsApp
- Open shifts when a nurse rings in
For dental practices
Rota software for dental practices, a nurse in every surgery
Put a nurse alongside every list, keep reception and decon staffed, and stop one sick call turning into a day of appointments you have to move. Free, for as many people and practices as you have.
Where the time goes
What actually goes wrong on a dental rota
These are the everyday situations that turn a rota into a source of mistakes, phone calls and needless cost.
01
One nurse is off and a surgery goes dark
It is not one absence, it is a day of appointments. The dentist cannot work alone, so at ten past eight you are choosing between a locum nurse at a rate you did not budget for and ringing sixteen patients to move them. Half of them will not answer before their appointment time.
02
The rota is drawn from the book, and the book moves
The associate swaps her Thursday list to a Friday. The nurse who works Thursdays does not work Fridays. Nobody notices until Friday morning, when there is a surgery, a dentist, a full list and no nurse.
03
Everyone in the building works a different week
An associate three days, a therapist on alternate Fridays, a hygienist Tuesday and Thursday, one nurse who does Saturdays and one who leaves at three for the school run. No two patterns match, so the rota gets rebuilt by hand every single time.
04
Decon is the shift nobody puts on the rota
Instruments come back at the end of the list, which is exactly when the nurse who should be turning them round is still chairside. So it happens late, by whoever is left, and tomorrow morning starts with someone hunting for a set that is still in the washer.
05
The phone rings before anyone is on the desk
Cancellations come in from twenty past eight and the last patient leaves after your receptionist went home at five. The two busiest ends of the day are the two you never got round to staffing properly.
06
The rota is an email and three replies
You send the month out as an attachment. Two people swap in a WhatsApp thread, one nurse never opened it, and the new starter asks you every Monday which surgery she is in. None of it is anywhere she could just look.
How InShift fixes it
A rota that treats the dentist and the nurse as one unit, because your appointment book already does. Everything below is in the free account, with no cap on people or practices.
Solution 1
The pair on the shift, visible before you publish
Every shift carries the role of the person on it, so the week shows you each list with its nurse next to it. A dentist with nobody on the same hours stands out on Monday, while you can still fix it, instead of at ten past eight on Friday.
Solution 2
Sessions and lists you set up once
A morning list, a full day, a hygienist session, an early set-up, a late decon. Set the hours once, say which roles can work it and how many people it takes, then drop them onto the week. A month of rota takes minutes.
Solution 3
Swaps that do not live in WhatsApp
A nurse offers her Thursday in the app, a colleague picks it up, you tap approve. The rota updates itself and everyone is looking at the same version, because there is only one version.
Solution 4
Open shifts when a nurse rings in
Post the uncovered shift and every nurse who could work it gets it on their phone at once, including your part-timers who are not in that day. The first one free takes it. That is a locum you did not have to book and a list you did not have to cancel.
Solution 5
Every practice on one screen
One account holds all your sites. See who is on where, move a nurse who covers two practices, and give each practice manager only their own. It grows when you buy the next one.
Solution 6
Hours ready for payroll
Hours add up as the rota is worked, at each person's own hourly rate. Export the timesheet to Excel for whoever does your payroll. No retyping from a paper sheet, no argument at the end of the month.
A day on the rota in a dental practice
A three surgery practice open 08:30 to 17:30. Note that no dentist appears on the rota without a nurse on the same hours, and that the day is staffed either side of the book: set-up before the first patient, decon after the last one.
| Time | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 08:15-17:45 | Receptionist | Phone from twenty past eight, still on the desk when the last patient leaves |
| 08:00-16:30 | Dental nurse | In early to set up surgery one and start the autoclave, chairside from half eight |
| 08:30-17:30 | Dentist | Full list in surgery one, with a nurse alongside for every minute of it |
| 08:30-13:00 | Associate dentist | Morning list in surgery two |
| 08:30-13:30 | Dental nurse | Paired to the morning list, then decon before she goes |
| 09:00-16:00 | Hygienist | Her own sessions in surgery three, back to back |
Try it without an account
Three free tools that need no sign-up and no email. Build a rota or add up hours right now, and move to an account when the team has to see it.
Frequently asked questions
How many dental nurses do I need for a three surgery practice?▾
Count the lists, not the people. Two dentist chairs running 08:30 to 17:30 need a nurse on those same hours each, which is eighteen nurse hours a day, or ninety a week. Add half an hour at the front for set-up and an hour at the end for decon and you are near a hundred. At around 37 hours each that is just under three, so three nurses, plus someone who can cover holiday and sickness before it becomes a locum booking. Put your own surgeries and opening hours into the rota and you will see your number rather than this one.
Can I see that every dentist has a nurse before I publish the week?▾
Yes, and that is most of the value. Each shift carries a role, so the week lays the clinicians and the nurses out side by side and a list with nobody on the same hours is obvious. Be clear about what the software does, though: InShift is a rota tool. It shows you what you have built so you can plan against it. It does not enforce a staffing rule, guarantee cover or evidence anything to anybody. The judgement is yours, the rota is just where you can see it.
How does the team see the rota?▾
They install the InShift app on their phone from the App Store or Google Play and enter a six digit code you give them. That is the whole setup, no email address and no password to forget. When a list moves and you change the rota they get a push notification, so the nurse booked for Thursday knows it is now Friday.
What happens when a nurse calls in sick at eight in the morning?▾
Publish her shift as an open shift. Every nurse who could work it is notified at the same moment, including the part-timers who were not due in and would happily take the hours. The first to accept has it and you approve with one tap. Often that is the difference between a locum rate and a normal day, or between a full book and sixteen phone calls.
Can I run more than one practice on one account?▾
Yes, and there is no limit on how many. Each practice is a location with its own staff, templates and opening hours. You see everything, a practice manager sees only their own, and a nurse who covers two sites has one rota with both on it instead of two people telling her different things.
Is it actually free, or free until it is not?▾
Free. All the features, as many people and practices as you like, no card and no trial clock ticking. There is no billing in the product at all. We are not going to pretend otherwise on a page whose whole point is that you can trust the rota.