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HealthRoster roster to your phone calendar

Some trusts publish steps for an iCalendar link in Employee Online, the staff side of HealthRoster. Here is what the public guides say, and how to bring the shifts into Shift It.

Vendor menus change and employers set them up differently. Steps checked against Employee Online user guide, iCalendar Links section on .

What it is

About HealthRoster and Employee Online.

  • Employee Online (EOL) is described by Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District as the online self-service function in HealthRoster, where staff can view their past, present and future published rosters in a browser.
  • The only public step-by-step guide we found for calendar sharing is from an NHS trust. It describes an iCalendar link made in Employee Online. We found no matching NSW page, so check with your own rostering team.
  • RLDatix describes its Loop app as the link between staff and the Allocate Optima rostering solution. The Loop pages we read do not describe a calendar export.

Step 1

Get your roster out of HealthRoster.

These steps come from the vendor's own help pages, listed under Sources.

iCalendar link in Employee Online (stays up to date)

Stays up to date

  1. Open Employee Online using your trust's external link, not the intranet. The guide says a link made via the intranet may not work.

  2. Log in, then select the "View and share your roster calendar on other devices" link below your roster. Or choose My Profile at the top, then the "iCalendar Links" shortcut.

  3. Click "Add new" to create a link.

  4. Enter a link description to name the calendar, for example "John's Roster", then click Add.

  5. Use the envelope icon to email the link to an account you want to share it with.

  6. Follow the guidance at the bottom of the page to add the link to your Android device, iPhone, iPad or Outlook.

  • The guide says the calendar shows your current roster back to the Monday of the previous week, plus future approved rosters and approved leave. Unapproved rosters and leave do not appear.
  • It is read-only, so you cannot add or edit items on it.
  • If it stops syncing on an iPhone or iPad, the guide suggests turning Push on, or deleting the link in Employee Online and making a new one.
  • This is one NHS trust's guide, dated July 2023. Other organisations configure Employee Online differently, and some have moved staff to other apps.

Source: [1]

Step 2

Bring it into Shift It.

Shift It reads the calendars on your phone, so a roster feed in your calendar app is a roster Shift It can import.

  1. Get the roster into your phone's calendar

    Use the steps above. Shift It reads the calendars on your phone, so your shifts need to show up in your calendar app first.

  2. Start an import and choose your calendar

    In Shift It, pick the option for shifts that are already in your calendar ("My shifts are in my calendar"). Allow calendar access when it asks.

  3. Pick the calendar and the dates

    Choose the calendar your roster is in and set the date range. It starts at today and runs four weeks ahead, so widen it if your roster covers more. You can also filter by a word in the event title.

  4. Review, then accept

    Shift It lists what it found before it saves anything. Remove anything that is not a shift. If the shifts overlap ones already in Shift It, the review screen shows what changed, what is new and what is gone.

Good to know before you import

  • The calendar only shows approved rosters, so import after your roster is approved.
  • If your organisation does not offer an iCalendar link, ask your rostering team for a spreadsheet of your roster. Shift It imports .xlsx files, and you can also build a repeating pattern by hand.
  • Shift It reads your calendar once, when you import. It is not a live sync, so import again when your roster changes.
  • All-day events and events longer than 24 hours are skipped.
  • Each shift takes its start time, end time and title from the calendar event. Location is not carried over.
  • Shift It cannot open .ics files directly. Add the file to your calendar app first, then import from the calendar.

If your employer sends you a spreadsheet instead, Shift It can import that too. See importing from a file.

Common problems

When HealthRoster and your calendar do not agree.

I cannot find iCalendar Links

The NHS guide places it under My Profile in Employee Online. We found no NSW Health page that mentions it, and the NSW district page we read only covers viewing rosters. Ask your local rostering or IT service desk whether it is switched on.

I made the link from the hospital intranet and it does not work

The NHS guide says to create the iCalendar link using the external Employee Online link, not the intranet.

My calendar stopped updating

The NHS guide suggests checking your device settings and turning Push on for iPhone or iPad. If it still fails, delete the link in Employee Online and make a new one.

My organisation uses Loop, not Employee Online

RLDatix and an NHS board describe Loop as an app for viewing your roster and requesting leave. We did not find public steps for exporting a roster from it to a calendar, so ask your rostering team.

Common questions

HealthRoster roster questions, answered.

What people search for, with straight answers.

How do I sync my HealthRoster roster to my phone calendar?

Where it is enabled, Employee Online can make an iCalendar link under My Profile. One NHS trust's guide describes the steps. Whether your organisation offers it depends on its setup.

Can I see my HealthRoster roster on my phone?

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District describes Employee Online as viewable from any computer with a compatible browser. We did not read a calendar sync page for NSW, so ask your local rostering team.

Does Employee Online show unapproved rosters in the calendar?

Not according to the NHS guide we read. It says unapproved rosters and unapproved leave do not appear in the iCalendar.

How do I get HealthRoster shifts into Shift It?

Add the iCalendar link to your phone's calendar, then use Shift It's calendar import and review the shifts before saving. If you have no link, use a spreadsheet from your employer or build a repeating pattern.

Sources

  1. Employee Online user guide, iCalendar Links section, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (PDF created July 2023). Published by an employer, so your own workplace may differ. Read .
  2. HealthRoster, Employee Online (EOL), Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District staff page. Published by an employer, so your own workplace may differ. Read .
  3. Loop, RLDatix. Read .
  4. Loop Guidance, NHS Lanarkshire (PDF created June 2024). Published by an employer, so your own workplace may differ. Read .

Using a different system? HosPortal, UKG Pro WFM, Deputy, back to the import guide.