Free nurse duty roster template for hospital wards
A weekly Excel duty roster that calculates required nurses from your census, then flags hours-cap, rest-hour, consecutive-day and weekly-off breaks, leave clashes and coverage gaps as you assign duties.
Most free duty roster templates are a blank grid with days across the top. This one checks the roster you build against your own rules: hours, rest, consecutive days, weekly off and leave. You still make every assignment. The template does the maths.
What does the template calculate?
- Required nurses per day and night. Calculated from your census, nursing hours per patient day and staff-nurse share.
- Weekly hours per nurse. Totalled automatically from the M8, E8 and N8 codes you assign.
- Hours-cap flag. OVER appears when a nurse crosses the weekly hours cap you set on the Rules tab.
- Consecutive-days flag. OVER appears when a run of duty days passes your limit (six by default).
- Rest-hours flag. SHORT appears when back-to-back duties leave less than 12 hours rest. Evening into morning is the classic catch.
- Leave-clash flag. CHECK appears when the grid has someone on duty on a day the Leave tab says they are off.
- Coverage gap check. Assigned versus required nurses for every day and night. A positive number means you are short.
What do you fill in?
Five input tabs with orange cells, plus the roster grid. Pick M8, E8, N8, WO or a leave code per nurse per day from a dropdown; the checks recalculate as you go.
| Staff | Your roster: name, role (SN or NA), FTE and area skills such as ICU or Emergency. |
| Wards (Units tab) | Nursing hours per patient day, day/night split and staff-nurse share for each ward (the tab is named Units). |
| Rules | Weekly hours cap, minimum rest hours, maximum consecutive duty days and shift length. |
| Census | The patient census per ward for each day of the week. |
| Holidays and Leave | National holidays, plus approved CL, SL and EL for the week. |
Download the template
One .xlsx file. Sample ward included so every output is visible on open; replace it with your own roster and rules.
Download the template (.xlsx)No email. No signup. Not medical, legal or compliance advice.
How do you use it?
- Fill the Staff, Wards (Units tab) and Rules tabs with your roster and policies.
- On the Schedule tab, pick the ward and set the week's Monday.
- Enter the week's census on the Census tab and approved leave on the Leave tab.
- Assign a code to each nurse for each day, watching the required rows at the top.
- Clear every OVER, SHORT and CHECK, and bring each coverage gap to zero.
What does it not do?
It will not build the roster, balance night rotation and weekends across weeks, or find a replacement who stays under the cap when a nurse is absent at 2 AM. Its checks see one week at a time. That ceiling is why SimpleRosterAI exists: the engine builds every ward roster against all these rules at once, and your nursing office approves it. See how it works.
Frequently asked questions
Is the template really free?
Yes. Direct Excel download, no email, no trial. Input cells are open; formula cells are protected so an accidental keystroke cannot break the checks.
Does it support 12-hour shifts?
It ships with morning, evening and night 8-hour codes. Add a 12-hour code on the Shifts tab in a minute; hours, rest and consecutive-day checks pick it up automatically.
Does it build the roster for me?
No. You pick a code per nurse per day; the template does the maths and the checking. The judgement stays with your supervisor. Building the roster automatically is what the product does.
Will it work in Google Sheets?
It is built for Microsoft Excel 2016 or later. It generally imports into Google Sheets, but conditional-format colours may need re-applying.
Rather approve a finished roster than build one?
₹400 per nurse per month, GST extra. The engine builds it, your nursing office approves it.
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