Do remember that the conditions in one NHS trust don’t necessarily match those in others. My wife is a midwife and she has all of her shifts for the next four months or so, with an additional month going on partway through the current month, and she already knows what Christmas shifts she’ll be working. In fact, they even have a handy little website they can give to family members to show their shifts, which definitely helps when organising childcare!
(It’s almost like a bunch of smaller units people think of as one national unit. Reminds me of something else, but I can’t think what…
)