A fair, transparent process. Every ballot is randomised and every decision is logged so you can see exactly what happened to your submission.
Every year, leave weeks are allocated through a structured ballot to ensure operational coverage is maintained across all modalities while giving every member of staff a fair, equal chance at their preferred weeks.
There are two stages: a First Draw where everyone submits their preferences, and a Reballot for anyone who didn't receive enough weeks in the first round. The target is for every staff member to end up with at least 4 weeks of ballot leave.
The ballot form asks you to indicate your preferences across three tiers. You are not guaranteed any particular week, but your priority ranking directly influences your chances.
Up to 2 weeks you most want. P1 entries are drawn first for every week, before any P2 entries are considered. If a slot is available and your modality hasn't hit its cap, you are allocated the week.
Up to 2 additional weeks you want, but with lower priority than your P1 selections. P2 entries are only considered after all P1 entries for a week have been processed. The same slot and modality cap rules apply — P2 competes only for what P1 left behind.
You may separately opt in for Week 52 (the Christmas–New Year week). This is treated as a standalone ballot with its own pool of 13 slots, processed independently from the regular weeks. There is no P1/P2 distinction for W52 — all opt-ins are shuffled equally and allocated until slots run out.
Once the submission window closes, the draw runs automatically across every week from W01 to W51, then the Bonus Week W52 separately. Here is exactly what happens for each week:
To maintain safe operational coverage throughout the year, each modality has a maximum number of staff who can be on leave in any single week. These caps are enforced during the draw — once a modality reaches its cap for a given week, further entries from that modality are skipped regardless of how many overall slots remain.
| Modality | Max staff on leave per week | Department |
|---|---|---|
| CT | Computed Tomography | |
| MRI | MRI | |
| IR | Interventional Radiology | |
| NM | Nuclear Medicine | |
| US | Ultrasound | |
| PACS | PACS | |
| BIC | BIC | |
| GEN | General |
Caps shown are the defaults. Individual weeks may have higher caps applied by administrators where coverage allows. The cap in effect at the time the draw runs is the one that applies.
The default slot count for any given week is 13, with the modality caps shown above. However, administrators can apply overrides to individual weeks to increase both the total number of slots and the per-modality caps where coverage allows.
Overrides are set before the draw runs, and the overridden values are what the ballot system uses. You will not see a separate "override" flag on your form — the adjusted figures simply become that week's effective limits.
Weeks that fall during public holidays or school holiday periods tend to be in high demand, as many staff prefer to align their leave with these periods. Administrators may increase the slot count for these weeks (e.g. from 13 to 15) and relax modality caps where coverage allows. This gives more staff a chance to take leave during these popular periods.
Some roles require at least one designated person to be present at all times — for example, paired in-charge roles within certain modalities. Where such a dependency exists, the two staff members are registered as a conflict pair.
During the draw, if one person in a conflict pair is allocated a week, the other is automatically skipped for that same week — regardless of priority, shuffle position, or remaining slots. This is not a penalty; it is an operational safeguard to ensure continuity of care.
The target is for every staff member to receive at least 4 weeks of leave through the ballot. Anyone who receives fewer than 4 regular weeks in the first draw is automatically included in the Reballot — you do not need to request it.
The Reballot is a second, separate draw that runs after the first draw results are finalised. It uses only the slots that were left over after the first draw, and the same rules — random shuffle, modality caps, and conflict pair checks — all apply.
After the first draw, administrators generate a unique, signed link for each eligible staff member. The link is encoded with your employee ID, your registered email address, and exactly how many weeks you are still owed — this number is locked into the link and cannot be changed.
The reballot form opens with the number of weeks you may select already set — you cannot choose more or fewer. For example, if you received 2 weeks in the first draw, your link allows you to select exactly 2 weeks. If you received 3 weeks, you select exactly 1. This ensures the reballot is targeted precisely at the shortfall, not a fresh ballot from scratch.
You choose from whichever weeks still have available slots after the first draw. The available weeks list is published alongside the reballot form.
All reballot submissions are processed in a second randomised draw, week by week, using the same shuffle-and-allocate logic as the first draw. The same modality caps (and any applicable overrides) apply. Conflict pair rules also apply — if a conflict partner was allocated a given week in the first draw, you would still be skipped for that week in the reballot.
The Bonus Week (W52) is not part of the reballot — it is only available through the initial ballot form.
Your total confirmed ballot leave for 2027 is your first draw allocation plus any weeks you receive through the reballot. Results from both draws are combined into a single final record.
Yes. Submitting a second time completely replaces your first submission. Only your most recent submission before the deadline is used in the draw. There is no record of earlier submissions in the final ballot.
It is possible for a highly oversubscribed week to fill entirely before your shuffle position is reached. If you receive fewer than 4 weeks in total, you will automatically be included in the Reballot. The Reballot is your opportunity to select from weeks that still have availability after the first draw.
No. Each week is processed independently. Your P1 submission for Week 5 has no effect on your P1 submission for Week 20. Every week runs its own separate shuffle.
There are two reasons you can be skipped even when the week has remaining slots: (1) your modality cap was reached — for example, if CT already has 4 people allocated for that week, no further CT staff will be allocated regardless of remaining total slots; or (2) you are in a conflict pair with someone already allocated that week.
In both cases, the decision is recorded in the draw log with the specific reason. You can ask your administrator to check the log for any week.
Administrators can increase the slot count and modality caps for individual weeks before the draw runs. This is most likely to happen for public holiday and school holiday weeks, which tend to be popular and where higher capacity can be accommodated.
The ballot form labels each week with its date range and any public holidays it contains — this context is your guide to which weeks may have overrides applied. If you are unsure about a specific week, check with your administrator before the deadline. The values in effect when the draw runs are final.
The reballot is designed to close the gap between what you received in the first draw and the 4-week target — no more, no less. The number of weeks you may select is locked into your personalised link based on your first-draw outcome. This keeps the process fair: staff who received more weeks in the first draw do not get additional reballot picks.
For example, if you received 1 week in the first draw, your link lets you select exactly 3 weeks. If you received 3 weeks, your link lets you select exactly 1.
No. The Bonus Week is entirely separate. Your 4-week target is measured against regular weeks (W01–W51) only. Winning W52 is a bonus on top of your regular allocation and does not affect the number of regular weeks you are entitled to receive or reballot for.
The reballot form is open until administrators close it. You will be notified of the deadline. If you do not submit before the form closes, you will not be included in the second draw. Contact the administrators as soon as possible if you believe you missed the window — they can advise on alternative arrangements for any outstanding leave weeks.
Every draw is run with a fixed random seed recorded at the time it runs. The draw can be replayed with the same seed to produce identical results — the outcome is verifiable and cannot be altered after the fact. The full decision log for every week (original order, shuffled order, and the specific decision for each entry) is retained. Administrators can produce this log on request.
The ballot system allocates weeks; post-draw swaps are handled manually and are not reflected in the ballot system. Please approach the roster team if you need to arrange a change after results are published.