NHS staff say they’re bullied

Jan 28 2008 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

THE North-East NHS has some of the highest levels of bullying among staff in the country, according to a survey of health service workers.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is among the worst scoring hospital organisations in England with one in five staff saying they suffered bullying by bosses or colleagues.

City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust follows closely, while Gateshead Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is among the best performing trusts in the country.

The picture is repeated in primary care with one in five staff at North Tyneside PCT claiming they are being harassed.

But Northumberland Care Trust and Gateshead PCT are among the best in the country with around one in 10 workers saying they suffered abuse at the hands of their colleagues and managers.

The findings come from a survey of doctors, nurses and administrators.

The statistics come during a year when many trusts were facing cost cutting measures and redundancies while major reorganisation was causing widespread uncertainty.

A spokesman for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust -where 21% of staff said they had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse – said: “Work related stress and bullying are high on the trust’s agenda.

“We have policies in place and local action plans in areas where this is identified as a particular problem.”

He declined to comment on reasons for the high levels of bullying. Health watchdog the Healthcare Commission’s Staff Survey asked staff whether they had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from colleagues or bosses in the last 12 months.

North Tyneside PCT and Sunderland Teaching PCT had significant increases in the number of staff who said they had been abused on the previous year.

A spokeswoman for NHS North of Tyne, the management organisation for Newcastle and North Tyneside Primary Care Trusts and Northumberland Care Trust, said: “We treat all accusations of bullying and harassment very seriously indeed and we received the results of the 2006 staff survey nearly a year ago. Over the past two years we have worked closely with the NHS unions to highlight this important issue to our workforce through a series of training events.”

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Figures unveil worries

PERCENTAGE of staff at the North-East health trusts who had experiences harassment, bullying or abuse from colleagues or managers in the last 12 months.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust – 21%.

North Tyneside Primary Care Trust – 20%.

City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust – 20%.

The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – 17%

Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust – 17%.

North-East Ambulance Service - 17%.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – 16%.

South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust – 16%.

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust – 15%.

South Tyneside Primary Care Trust – 15%.

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust – 14%.

Newcastle Primary Care Trust – 14%.

Northumberland Care Trust – 11%.

Gateshead Primary Care Trust – 9%.