NHS Staff Survey raises concerns over bullying and discrimination

The latest NHS Staff Survey has raised concerns as a worrying number reported experiencing bullying, discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

The annual survey was answered by nearly 300,000 NHS staff, and found that 13 per cent of staff had experienced bullying from their manager, with 18 per cent reporting bullying from colleagues and one in 11 having felt discriminated against.

28 per cent said they had experienced harassment from patients and the general public, with 15 per cent of staff reporting experiencing physical violence.

Staff also cited stress as a problem, with a third of respondents reporting work related stress within the last year, and 48 per cent believing that their organisation was understaffed.

Despite these negative findings, the survey did show improvements in some areas, with 80 per cent of staff reporting that they feel able to do their job to a standard they are personally pleased with, up from 78 per cent last year. The proportion of staff who said that patient care is their organisation’s top priority increased from 67 per cent to 73 per cent, and the proportion of staff that said they are able to contribute towards improvements at work has risen from 59 per cent five years ago to 70 per cent. 89 per cent also agreed that their organisation takes positive action on employee health and wellbeing.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: “This feedback from 300,000 frontline NHS staff contains encouraging signs that the health service is steadily becoming a more supportive employer, but it also includes continuing warning signs about the importance of every employer tackling discrimination, bullying and harassment, supporting staff health and wellbeing, and giving staff the support they need to provide compassionate high quality care. The best NHS employers know that staff wellbeing and high quality patient care are two sides of the same coin.”

Neil Churchill, director for patient experience at NHS England, said: “Staff feedback is a good way of predicting patient experience and the improvements we have seen in levels of staff motivation and engagement promise future improvements in the quality of patient care. It is also clear, however, that staff face growing pressures in meeting rising levels of patient need. The quality of staff experience needs to remain a high priority for the NHS if we are to support our staff and sustain improvements in patient experience.”