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Showing results for tags 'Bullying'.
Found 246 results
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News Article
'We feel bullied' say emergency department staff
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
In November last year, Unison and RCN raised concerns with NHS Forth Valley chief executive Cathie Cowan amid bullying claims made by emergency department staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. In light of the reports of bullying, a review was commissioned and leaked details revealed junior doctors were left unsupervised on shifts, nurses and doctors had said they are 'battle-weary', and many senior staff members have resigned their posts. Karren Morrison, Unison Forth Valley health branch secretary has said: ‘Last year, concerns were being raised by our members who worked in, or who had previously worked in the ED. Staff talked to us about feeling bullied and intimidated, being frightened to speak up, concerns about the delivery of safe patient care, high staff turnover and other issues.’ Read full story (paywalled). Source: Nursing Standard, 12 July 2021 -
News Article
Major trust faces bullying concerns from hundreds of senior doctors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Concerns over bullying and discrimination have been raised in a survey of hundreds of doctors at a major hospital trust, HSJ can reveal. University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust’s medical staff committee carried out a survey of its doctors earlier this year, after bullying concerns were raised by members of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin at the trust. A summary of the survey findings, published in a newsletter sent to all doctors at the trust last week and seen by HSJ, showed more than two-thirds of the 348 respondents claimed to have experienced bullying, harassment or victimisation at work. Nearly 80% said they had witnessed bullying or harassment, while 50 per cent of respondents said the bullying and harassment was due to race or ethnicity. Fifty-five per cent of those answering the survey also said they had not reported concerns as they had “no confidence in the investigative process within the organisation”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 June 2021 -
Content Article
Surviving in Scrubs campaign
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Staff safety
Sexism, sexual harassment, and sexual assault are commonplace in the healthcare workforce. Too many healthcare staff have witnessed or been subject to it… the female med student asked to stay late lone working with a senior male doctor, being looked over for opportunities at work, unwelcome touching at conferences, comments on your looks… the list goes on. A 2021 survey from the BMA reported 91% of women doctors had experienced sexism in the last 2 years and 47% felt they had been treated less favourably due to their gender. Over half of the women (56%) said that they had received unwanted verbal comments relating to their gender and 31% said that they had experienced unwanted physical conduct. Despite these statistics these issues remain endemic in healthcare. The Surviving in Scrubs campaign, created by Dr Becky Cox and Dr Chelcie Jewitt, aims to tackle this problem, giving a voice to women and non-binary survivors in healthcare to raise awareness and end sexism, sexual harassment, and sexual assault in healthcare. You can share your story through the Submit Your Story page anonymously and the story will be published on the Your Stories page. This will create a narrative of shared experiences that cannot be ignored. -
Content ArticleThe King’s Fund was commissioned by NHS England to undertake a review of the leadership and culture of the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), including the culture and leadership needed for success as the organisation moves towards a steady state of independence. This report contains the authors' findings, obtained from individual interviews, focus groups and staff survey results, previous reports and other relevant information. It also contains HSIB staff members' responses to the findings, reflections from The King’s Fund review team about what needs to change, and a plan for the future.
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Content ArticleBullying, discrimination and harassment between healthcare workers can have an impact on how well individuals do their job, and may therefore lead to an increase in medical errors, adverse events and medical complications. This systematic review in BMJ Quality & Safety aimed to summarise current evidence about the impact on clinical performance and patient outcomes of unacceptable behaviour between healthcare workers.
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Content ArticleThis editorial in BMJ Quality & Safety looks at the risks to patient safety posed by negative interpersonal interactions between healthcare professionals. The authors review a recent study on the subject by Linda Guo et al that revealed how and when these negative behaviours from staff may have an impact on patient outcomes and clinical performance. They highlight the huge scale of the impact of unacceptable behaviours, arguing that it is even greater than evidenced in Guo et al's research. They also highlight that there are other, largely unexplored impacts on healthcare workers, patients and their families when they are exposed to unacceptable interactions.
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Content ArticleThis report outlines the results of a survey of 10,000 nursing staff in the UK carried out by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The survey highlighted stark differences in career progression and treatment in the workplace between White nurses and those from a mixed ethnic background, and Black and Asian nurses. In the 35-44 age group, 66% of White and 64% of respondents from mixed ethnic backgrounds said they’d been promoted. This dropped to just 38% of Asian and 35% of Black respondents. Black respondents working in both hospital (39%) and community (32%) settings are more likely to report having experienced physical abuse than respondents of other ethnic backgrounds. In response to these findings, the RCN is calling on the UK Government to reform human rights law to help tackle workplace racism, including introducing a legal requirement to eliminate disparities in recruitment, retention and career progression. They also want employers to have greater responsibility to protect minority ethnic groups from racism in all its forms.
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Content ArticleThis statement from Chair Peter Wyman addresses allegations of bullying and racism within NHS Blood and Transplant as reported in The Times on 21 August 2022. In the statement, Peter Wyman says, "I cannot overstate the importance we place in ensuring we have a strong, positive and inclusive culture so we can serve the public and patients who need us. “Issues of racism and bullying came to light in parts of our organisation two years ago after an in-depth staff listening exercise. We’ve moved on a lot in the past two years. Our actions have included providing a safe way for staff to raise and discuss issues by appointing a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, improving recruitment processes to be more inclusive, matured how we manage conflict and grievances and refreshing our code of conduct so we all know the behaviours that are expected of us. We continue to measure progress through ongoing staff engagement. “We are making progress but like every good organisation we should always be challenging ourselves to do even better. In particular, I want to ensure we have a culture that enables each of us to be our best, that encourages everyone to speak up without fear or favour if they see something wrong or something which might be done better. I want a culture where everyone is valued for who they are and what they contribute. "There can be no place for any form of discrimination, bullying or harassment.”
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Content Article
Mersey Care's Civility Jigsaw
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in Bullying and fear
In this 2 minute film, Jennifer Cooke from the Community Mental Health team, talks about a special Just and Learning resource, created by Mersey Care called the Civility Jigsaw. She explains how their team used it to facilitate difficult conversations about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace and how powerful it was a tool for change. -
Content ArticleIn this 3.5 minute film, Mersey Care looks at what bullying is and how it can have a devastating impact on staff. It forms part of their work to encourage people to feel safe in speaking up about bullying and build a positive working environment.
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Content Article
The Surviving in Scrubs campaign, created by Dr Becky Cox and Dr Chelcie Jewitt, gives a voice to women in healthcare to raise awareness and end sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault in healthcare. In this blog for the hub, co-founder Dr Chelcie Jewitt tells us more about the campaign. -
Content ArticleJeremy Hunt asks the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Helen Whately, what proportion of NHS staff have experienced bullying and harassment in the workplace in each year from 2010 to 2020.
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Content ArticleBMA policy recommendations on how to reduce bullying and harassment and create a more positive culture in the NHS and medical profession.
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Content Article
BMJ: Speaking up against bullying in the patient community
Claire Cox posted an article in Bullying and fear
Many of us are aware of school campaigns against bullying, protecting school aged children from harmful experiences that pose life-long lasting effects. Phrases such as “don’t be a bystander” and “stand up” are used to remind us of our obligation to help those who need it. Yet, these efforts rarely continue into our adult lives, and have mainly ignored the devastating effects of bullying on people from all walks of life, including in the patient community. -
Content Article
Organisational silence in the NHS: ‘Hear no, See no, Speak no’
Sam posted an article in Bullying and fear
There have been major healthcare failings in the UK NHS over many years. The persistent dysfunctional organisational culture, an inability to learn and the need for change has been identified within literature. The concept of organisational silence forms one aspect of the proposed model of organisational dysfunction in the NHS. Forty-three interviews and six focus groups have been conducted to test the model. From generalised evidence, it is suggested that the NHS is systemically and institutionally deaf, bullying, defensive and dishonest. There appears to be a culture of fear, lack of voice and silence. The cost of suppression of voice, reluctance to voice and the resulting ‘sea of silence’ is immense. There is a resistance to ‘knowing’ and the NHS appears to be hiding and retreating from reality. There is an urgent need for action to be taken to address this dysfunctional culture. The NHS needs to embrace the identity of being a listening, learning and honest organisation, with a culture of respect. It needs to choose to hear, see and speak for the benefit of patients and staff. There are implications for the wider UK society due to the apparent inability to learn and improve. -
Content ArticleUsing a spectrum of measures, this paper from Kline and Lewis estimates some of the financial costs of bullying and harassment to the NHS in England. By means of specific impacts resulting from bullying and harassment to staff health, sickness absence costs to the employer, employee turnover, diminished productivity, sickness presenteeism, compensation, litigation and industrial relations costs, we conservatively estimate bullying and harassment to cost the taxpayer £2.281 billion per annum. The evidence in this paper indicates the importance of urgent material engagement to address bullying in the UK NHS. Existing staff surveys fail to capture the types of behaviours often attributable to bullying and this should be a focus to design pertinent interventions. Capturing bystander/witness experiences are undocumented, as are workplace incivilities and staff satisfaction with policy and procedures for tackling bullying. Policy change is vital for accurately capturing the costs of bullying associated with absenteeism, staff replacement, productivity reductions and to use these as mechanisms to manage organizations that fail to address bullying.
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Content Article
What is civility?
Claire Cox posted an article in Stories from the front line
In this short video, Dr Michael Kaufmann discusses five fundamentals of civility and how to be civil in a healthcare workplace. Dr Michael Kaufmann is a Consultant in physician health and addiction medicine and Medical Director of the Physician Workplace Support Program (PWSP). -
Content ArticleThe contents of this book are based on the experiences of: NHS patients who have experienced avoidable harm, and associated cover-ups. NHS staff who have suffered detriment for speaking out on behalf of the above. The author's own experience as an employee of St George's hospital, Tooting, and doing locum work at hospitals in London and the Home Counties. Written from the perspective of an NHS Operating Department Practitioner, and whistleblower, NHS Dirty Secrets describes how the NHS cover-up culture is a risk to patient safety, and how employment and promotion practices are skewed in favour of those most likely to support the NHS cover-up culture. The NHS cover-up culture, itself, is decomposed and analysed, with examples given as to the methods used to support the hiding of issues, such as patient deaths, from public scrutiny.
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Content ArticleDisruptive and unprofessional behaviours occur frequently in healthcare and adversely affect patient care and healthcare worker job satisfaction. These behaviours have rarely been evaluated at a work setting level, nor do we fully understand how disruptive behaviours are associated with important metrics such as teamwork and safety climate, work-life balance, burnout and depression.
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Content Article
Letter from America: Kick off to a new year of hope
lzipperer posted an article in Letter from America
Football is a popular American pastime. Its focus on collaboration, individual skill reliance and teamwork serves as a touchpoint for the January 2020 Letter from America. Letter from America is a Patient Safety Learning blog series highlighting fresh accomplishments in patient safety from the United States. -
Content Article
My experience of speaking up as a healthcare assistant in a care home
Anonymous posted an article in By health and care staff
A frank account from a healthcare assistant on the bullying she experienced after raising concerns at the care home she worked in.- Posted
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Content ArticleIn his blog, published by onthewards website, Joe Farmer (a doctor working in psychiatry) discusses rudeness in the workplace and the impact it can have on clinical performance and subsequently patient safety.
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Content ArticleWorkplace incivility is low level and often not intended to cause harm. It can come from managers, colleagues and patients. Examples might include: eye rolling abrupt emails being interrupted, excluded or ignored hostile looks refusing to assist a colleague publicly criticising a colleague. See how incivility at work affects NHS staff and how that can impact negatively on patient safety. In this short film, join the staff of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust on their journey as they reflect on the real-life effects of both incivility and active kindness.
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Content ArticleEffective communication is critical for patient safety. One potential threat to communication in the operating room is incivility. Although examined in other industries, little has been done to examine how incivility impacts the ability to deliver safe care in a crisis. In this US based study, the authors sought to determine how incivility influenced anaesthesiology resident performance during a standardised simulation scenario of occult haemorrhage.
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Content ArticleTeam-targeted rudeness may underlie performance deficiencies, with individuals exposed to rude behaviour being less helpful and cooperative. The objective of this paper, published by The Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, was to explore the impact of rudeness on the performance of medical teams. In conclusion, rudeness had adverse consequences on the diagnostic and procedural performance of the neonatal intensive care team members. Information-sharing mediated the adverse effect of rudeness on diagnostic performance, and help-seeking mediated the effect of rudeness on procedural performance.
