NHS: Bullying and Harassment
(asked on 26th June 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking in response to allegations of bullying and harassment in NHS institutions.
Bullying and harassment of staff is unacceptable, that is why the Government, as highlighted in its manifesto, is taking concerted action, to support trusts who are responsible for dealing with allegations of bullying.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors consider a range of evidence, including speaking to staff and National Health Service staff survey results, to gain a broader picture of the leadership and culture within NHS organisations. They also ask whether organisations have signed up, and what plans they have in place, to implement the national ‘call to action’ to tackle bullying.
The CQC renewed their guidance to providers for the Fit and Proper Person’s Requirement (FPPR) earlier this year, including explicit inclusion of bullying and harassment as an example of serious mismanagement and serious misconduct. Following the Kirkup Review, published in February 2018, the Government has launched the Kark Review to further assess the effectiveness of FPPR in ensuring the conduct of senior leaders within health and social care meets required standards.
The use of body cameras to help protect paramedics from abuse will be trialled in two ambulance services before being rolled out across all ambulance services in England.
The National Guardian’s Office, established in 2016 to support speaking up, also makes recommendations to tackle bullying and harassment cultures as part of its case review programme.
Other actions to tackle bullying include a recent seminar to identify good practice in line manager training, others seminars will raise awareness of the impact of bullying on patient experience and identify good practice to tackle the bullying of doctors, nurses and other clinical staff.
NHS trusts already have access to a wide range of advice, guidance and good practice to help them tackle bullying in their organisations, which is available at the following link: