NHS staff report regular unpaid overtime
Half of NHS staff regularly work unpaid overtime with 12 per cent of them admitting it can account for an extra six hours a week, according to the results of a survey published last week. Fifteen per cent of
staff also revealed that they had been physically attacked at work
in the past 12 months and a third of staff questioned admitted that
they suffered from work-related stress.
The statistics come from the second annual NHS
staff survey carried out
by the Healthcare Commission in October 2004 on behalf of the Department
of Health.
A total of 217,968 NHS employees, including pharmacists, who work for
NHS trusts in England took part in the survey. The response rate was
60 per cent.
Immediate past president of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists Robert
McArtney said pharmacists, including chief pharmacists, put in extra
hours for no pay. He said: “They know the work has to be done.
I think also bed pressures have got worse in the past year which in turn
puts pressure on the discharge process and you also have to consider
the volume of paperwork that has to be done, too.”
The guild was unaware of any particular problem with violence against
pharmacy staff. But he said: “I have heard reports of verbal aggression
towards pharmacists but there has been no mention of physical aggression.
“Although this figure of 15 per cent is potentially worrying I
think the guild would have heard if it was a particular problem with
pharmacy,
although it may be that any incidents which are happening are being dealt
with locally.”
He added that the 60 per cent response rate showed that staff took the
survey seriously and that if the results could be used to highlight particular
issues with the Government then it was useful. |
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