The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7497 p424
12 April 2008

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Survey reveals extent of workplace bullying in NHS

Some 14 per cent of pharmacy staff working in the NHS have been harassed, bullied or abused by a colleague at work and 7 per cent by a manager, according to the results of the annual NHS staff survey published last week.

But nearly two thirds of the incidents (63 per cent) went unreported, the statistics reveal. At the same time, 80 per cent of pharmacy staff who took part in the survey said they had been the victim of physical violence on one or two occasions from either patients or service users, their relatives or members of the public. Some 16 per cent said it had happened between three and five times.

The figures for pharmacy reflect a trend across other NHS workforce groups highlighted in the report and are based on answers to a questionnaire sent to 391 trusts between October and December last year. There was a 54 per cent response rate. Around 2,400 pharmacy staff took part.

The report by the Healthcare Commission on behalf of the Department of Health says: “Over the last three years there has been little change in the proportion of staff who have been physically attacked or abused at work in the preceding 12 months, despite campaigns to tackle these issues.”

Across the NHS workforce, 13 per cent of staff reported being physically attacked by patients or their relatives in the past year; 27 per cent said they had been harassed, bullied or abused — 8 per cent by their manager or team leader and 13 per cent by colleagues.

The report adds: “Levels of violence, harassment and bullying against staff in the NHS nationally appear remarkably high. Individual employers in the NHS need to examine their results and take action to address these high levels.”

The survey also showed that 45 per cent of pharmacy staff were working up to an extra five hours a week unpaid with 11 per cent clocking up between six and 10 hours of unpaid work weekly.

Some 19 per cent did more than five hours paid overtime a week while 3 per cent reckoned their overtime tally was between six to 10 hours weekly. But the majority, 80 per cent, said they did not usually work between 7pm and 7am.

Staff in the annual survey, now in its fifth year, were also asked about their experience of errors, near misses and incidents during the previous 12 months. Of the pharmacy staff who responded, 15 per cent said they had witnessed an error that could have affected a member of staff in the past month while 45 per cent said they had been aware of an error during that time, which could have impacted on a patient.

Clinical assessment or treatment issues were behind 89 per cent of the errors; 15 per cent could be traced back to staffing levels and 14 per cent were the result of poor communication, the report reveals. A third of pharmacy staff said they were given information about changes that were being made following an error.