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Doctors’ health matters

April 2007

Bullying and harassment
Workplace bullying and harassment are now well-recognised problems across the health service, and particularly within the medical profession [go to note 65]. Evidence suggests that the prevalence of bullying and harassment in both medicine and the NHS more generally, is high [go to notes 66, 67 and 68]. One in 10 callers to the UK National Bullying Advice line are healthcare professionals, including nurses and GPs. Results of a CHI survey [go to note 69] found that more than a third of NHS staff had been bullied, harassed or abused by other staff, managers or patients and their relatives. Research shows that workplace bullying and harassment of doctors occurs across the medical workforce, from medical students and junior doctors in training to consultants and GPs [go to note 70].

According to a survey of London NHS staff [go to note 71], one in four doctors have been involved in an incident of harassment in the past year. These have come predominantly from patients and their relatives and some have involved violence. This issue is also reflected in the results of a BMA survey of violence in the workplace [go to note 72], where more than a third of respondents reported that they had experienced some form of violence or abuse in the workplace in the last year, including verbal abuse, threatening behaviour and physical assaults. Doctors in both hospital and general practice settings reported such behaviour, largely from patients and their friends or family, but also from PCT managers, medical directors, nurses and colleagues.