Violence and harrassment problems in local hospitals

Violence and harassment in the four hospitals that make up Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust are above the national average. 

The key findings from the latest Care Quality Commission survey found that the Trust, which runs the Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield in Bury, North Manchester General and the Royal Oldham, is worse than the national average in the following areas:

• Experiencing physical violence from patients/relatives in last 12 months 
• Experiencing physical violence from staff in the last 12 months 
• Experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/ relatives in last 12 months 
• Experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in last 12 months

The Trust, however, was recognised for being better than the national average at dealing with violence and harassment effectively.

The worst results were seen in the area of job satisfaction and staff motivation at work and staff experiencing discrimination at work in the last 12 months.

The majority of the results showed that the trust was ranked lowest compare to other acute trusts in 2009.

These areas include health and well being, with the 34% of staff feeling pressure to attend work when feeling ill, poor communication between senior management and staff and being able to contribute towards improvements at work. These areas haven’t changed since 2008 when they were also below national average.

The survey found that the key areas which needed to be included in the trust’s action plan are:

• 34% of staff feeling pressure in last 3 months to attend work when feeling unwell 
• 24% of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months 
• The impact of health and well-being on ability to perform work or daily activities 
• Only 73% of staff feeling valued by their work colleagues

Despite little progress since the last survey in 2008 the findings for the trust showed four areas in which the trust compares most favourably with others: 

• 60% of staff are working extra hours 
• 33% of staff have witnesses potentially harmful errors, near misses or incidents in the last month 
• 73% of staff are using flexible working options 
• Perceptions of effective action from employer towards violence and harassment

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was not available for comment at the time of publication.

To read the full report visit: http://www.cqc.org.uk/_db/_documents/NHS_staff_survey_2009_RW6_full.pdf