Has anyone successfully challenged bullying in the NHS?

crispsandwich

I'm a staff nurse on a hospital ward in the south of England.

A colleague of mine was called in to see our matron and two ward sisters this morning. Today was her day off, but one ward sister apparently telephoned her and told her she "must" come in for this meeting.

My colleague came out of the meeting in tears. She's had her student 'taken off' her, as apparently he "probably" finds her attractive. She was also criticised for being drunk at a Christmas party (a party that was NOT paid for by the NHS or ward management - my colleague was giggly but not at all inappropriate) and was threatened with being moved to another ward within the unit (a ward notorious for bullying and lack of support with very poorly patients). These three members of staff are becoming very hard to work with as resources go down the pan, often criticising individual staff openly and openly berating groups of staff when we've had a horrible shift and things have been missed (i.e. cups lying around, general untidiness - our matron comes on the ward often and places a great deal of importance on how the public perceives us).

To me, this is bullying. I calmed her down and offered to go into any future meetings with her. I've also suggested taking written notes and writing to the matron, asking her to clarify the points raised. She's told me that she doesn't want to tell anyone what has been said to her and just wants to leave it.

The potential problem, as far as I can see, is that our nurse director is very friendly with all senior staff. I feel that nothing would get done if such behaviour was reported to her. Other staff have told me that when they have tried to raise grievances against certain staff, they have hit brick walls because 'so and so in HR knows them'.

Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do?

I normally wouldn't get involved in someone else's business, but having been demoralised and undermined by management a fair few times myself, I think staff really need to start hitting back at these managers. Such negative feeling amongst staff can surely only mean patients suffer. My colleague is an excellent nurse. All the patients love her and she's so kind and caring. I hate to see her suffer at the hands of management.

Any advice?

Thanks for reading

Emmzi

what are you saying the bullying is?

being asked to maintain standards? Caring how the public perceive the ward? That is not bullying in itself. Being told to perform to the required standard is not bullying.

having a student removed? (there is no right to have a student) - was that related to the xmas party? It is unclear.

I think you need to be clearer about specific instances of bullying - date, time, what was said, what was done, witnesses. Currently you are too woolly for it to stand a chance.

crispsandwich

The bullying is not what is being asked of us. Of course we should have high standards. It's the way were are berated individually and collectively, day in and day out.

Of course there is no 'right' to a student, but having a student assigned and then placed with someone else for the duration of the placement for no good reason makes that particular member of staff look and feel incapable of mentoring students. The reason given was that he probably finds her attractive, and so will be placed with a male member of staff.

I'm not moaning about us having to do our jobs. It's the fact that were are frequently belittled and undermined in front of each other, patients and relatives.

Emmzi

Fair enough. But to do anything about it
a) you need an events diary/ evidence log and
b) you need to be prepared to claim your rights.

If your friend does not want to do anything, then nothing can be done for her.

SarEl

crispsandwich wrote: »

The bullying is not what is being asked of us. Of course we should have high standards. It's the way were are berated individually and collectively, day in and day out.

Of course there is no 'right' to a student, but having a student assigned and then placed with someone else for the duration of the placement for no good reason makes that particular member of staff look and feel incapable of mentoring students. The reason given was that he probably finds her attractive, and so will be placed with a male member of staff.

I'm not moaning about us having to do our jobs. It's the fact that were are frequently belittled and undermined in front of each other, patients and relatives.

But what des that mean?

If there is any reason to suspect that the student is forming a relationship or attachment which is personal and not professional, then that is a good reason to relocate the student. And to be honest - it is always a bad idea to be even giggly at a works party, no matter who pays for it - if you are "giggly" then you are under the influence of alcohol, and we have had more than one poster around here who has then gone on to do something quite silly - and quite sackable. So I really can't see anything bullying about either of these things.

And the rest is "belittling" and " undermining" - not exactly specific. Emmzi is quite correct - you need a lot more than this to evidence bullying - wherever you work.

crispsandwich

SarEl wrote: »

But what des that mean?

If there is any reason to suspect that the student is forming a relationship or attachment which is personal and not professional, then that is a good reason to relocate the student. And to be honest - it is always a bad idea to be even giggly at a works party, no matter who pays for it - if you are "giggly" then you are under the influence of alcohol, and we have had more than one poster around here who has then gone on to do something quite silly - and quite sackable. So I really can't see anything bullying about either of these things.

And the rest is "belittling" and " undermining" - not exactly specific. Emmzi is quite correct - you need a lot more than this to evidence bullying - wherever you work.

From what my colleague has told me, there is no reason for anyone to suspect such a relationship. Her and the student are both very professional. I've worked with both of them. The actual reason given was that he "probably" found her attractive. She doesn't know what to make of this. It can't be right to just assume that two people could potentially form an inappropriate relationship, surely?

With regards to bullying behaviour, I am referring to instances where staff have been singled out in front of others and told off for things (things that should have been dealt with personally, such as omissions in charts etc). We have always been taught to take individuals aside if we have problems with their practice, yet our managers shout at us in front of patients, relatives and other staff. We are frequently reminded that the trust are cutting staffing numbers, and so we shouldn't take time off if we are sick. One of the ward sisters called another staff nurse a "stupid girl" after she'd phoned in sick, in front of us all during a handover. The other ward sister told us all why one of our domestic staff had time off (they were very personal reasons - definitely not what they'd have wanted shared with others). It's little things like this, that I constitute as bullying.

Emmzi

for all you know the student has asked to be moved for a far more embarrassing reason. he may hate your friend, you don't know what he's said in one to ones. nor have you been with them both 100% of the time to see what goes on. there may have been patient complaints about how they are with each other or anything.

I would not touch that one.

I would do a diary for the bullying.

ohreally

Emmzi wrote: »

I would not touch that one

Got it in one. Walk away and let her approach trade union.

zagfles

Definitely one for the union. If she's not in a union get her to join. Unions are usually pretty good at dealing with this sort of thing.

Complaining about her getting "giggly" at the Christmas party is particularly petty - I don't think there'd be anyone left in our department if management worried about peoples' behaviour at our xmas parties :rotfl:

Suggest next year you don't bother with the "official" party and organise one amongst yourselves only inviting trusted colleagues who won't snitch back in work