One of Scotland’s top medical professionals has called for urgent action to tackle the scandal of “widespread” bullying and harassment in the NHS.
BMA Scotland chairman Lewis Morrison pointed to a member survey that found 38% of doctors think bullying is an issue in their workplace, warning the effect on retaining staff could “seriously undermine the quality of care the health service provides”.
Dr Morrison said the “longstanding” problem comes at a time of high vacancy rates and years of real term pay cuts, which have resulted in many doctors reporting to the BMA they feel less valued.
In his Christmas and New Year message, Dr Morrison said: “In any workplace, these levels of bullying would be extremely worrying.
“In the health service, where what we do can make the difference between life and death, it is nothing less than a scandal.
“Ultimately, the level of bullying and harassment we currently see in Scotland’s NHS can only have serious negative repercussions for the care it provides.”
Dr Morrison said the health service risked “losing even more doctors from the profession in Scotland” and warned the workforce is currently “stretched to its limit” amid an erosion of pay and work satisfaction.
He added that there must be “greater efforts” to ensure doctors feel able to speak out and called on the Scottish Government and management across the NHS to commit to “building a more positive and supportive culture”.
BMA Scotland confirmed it will launch a “major” initiative in 2019 to better understand doctors’ experiences of bullying and harassment, and a summer summit of key stakeholders will aim to offer up new solutions.
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Monica Lennon said: “Reports of a toxic culture of bullying and harassment in our NHS must be taken seriously.
“Scottish Labour is concerned that staff are increasingly under more pressure and our own research revealed there have been one million NHS working days lost to stress in the past three years.
“Given Scotland’s chronic shortage of doctors and health workforce crisis, it is absolutely essential that the health secretary and NHS bosses fully investigate these allegations of widespread bullying, if they are not already addressing them, and update Parliament in the new year.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The welfare of staff in our NHS is paramount, and everything possible must be done to eradicate bullying in the workplace.
“This type of behaviour is unacceptable regardless of the circumstances, and we expect health boards to ensure all reported incidences are fully investigated.
“As the Health Secretary has made very clear, if there is anyone in our health service who is feeling bullied or harassed we take that very seriously, and we want those staff to come forward, safe in the knowledge they will be heard.”
