News / Quarter of health staff experience verbal abuse
AROUND one quarter of local respondents to a national survey of health and social care staff say they have experienced emotional or verbal abuse from patients or members of the public in the last year.
The NHS’ Dignity at Work survey also revealed that over one third of respondents in Shetland agreed or strongly agreed that there is not enough staff to allow them to do their job properly.
A total of 552 staff members in Shetland (33 per cent) responded to the survey, which was undertaken in November.
Nearly 20 per cent of Shetland respondents said they experienced bullying or harassment from colleagues in the last year, but only 52 per cent of them reported the incident.
One in ten respondents felt they experienced bullying or harassment from their manager.
While a quarter said they experienced emotional or verbal abuse from patients or members of the public, eight per cent of respondents said they experienced physical violence.
NHS Shetland was also given a 78 per cent employee engagement index score – one of the top in Scotland – through its iMatter questionnaire.
The survey examined how involved health and social care staff across the health board and Shetland Islands Council feel they are at work, as well as their experiences of being within their organisation.
Sixty one per cent of local staff responded to the iMatter questionnaire.
NHS Shetland said the report “also highlights some areas for improvement and one area we are focusing on is to provide support to teams as they formulate and agree action plans, including uploading these onto the online system”.
“The results of this national survey together with the iMatter results provide a comprehensive picture of staff experience working within health and social care,” the health board added.
“In response to the results an action plan is currently being formulated to build on our strengths and improve on areas that require development.”
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