Trust is committed to tackling bullying and has already achieved results, says chief executive
GAVIN Boyle, chief executive at the hospital trust, said: “We feel passionately that staff should be free from bullying and harassment whilst at work. This is why we raised this issue openly at our public trust board meeting in November.
“Obviously it’s hard reading the comments from the former members of staff, many of whom left the NHS several years ago, but their stories illustrate why this issue is so important.
“We’re very clear that bullying, harassment and abuse have no place in our hospitals. It‘s a sad fact that most large organisations experience this challenge, it’s not confined to the NHS.
“However, at UHDB we are committed to tackling the issue head-on and hopefully set an example for other large institutions. We are creating a culture where people can come forward to talk openly about bullying and harassment. We want to make UHDB the best place to work and in doing so become the best place to receive care.
“We’ve had some success in this and have seen the number of
people feeling able to talk about bullying increase in this time. Many have chosen not to do this anonymously, which is encouraging. Because of this work we’ve been nominated twice in two years as the Freedom to Speak Up Organisation of the Year in awards for NHS organisations.
“Last year our staff rated us better than the national average amongst trusts for bullying and harassment and we were also rated highly as a place our staff would recommend others to work and receive treatment.
“All of our colleagues are working so hard at the moment under extremely difficult circumstances. We want to thank them for their hard work and encourage them to continue to speak up regardless of how it might be reported in the media.”