NHS bullies make life hell for nurses

I read with interest your report last week that nurses took more than one million days off sick in the past year due to stress.

I am a retired nurse and in the end I couldn’t wait to get out of the NHS because of bullying by management.

I became a Royal College of Nursing representative purely because of the bullying going on, and actually stopped a mass resignation of nurses on the orthopaedic department in the hospital where I worked.

But the bullying I suffered made me depressed and I needed treatment, which required me having several weeks off work.

Ultimately I left, and, through an agency, I used my skills in critical care units at various other hospitals. With the agency I doubled my salary and suffered far less stress. Eventually, I retired aged 57.

Yes, the NHS is a great institution when you are a happy patient.

But if you are an unhappy staff member then life is hell, and most stress is caused by bad management. Name and address supplied