NHS staff still face ‘unacceptable’ abuse from public

A new NHS survey has revealed that too many members of staff still experience unacceptable abuse from patients and the public, despite saying they are now happier and more likely to recommend their organisation as a place to work than last year.

The survey, conducted across 569,000 NHS employees in 300 separate organisations, showed that staff morale has improved across the body, with more than seven in 10 staff saying they would recommend their organisation to their family and friends for treatment, a proportion that has increased every year for the past five years.

On top of this, over four fifths of staff said they were happy with the quality of care they give to patients, and the proportion of staff saying they were able to deliver the care they aspire to was at its highest recorded level.

However, more than one in four (28.5%) said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or members of the public, almost one in seven (14.9%) experienced physical violence, and almost 40,000 of those who responded (7.2%) said they faced discrimination from patients over the last year – up from 5.8% in 2015.

The survey revealed that racism was the most common form of discrimination, but 2019 also saw the highest levels of reported sexism and intolerance of religion and sexuality.

The figures have been released at the same time as NHS leaders confirmed that from April, NHS services will be able to protect staff by barring from non-emergency care any patient or visitor who inflicts discriminatory or harassing behaviour on staff.

Previously, individual NHS organisations could only refuse services to patients if they were aggressive or violent.

Sir Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive, hailed the news as “welcome”, before going on to say “staff morale is now improving, and patient safety scores are now at a five year high.

“While teams across the country are under real pressure, NHS staff consistently go the extra mile for patients. So as a country we need to show the same commitment to them, which is why we are determined to clamp down on abuse and aggression in all its forms.”