NHS: Bullying

(asked on 25th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce incidences of bullying and harassment in the NHS.


Answered by
Stephen Hammond Portrait
Stephen Hammond
This question was answered on 2nd May 2019

The Department is committed to working in partnership with its arm’s length bodies, National Health Service organisations, trade unions and staff to deliver its manifesto commitment to tackle rates of bullying which are too high.

Ministers commissioned the national Social Partnership Forum (SPF) to tackle bullying. The SPF approach to ‘Creating positive workplace cultures and tackling bullying in the NHS - a collective call to action’ is entering its third year. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.socialpartnershipforum.org/priority-areas/creating-positive-workplace-cultures-and-tackling-bullying-in-the-nhs-a-collective-call-to-action/

The forthcoming People Plan is also expected to include actions to tackle bullying which will complement existing good practice already in place across the NHS and promoted via SPF’s “collective call to action” and other initiatives such as the Alliance of organisations committed to tackling bullying, recently launched and led by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the National Guardian, the UK Health Departments and many others. The Alliance advocates kindness and respect in selecting staff with the right values and building kindness and respect into staff training and development throughout their careers.

Note: The SPF brings together NHS Employers, NHS Trade Unions, NHS England, Health Education England, NHS Improvement and the Department to discuss and debate the development and implementation of the workforce implications of policy.

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