Life as an NHS worker: bullying and stress

A recent survey of staff in the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust found a high level of dissatisfaction among mental health staff working for the Trust.

Staff complain of inadequate training in the vital areas of health and safety and equality and diversity.

The Trust is among the worst in the country for effective team working. 13% of staff have been bullied by a colleague, with 2% of respondents reporting being physically attacked by their co-workers.

In addition, many trained nurses are being forced to work 12-hour shifts. Staff report exhaustion and are frustrated because they are too overworked to provide a quality service.

Staff cannot expect their managers to support them. The Trust is among the worst 20% in the country both in terms of support from line managers and of effective action from the employer regarding bullying or harassment.

Staff reporting work related stress cannot depend on the organisation for assistance. Workers' intention to leave their jobs is at a very high level.

I am sure other workers are suffering in a similar way and want to feel they are not alone.

Sharon Mitchell, Brighton and Hove Socialist Party

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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

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