NHS Resolution joins national alliance to combat workplace bullying

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NHS Resolution is proud to announce its membership of an multi-organisation alliance against bullying, undermining and harassment in the NHS.

The anti-bullying alliance, supported by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is an informal group of organisations committed to stamping out bullying across the NHS.

Bullying remains a big problem within the NHS, with the 2018 NHS Staff Survey highlighting that 28 per cent of staff have been bullied by patients or families, 13 per cent by managers and 19 per cent by other colleagues – an increase on the previous 12 months.  It’s estimated that bullying and other abuse costs the NHS at least £2.28bn every year through sickness absence, employee turnover and lost productivity.

NHS Resolution’s Practitioner Performance Advice service provides expertise to the NHS to resolve concerns fairly, share learning and preserve resources for patient care.  A key part of this includes providing advice on the management and resolution of performance concerns about doctors, dentists and pharmacists and addressing bullying and harassment in the workplace.  “NHS Resolution is committed to supporting a just and learning culture that balances fairness, justice and learning and encourages medical professionals to take responsibility for their actions” explains Vicky Voller, Director of Advice and Appeals at NHS Resolution.

“Our Practitioner Performance Advice service offers behavioural assessments and recommendations to address any concerns about practitioner performance, assisted mediations to help resolve issues and team reviews where concerns may relate to behaviours within a clinical team.”

“Our goal is to support doctors, dentists and pharmacists to address concerns, identify barriers to resolution and agree actions to improve ways of working for the benefit of patients and staff.”

Membership of the anti-bullying alliance is in line with NHS Resolution’s commitment to promoting a just and learning culture for staff and patients in the NHS following incidents.  Published in summer 2019, our Being Fair report argues that organisations should adopt a more reflective approach to incidents through a culture of learning and support for staff rather than apportion individual blame when something goes wrong to drive future improvements in patient care.