Aims and objectives
Bullying,
harassment and undermining are serious issues in all specialties,
and at all levels.
This impacts on patient safety,
career development and finances.
A survey of junior doctors found 8% of trainees reported being bullied,
and 14% had witnessed it happening to others,
but only 1% had ever reported it.
Undermined trainees had satisfaction scores 15% below their peers [1].
Elsewhere,
34% of gynaecologists said they had been bullied and 73% of surgeons witnessed undermining [2,
3].
The estimated annual cost of bullying to the...
Methods and materials
A questionnaire was distributed containing 30 questions,
broken down into 4 sections: ‘demographics’,
‘bullying/undermining of you’,
‘bullying/undermining of others’,
and ‘general’.
The survey took place inApril - June 2018.
A paper questionnaire was distributed to consultant radiologists in 15 UK hospitals,
and the completed forms were collected and collated anonymously.
The total number of consultants the survey was sent to was 280.
Results
27% felt they had experienced ‘persistent bullying or undermining behaviour in the NHS’.
Several centres had no respondents reporting bullying,
butone hada 45% reporting rate.
42% reported bullying going on forover 5 years.
The majority of bullying occurred at work. Fig. 1 shows the demographic breakdown of those reporting being bullied.
42% reported being bullied by an individual,
26% by more than one person,
and 28% by a group. Fig. 2 shows the breakdown of the people acting as bullies withinthese groups,
the majority being...
Conclusion
27% of consultant radiologists reported being the victim of bullying or undermining,
a total similar to other specialties.
We found no demographic bias in those experiencing bullying.
It is concerning that many cases lasted over 5 years.
Thissuggests these behaviours have become intrenched.
Also worrying is the majority of bullies are senior radiologists.
58% of cases continued or recurred despite being reported.
This raises concerns about the ability of departments to manage undermining behaviour.
The reasons why the majority of perpetrators were male is unclear,...
References
1.GMC (2014) ‘National training survey 2014: bullying and undermining’ | General Medical Council:
http://www.gmc-uk.org/NTS_bullying_and_undermining_report_2014_FINAL.pdf_58648010.pdf (accessed 9 January 2019).
2.Shabazz T,
Parry-Smith W,
Oates S,
Henderson S,
Mountfield J.
Consultants as victims of bullying and undermining: a survey of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists consultant experiences.
BMJ open.
2016 Jun 1;6(6):e011462.
3.Monsell F.
Bullying in the orthopaedic workplace: How did we get here and where are we going?.
Bone & Joint 360.
2017 Oct;6(5):2-4.
4.Workplace bullying and harassment of doctors: a review of recent research....