MORE than one in five NHS staff in Oxfordshire have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from colleagues in the last 12 months.

The news comes following the publication of the results of the annual NHS staff survey.

Results for Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) in 2020 also show 58 per cent of staff have worked additional unpaid hours in the last 12 months.

Alarmingly, 21 per cent of staff at OUH responded that in the last 12 months, they had personally experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse from colleagues, while 11 per cent experienced an incident from a manager.

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OUH employs over 12,000 staff and consists of four hospitals – the Churchill Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

During the last 12 months, 42 per cent of OUH staff reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress.

This is up from 33 per cent in 2016.

However, there were several areas of the survey which showed ‘significant improvement’, including health and wellbeing, and as a place to work.

For example, 70 per cent of staff would recommend OUH to their family and friends as a place to work, up from 64 per cent last year.

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The trust enjoyed its greatest ever response rate (53 per cent), with 6,971 completing the questionnaire.

Terry Roberts, chief people officer at OUH, said: “Having more than half of our staff taking part in the survey is important because it allows us to hear what is working well at OUH, and what could be even better – so that together we can make OUH a great place to work.

Terry Roberts, OUH chief people officer. Picture: OUH

Terry Roberts, OUH chief people officer. Picture: OUH

“We will continue to build on the improvements we have seen in the staff survey, specifically in relation to the significant improvements in staff wellbeing, through our new ‘Growing Stronger Together’ programme which aims to look after us all as we transition to a ‘new normal’.

“We are committed to listening to what staff have told us and taking action in response to the areas for improvement at a trust wide level.”

The survey was sent to over 1.2 million staff across 280 NHS organisations in England, with 595,270 taking part.