Abuse of healthcare workers contributing to ‘Mental Health pandemic’ in the sector
A survey of 500 healthcare professionals, conducted by healthcare technology company Florence, has found that abuse of nurses, health and social care workers has contributed to chronically low morale in the sector, with a third of respondents saying that they had been the subject of more abuse in the past year than ever before.
With this coming on top of other contributory factors such as staff shortages and strikes, 41% of those replying said they felt demoralised while more than one in five said they were ready to quit.
The findings in summary:
- 46% of nurses and healthcare workers have faced physical and verbal abuse at work
- Four in ten healthcare workers (42%) have experienced racist abuse; 7% have been on the receiving end of sexist abuse
- Lack of staffing is key driver, alongside staff being overworked and the cost-of-living crisis
- 29% say they’ve received verbal, physical, or online abuse at work at least once a week, with 7% suffering abuse as often as once a day.
- 23% say that their mental wellbeing has been affected with higher levels of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem reported across the industry.
- 55% of workers believe lack of staff on shift is at the root of the problem
Fiona Millington, Chief Nurse at Florence says: ‘It’s an incredibly difficult time to be a nurse or carer at the moment, with levels of staff abuse on a steady increase since the pandemic. The government hailed nurses & healthcare workers during the pandemic but where is that support now?
‘The biggest challenge for the industry at the moment is, without a doubt, staffing. There are more nurses leaving the industry than joining, at a time when the demand for nurses is increasing. And the lack of staffing is contributing to higher levels of physical and verbal abuse for the remaining healthcare staff on the ground.
‘The situation is unsustainable and we need an urgent, long-term solution. We need to see increased pay, greater efforts to bring more people into healthcare and enhanced training and support as a start. We need to look after our frontline healthcare workers, not drive them out.’
