LettersHong Kong’s Hospital Authority is doing its best to promote a healthy workplace and tackle bullies
- The Hospital Authority has an established mechanism to handle staff complaints and appeals
- The management has launched initiatives, such as training sessions and mediation meetings, and set up a working group, to promote trust and harmony
It is the objective of the Hospital Authority to provide a working environment free of harassment for its employees. The Hospital Authority’s code of conduct clearly states that mutual trust and respect should be fostered among colleagues.
The issue of workplace harassment in a health care setting is a complex one. It may be related to the professional training mechanism, the arrangement of mentors or other long-standing practices in the health care profession.
Staff members have greater expectations nowadays of change in some of the long-standing practices of the industry, which might be considered workplace harassment in today’s context.
All along, the management has taken action to facilitate job arrangements that cater to professional needs, and to implement disciplinary actions where appropriate to deal with work-related issues, such as initiatives to conduct appropriate training and hold mediation meetings on hospital service related scenarios.
Guidelines specific to the health care sector would be helpful for colleagues to better understand workplace harassment.