One in five UK doctors bullied or abused last year, leading to ‘sick days’ and loss of confidence, study finds
- ‘I used to cry on the way to work … prayed that a truck would flatten my car,’ complained a former trainee GP, who said they were ‘emotionally broken’
One in five NHS doctors were victims of bullying or harassment last year, a major survey has found.
The problem leads to doctors losing confidence and harms their careers and personal lives, leading them to take time off sick, the report by the British Medical Association revealed.
Its survey of 7,887 doctors of all grades across the UK found that 39 per cent believe bullying, harassment or undermining behaviour occurs in their main place of work and is a problem. Of those, 10 per cent said it was “often” a problem while 29 per cent said it happened “sometimes”.
A fifth said they had experienced such behaviour in the past year, but only 33 per cent said they or a colleague reported incidents to their employer.
“I struggled to function, felt physically sick, emotionally broken. I used to cry on the way to work. [I] prayed that a truck would flatten my car,” said a former trainee GP.