FOCUS: The sickness in the Health Department

Monday 06 September 2021

Increasing numbers of health staff are taking time off due to anxiety, stress or depression amid "worrying low" workforce morale, and concerns that bullying in the workforce and harassment policies are being ignored.

The issues within the department were privately shared by employees and exposed in a report published yesterday by the panel of politicians reviewing the Government's culture and HR policies, and reinforced by the results of a staff survey leaked to Express.

The report concluded that there were "various areas of improvement" for the States Employment Board to look at across the civil service, but the Health Department was highlighted as being of particular concern.

Even before the review had been launched, a number of employees from the department had contacted the Panel about issues they had experienced.

Mark Grimley, Government's Group Director for People and Corporate Services, admitted that Health was one of the "the most complex and difficult areas" to deal with due to the range of professional and regulated bodies within it.

The department was also found to have required "particular attention" from the Case Management Unit, especially in relation to the treatment of clinicians. 

Staff reported to the panel that bullying was often “tolerated” as part of an individual’s professional role or even due to personal relationships.

Pictured: Several members of staff wrote to the Scrutiny panel.

During a private hearing, the Panel was informed of a case in which management within Health and Community Services were potentially ignoring or actively acting against policies and procedures concerning bullying and harassment, avoiding both the Case Management Unit and States Employment Board. 

The Panel also received evidence that, even if formal complaints are handled by Human Resource colleagues, impartiality is not always guaranteed as potentially guilty parties are involved in it, or witnesses are not interviewed. 

Pictured: Employees replies about their managers in the Be Heard survey were mostly negative.

The Government declined to release individual department results of the Be Heard survey - a wide-ranging survey of workers' attitudes to their work and leaders - under the Freedom of Information Law when a formal request was made by Express.

However, a copy of Health's results leaked to Express, showed that employees from the Health department were mostly negative towards their managers, with the majority of respondents reporting they do not listen or provide enough support.

Several also reported how power struggles within their team had a negative impact.

Pictured: Quote from a member of health staff.

A private submission to the Panel said staff do not report incidents of bullying or harassment because they are afraid of losing their job or that the “victimisation” will get worse, while those who reported incidents said nothing had happened afterwards.

“Those at the top of health know what is going on but because those with the poor behaviour are doing a good job, they tolerate the behaviour,” the individual commented. 

The Panel also heard that managers within the department lack the training and skills to not only lead teams but also deal with their HR responsibilities.

“It’s all very well to review contracts, but there must be management oversight and a matrix of controls,” one individual told the Panel.

“Lack of this is evident in Health where there is apathy, managers don’t manage, are not trained in management skills and there is no effective oversight of their non-performance, in my view a key reason for the high turnover in staff resulting in wasted agency fees, lost productivity in training and recruitment checks and staff morale.”

Pictured: Staff are taking days off-sick because they can't face coming to the workplace for fear of being bullied.

According to submissions made to the Panel, these issues have led “numerous consultants, nurses and allied health professionals” to take days off-sick as they cannot face coming to the workplace for fear of being bullied.

Between March and August 2019, 27% of the sickness days taken by employees within Health and Community Services department were related to anxiety, stress or depression, which was by far the largest reason for time off due to illness.

This rose to 35% for the same period of 2020.

While the Panel noted the impact of the pandemic on this figure was unclear, they said the anxiety, stress or depression felt within the workforce during this time may not have been as high if there were no “underlying issues in staff morale and wellbeing”. 

In August 2020, 43% of sickness days taken in HCS were due to anxiety, stress or depression, a figure which the Panel described as “worrying”.

Pictured: Sickness rates due to mental wellbeing issues have risen.

“There is something seriously wrong at Heath, I have not been a victim but have had too many colleagues tell me their story, often in tears,” one individual wrote to the Panel.

“Those being constantly belittled and undermined by their manager, which has been reported to HR, those subject to years of poor management, have reported this to HR time after time. Unable to highlight issues or raise concerns because the managers know each other and are friends. Managers being asked which side they are on by their own consultants. If staff do not do as the bully suggests they are side-lined or at worse just disappear from the organisation. It feels like HR works solely for the employer and does not care about the employees.”

Results from the Be Heard survey leaked to Express also showed that while the majority of Health respondents felt their work to be important of their life and that they can make a valuable contribution to the success of their Government, a large tranche would leave their job tomorrow if they had another position.

Pictured: A large tranche of employees said they would leave the Health department tomorrow if they got another role.

The Panel said it was not “satisfactory” that such issues had led to staff departures when the island is actively in need of health professionals and continues to use temporary staff whist recruitment to positions is ongoing.   

Follow Express this week for more in-depth analysis of the Government's workplace culture...