UNISON health delegates have passed a series of motions on serious but sometimes little discussed issues that affect their daily working lives.
These included bullying, the menopause, mandatory flu vaccinations and hospital food.
Bullying. Conference heard that bullying in the NHS is “endemic”, “institutionalised” and can be seen at every level – by ministers towards civil servants, to organisations like NHS Improvement and NHS England making unreasonable demands on trusts, down through every layer of management until it hits frontline staff.
The 2017 NHS staff survey found that one in four NHS staff had experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from colleagues in the previous 12 months.
At the same time, staff frequently report issues of racism, aggressive and abusive language and even physical violence from patients.
Delegates charged the health service group executive (SGE) to:
- work in partnership with the Department of Health & Social Care to develop a strategy to identify and tackle institutional bullying at all levels in the health system;
- continue to support branches and stewards who are tackling bullying and harassment in their workplace;
- remind employers of their duty of care toward employees with regard to patient-on-staff bullying.
Menopause. The NHS and the wider healthcare system are the largest employers of women in the UK. But conference heard that there is “disappointingly little support” offered to women struggling to cope and to work while suffering the many discomforting symptoms of menopause.
Delegates agreed that UNISON should be taking the lead with employers to not only raise awareness of the menopause as a workplace issue, but to develop policies on how they will manage menopause in the workplace in a supportive manner.
Food. Of all the workplaces to feature unhealthy food, healthcare settings ought to be the last. And yet conference heard that NHS staff are not always able to access healthy food that is reasonably priced. Many who work night shifts are faced with ready meals in vending machines or unhealthy snack options.
Conference agreed that the SGE should:
- promote UNISON’s better hospital food campaign and champion in-house, locally sourced and freshly cooked food for patients and staff alike, in hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare residential settings;
- continue to influence and inform the creation of new food standards for staff working in hospitals and improve the facilities available to staff who work unsocial hours, to enable them to have nutritious and fresh food at low cost during their meal breaks at work.
Mandatory flu jabs. Conference noted with concern that some health employers are making flu vaccinations mandatory for new starters, citing the national target of 100% vaccination take-up.
It was agreed that the union should continue to work with health employers nationally to promote the voluntary take-up of free flu vaccinations by health workers – but reject any move to make such vaccinations mandatory.