ALMOST a third of disabled staff at Barnsley Hospital say they have been bullied or abused by patients, a report has revealed.
Barnsley Hospital’s latest Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) report has revealed how disabled staff at the hospital are treated and how they feel.
Eight out of the ten metric indicators in the report have either improved - and non have declined.
Some of the results in the report are at their best levels since reporting at the Gawber Road site began.
However hospital bosses have highlighted a number of areas they would like to improve upon.
This includes reducing harassment, bullying and abuse towards disabled staff members.
A report has shown that 27.8 per cent of disabled colleagues received abuse from patients last year - a decrease of three per cent.
It added: “There is an improvement of three percentage points reduction for disabled colleagues, from 30.8 per cent the previous year to 27.8 per cent of disabled staff reported experiencing bullying, harassment or abuse from patients, service users or the public.
“There remains a higher proportion of disabled staff, compared to non-disabled staff, experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse.
“Despite this the national benchmarking data shows a higher figure of 30.3 per cent disabled staff having reported experiencing similar incidents.”
The report also shows that disabled staff are more likely to be bullied by their manager or colleagues compared to non-disabled workers.
“Reports of bullying, harassment or abuse from managers has improved from 11.6 per cent to 10.5 per cent,” the report added.
“The figure is below the national average of 15.9 per cent for disabled colleagues and shows an improved picture.
“There remains a significant difference in experiences with non-disabled colleagues reporting 5.3 per cent less harassment, bullying or abuse.
“There has been a slight improvement from 23.3 per cent to 23.2 per cent for disabled staff to receive abuse from colleagues.
“However, disabled staff are still 8.9 per cent more likely to experience harassment, bullying and abuse from other colleagues compared to 14.3 per cent of non-disabled staff.”
Barnsley Hospital’s head of inclusion and wellbeing, Pauline Garnett, told the Chronicle: “Notably, there has been a reduction in the number of our disabled colleagues who experience bullying, harassment, and abuse from patients, service-users/public and other colleagues within the trust.
“In addition, more disabled colleagues are reporting incidents, reflecting our efforts to encourage a culture of openness and support.
“Other improvements include colleagues feeling valued, support for workplace adjustments and fewer colleagues feeling pressured to come to work despite not feeling well.
“These improvements reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting colleagues and addressing workplace inequalities.
“However, we acknowledge that we need to continue our efforts. We will keep our focus on key priority areas and collaborate with the disability staff network on a range of initiatives.
“These will further improve experiences for our disabled colleagues, encourage them to confidently share their disabilities, increase senior level representation of disabled members and raise awareness of workplace adjustments for all those who need them.
“The trust remains committed to reducing workplace disparities and creating an inclusive and supportive workplace for all.”
