Publish date: 26 July 2024
In 2023, for the first time, the national staff survey asked questions which gave a critical insight in the experiences of staff, trainees and students who have encountered unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature while at work.
At a national level, the survey revealed that 58,000 of people in the NHS reported unwanted sexual approaches from patients or other members of the public last year, which equates to 1 in every 12 NHS workers.
In Mersey Care, 9.38% of our staff reported that they had experienced at least one incident of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature from patients, service users or other members of the public in the past 12 months. The worst result nationally was over 17% of staff reporting a negative experience.
2.59% of our staff reported that they had experienced at least 1 incident of unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace from staff or colleagues. The national average result for this question was 3.01%. The worst result nationally was 5.29%.
What have we been doing to support this work?
We need to understand when these incidents are happening in our Trust and take positive action to protect our people from harm.
Within Mersey Care, a team has been established which includes members of the People Directorate, Safeguarding Team, and Staff Side representatives. The team have scoped the current policies and practices in place and identified any gaps in our current provision.
It is important that our staff know how to report or highlight any concerns and feel safe and confident to do so.
We expect national resources to be made available in August, which will be shared on Your Space when we receive them.
There is also new legislation to give further protection to people at work. The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality) Act 2023 will become effective from October 2024. This places a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. It will require employers to act more proactively and less reactively. It will also require targeted measures towards prevention of sexual harassment.
Further updates to follow.
See also: Freedom to Speak Up Guardians :: YourSpace Mersey Care