Stress in the Workplace at the Care Quality Commission Will Directly Impact on Patient Safety
Stress In the Workplace at the Care Quality Commission
Will Directly Impact on Patient Safety
A recent article in the Independent revealed that a report commissioned by David Benham the Chief Executive of the CQC revealed that over 90% of CQC were suffering with stress in the workplace after being the subject of bullying harassment and overworked.
The CQC states that it is their job ‘to check whether hospitals care homes and care services are meeting national standards’.
The report showed that there are frequent reports of bullying and harassment in the organisation. It revealed that there is more pressure on the staff to meet targets and management go as far as to harass staff in pursuit of these.
There was a genuine fear that the excessive workloads and increasing pressure would impact upon the thoroughness of inspections and the safety of patients.
Experienced former NHS staff were described as feeling ‘broken’ after the treatment of management in which there is a common blame culture with managers often shifting blame onto subordinates.
Unfortunately this is further indicative of a serious problem emerging throughout the public sector where budget cuts are causing all public sector jobs to be squeezed. This article appeared the same week as an anonymous blogger report a similar culture in local government.
Perhaps the bigger concern is that the public depend upon the CQC to police the healthcare system. If the very staff who are in place to monitor the practices of the NHS and healthcare providers are under excessive stress then this will inevitably result in mistakes which ultimately could have an adverse affect on the healthcare services being provided to the public.
In a time when the Government’s primary focus is on public sector job cuts then the problems are only set to become worse across the entire public sector. I fear that it is only a matter of time before a major healthcare scandal will occur due to omissions of staff who are plainly under too much pressure.
If you believe that you are suffering with stress at work please feel free to call our expert team of advisors on 0113 2009720 or email stress@oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk.
Richard Coulthard
Head of the Stress at Work Department
