More nurses and midwives are reporting the discrimination they have faced at work, as health workers deal with a rising wave of abuse, the latest NHS Staff Survey has revealed.
The survey, which ran between September and November 2024, showed increasing discrimination and physical violence being levelled against nurses and midwives.
“Employers must ensure everyone working in the NHS is safer and wrongdoers are dealt with severely”
Helga Pile
Despite this, more nurses and midwives have reported having enough staff to do their jobs properly, and many continue to say they are enthusiastic about their job.
More than 770,000 NHS staff in England responded to the survey, including 220,501 nurses and midwives across 263 NHS organisations.
The survey revealed that 14% of nurses and midwives had experienced discrimination at work by the public – the highest level recorded since the question was first asked in 2019.
Similarly, there had been a rise in the number who had experienced discrimination from colleagues, at almost 11%.
Of the nurses and midwives who said they had faced discrimination, either by the public or their colleagues, 66% said this was because of their ethnic background.
This was a 3% increase compared to 2023 and the highest level in the last five years.
These findings echo an investigation conducted by Nursing Times last year, which found that racism against NHS staff was getting worse year on year.
Meanwhile, the NHS Staff Survey also showed that 34.5% of nurses and midwives had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work by the public.
Some 21% reported harassment, bullying or abuse by colleagues, while 10% reported it by managers.
Importantly, a record number of nurses and midwives who said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse said they had reported it – at 58%.
This was the highest level of people reporting abuse in the last five years, according to the survey.
The report also shed light on the level of physical violence nurses and midwives had been subjected to.
Almost a quarter (22%) of nurses and midwives said they had experienced violence at work by members of the public.
Meanwhile, 1% of the workforce said they had experienced physical violence by their manager, while 2.5% said they had experienced it from other colleagues – both the highest levels in the last five years.
It comes as a recent Nursing Times survey laid bare the scale of physical violence being faced by nurses and midwives on the frontline.
Staff reported being grabbed, punched, bitten, spat at, strangled, headbutted and even stabbed. Some said they were attacked on a daily basis.
More on investigations by Nursing Times
For the second year running, the NHS Staff Survey asked respondents about their experiences of unwanted sexual behaviour, including offensive or inappropriate sexualised conversation or jokes, touching or assault.
Similar to the 2023 results, 11% of nurses and midwives reported that they had been subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour by members of the public, while 3% said they had experienced it by staff.
The staff survey also asked nurses and midwives about job satisfaction, pay and workload.
Some 31% of nurses and midwives reported having enough staff at their organisation for them to do their job properly. While still low, this was the highest number since 2020.
Much like 2023, the number of nurses and midwives feeling satisfied with their pay was just 27%.
Some 55.5% of respondents said they looked forward to going to work, while 71% said they are enthusiastic about their job.
On the other hand, the survey found that 41% of nurses and midwives often or always found their work “emotionally exhausting”, while 34% said they felt “burnt out”.
Concerningly, the proportion of nurses and midwives who said they were under unrealistic time pressures was almost 80%.
Only 45% said they were able to meet all the conflicting demands during their time at work, while 55% said they achieved a good balance between work life and home life.
Despite this, there was a drop in the number who felt worn out at the end of their working day or shift, from 55% in 2021 to 48% in 2024.
Similarly, fewer nurses than previous years said they had thought about leaving their organisations, with just 29% stating that they had considered it.
Responding to the survey results, Unison head of health, Helga Pile, said there was a “long way to go” until NHS staff could say feel they were treated well at work.
She said: “Harassment, bullying and sexually motivated incidents remain shockingly high.
“Staff providing vital treatment and support must be able to do their jobs without fear of any kind of abuse, attack or unwanted advances.
“Employers must ensure everyone working in the NHS is safer and wrongdoers are dealt with severely.”
Meanwhile, Ms Pile said the latest figures showed that NHS staff were “anything but happy with their pay”.
“It’s clear the workforce is yet to feel any signs of the change promised by the new government,” she argued.
“If the health service is to have any hope of retaining experienced staff, all NHS workers need to be paid well, and rewarded for their increased responsibilities to reduce the burnout that’s affecting so many.”
The NHS Staff Survey results have come on the same day that the government announced that NHS England would be abolished as a standalone organisation, returning power to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Director of leadership and organisational development at the King’s Fund, Suzie Bailey, said: “On a day of major news about the national wiring of the NHS, the results from the NHS Staff Survey reveals what it feels like to be working on the front line.
“The findings demonstrate that working in the health service continues to look like an unattractive career, with many NHS staff feeling undervalued and overstretched.”
Ms Bailey noted that staff wanted to provide the best quality of care for patients but were often “left experiencing burnout, mental distress and exhaustion”.
She added: “This snapshot of the experience of NHS staff comes ahead of the government publishing its plans to reform the service.
“Ministers will be relying on the NHS workforce to actually deliver much of its plans for improvement, and today’s results will be cause for concern.”
A new 10-year plan for the health service is expected to be published by the government this spring.
More on the NHS Staff Survey
