Systemic Bullying Present at Broken Hill Hospital claims by Nurses

by Oct 2, 2015

In this blog post, nurses who were once silent now bravely step into the light, revealing a distressing pattern of harassment and mistreatment within the hospital’s management.

The Alarming Situation

Claims of systemic bullying were raised by healthcare workers against members of the management team of Broken Hill Base Hospital in Australia. The nurses alleged that they were harassed and bullied at work which resulted in as many as 50 workers leaving the hospital in a span of two years. The main reason was the toxic work culture and bullying at play in the hospital.

Some of the former hospital nurses have reportedly raised this concern to the NSW Ministry of Health and the Far West Local Health District, which oversees healthcare in Broken Hill.  A few of the veteran nurses claimed that they experienced workplace bullying and were pushed out of the hospital in an alleged campaign to weed out older staff.  A former nurse also confessed to being humiliated at work given instances of being yelled at in front of patients and other co-workers.

Unfortunately, not a lot of the affected nurses were willing to speak out when an investigation was launched. They feared that it may cost them their job if they recounted the instances that they became bullying victims. This is quite disheartening to know that these hard working nurses are working in a negative and toxic environment.

To learn more about the case, click here to read the full article on The Sydney Morning Herald.

Do you know how much money chronically bad behavior costs your company? Spoiler alert – it’s a LOT higher than you want it to be. Download our data and worksheet to see how it’s costing your organization and what you can do to fix it.

 

Catherine

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500’s to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought-leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker, author and blogger, and has 50+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning. Catherine’s award-winning book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, was hailed by international leadership-guru, Ken Blanchard, as, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” Her latest book is Navigating Toxic Work Environments For Dummies (Wiley).

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