Accused of bullying at work

[Workinmu]

I work in the NHS as consultant. I have been asked to take someone as a secretary for my NHS patients, who is also doing a lot of private secretary work for my fellow consultants. So I thought she would not be able to get the NHS work done for me to look after my NHS patients . But my line didn’t give me a choice so effectively I have forced to work with this person for a couple of years. As I expected her work was not upto the standards I expected so I repeatedly sent emails to my line managers to change her. Now she has filed a complaint against me saying that I have been bullying her but I have never spoken to her in person and all our communication was via email. My line manager is not very supportive as she was the one who appointed her. I have a feeling that my colleagues are ganging up against me to to get rid of me . I am very stressed about this and don’t know how to deal with this. Any professional advice from people with the know how would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

This????

I have a feeling that my colleagues are ganging up against me to to get rid of me . I am very stressed about this and don’t know how to deal with this. Any professional advice from people with the know how would be greatly appreciated.

It’s near impossible to sack a NHS consultant - the BMJ made sure of that.

You need to contact your union rep.

I can’t believe you haven’t spoken to your secretary in 2 years! That’s pretty shitty whatever the circumstances, and emails can easily be misinterpreted (and used as evidence).

If all your communication has been via email (which is a bit odd) then there will be evidence one way or another. Being blunt, lacking in warmth or being direct are not bullying.

going forward you might find that conversations are generally a better way to manage communication and relationships though

Thanks for your reply. It’s very constructive.

Unfortunately my line manager is playing politics.
Is she meeting the standard for getting clinic letters out to GPs etc?
This is the one of the main issues. I ended up getting a lot done myself after finishing my clinic.
on top of that I have to look after my children for which I don’t have any time . So they falling behind in their education. I have nothing personal against this person except that the work is not getting done . I am overwhelmed by my clinical commitments. How can provide clinical services if I am also doing some one else’s work on top of my clinical commitments? I feel more of a victim than a bully.

Its no excuse for rude communication. There are plenty of people who don't have English as their first language who are able to be polite and professional. I work with many who manage and my grandparents were not English either. They learned, as can you, but you seemingly don't want to. I get the impression you want people just to adapt to suit you rather than you adapting to the NHS way of working and communicating. In addition, telling us not to comment without knowing the context - why bother posting on here then? I am starting to believe that you are a bully, whether intentional or otherwise. You need to work on your manner and communication style.

Sounds tough, I am not a doctor but I have doctor friends (all ethnic minorities) who have been accused of bullying. It seemed laughable to me as they are such kind people. I can see how there might be a systemic issue. Contact your union ASAP and see if your house insurance provides legal cover.

You might be right but you still haven't explained why you haven't had a single conversation with this person in all this time.

The content and tone of your emails is key, here. Without an example of that it's pretty impossible to make a judgement.

OP seems to be failing to grasp that the refusal to interact in person may be part of the reason that the secretary feels bullied.

Yes, this is a very important point.

What discipline are you a Consultant in?

You sound pretty overwhelmed but I imagine most NHS doctors feel the same.
Unfortunately childcare arrangements are nothing to do with your employers and neither is your childrens education, is there another parent involved?

how delayed are your letters?
do you dictate and are hard to understand?

on top of that I have to look after my children for which I don’t have any time . So they falling behind in their education
this has absolutely nothing to do with the issue

Why should the OP have to out themselves by declaring what discipline they're in? How is that even relevant to the challenge they've described?

Is she meeting the standard for getting clinic letters out to GPs etc?
This is the one of the main issues. I ended up getting a lot done myself after finishing my clinic.

You need to step back from doing this and let them pile up. It's not your role and you are just covering up the issue.
Getting clinic letters out within the Trust standard will be a key performance indicator in her role. That's where you gather the evidence she is not performing and take to her line manager to address

You do know that people don’t have to answer questions being asked. but we can still ask them.

This should have been brought up in her supervision (not with you, with an admin lead but your issues with her performance can be brought up in it) so that a plan can be made to get her performance up to scratch.

@Workinmu from what you've described, there is a breakdown of communication and poor expectation setting, which could have been avoided by building bridges early with the secretary. For example if you had met them at the start you could have agreed how much time you needed for your NHS patient correspondence and decided with that person whether that time was reasonable. I'm not blaming anyone, that's my observation.

in terms of what to do next, I suggest your try to be conciliatory, explain that there has clearly been poor communications to date and that you'd like to out things right, for the good of your patients. Put those patients at the heart of your concern and don't blame ir criticise the secretary, just try to move things forward and come to an amicable agreement about ways of working. Suggest a weekly review meeting with you to discuss the priorities, it only needs to be 30 mins but moving this one to a new understanding is the best way forward.

Is the admin doing private work in NHS time? Is that common practice where you work? If that’s the case are you considered a whistleblower? A union could help.

Why ask a question that is not relevant to the OPs problem, and one that would undoubtedly out and expose them. Why do that to someone who is already feeling vulnerable?

typical NHS consultant... clearly unhappy with their lot and probably jealous of the 'private and very well paid' work his colleagues are on, assuming any of this is true ofcourse

you are no doubt in a union, so go to the union op

I never used to really believe these sorts of things happened but twice over the past two years I've worked with lazy arsed fuckers who did the bare minimum and who cried bullying when they were called out on it. So it does happen.

Whether it has happened here is impossible to judge. OP you need to go to your union and talk it through with them and go from there.

There are a few things that occur to me:

First one is how have you never met your secretary? My consultant and I both work part time and both WFH for part of the time. However I always make sure I am in the office at least one day a fortnight on the day she is so that we can meet face to face. We are in constant contact by email when we are working though.

How many other consultants is the secretary working for? If they work full time it is unlikely that it will only be you. The full time secretaries in our place can have up to four consultants to support - it depends on the clinic hours the consultant has and then each of those consultants will have admin to be done (some more than others) and also the secretary will potentially have patients for each of these consultants phoning.

It is very unlikely (but not impossible) that the secretary is doing private work when she should be doing NHS work. The secretaries in our department who do private work do it in their own time, early morning or after work. Admin managers would be down on them like a ton to of bricks if they thought they were doing otherwise.

Finally, once our consultants have dictated letters they forget about them until they reappear in their queue for approval. We have a seven day turn around and the managers are on this if we aren't meeting deadlines. Urgent dictations are always done straight away. Why are you doing letters yourself rather than dictating them? Doesn't sound like the best use of your time!!