Bullying and burnout in NHS

[Keira86]

I am seeking urgent advice and support regarding my current situation at work.
I hold a managerial position within the NHS and am experiencing significant burnout and what I feel amounts to bullying from my lead consultant. I work in a very small team of three. Despite my best efforts, I am unable to meet his expectations — any work I produce is criticised, yet no constructive feedback is given on how to improve. Instead, my workload is continually increased.

Since one of my staff members left, I have been covering their duties in addition to my own in order to maintain the service. This has left me overwhelmed and exhausted. The lead consultant’s behaviour makes me feel as though I am failing at my job. I have also been told by other staff members that he may be trying to build a case against me for not meeting deadlines, which has caused me extreme anxiety.

I now dread going into work each day and find myself in tears most nights. My mental health is deteriorating to the point where I am barely present for my son, and I experience intense anxiety at the thought of meetings with this consultant. Some mornings I even find myself wishing for an accident just to avoid facing the situation.

I am terrified that this will result in me losing my job. As a single mother, I cannot afford that outcome, yet I feel completely stuck.

Please can you advise me on what steps I can take to protect both my health and my job in this situation?

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this. Have you spoken to anyone about this so far? Are you an ops manager and if so who is your actual line manager? If you feel you have no one to speak to who will help address the situation then the Freedom To Speak Up Guardian is a really helpful place to start.

My line manager has left and gone to another trust. They have hired someone internally in the interim to cover his position but I have been told explicitly by the consultant that this individual who has taken over the role will not have the bandwidth to manage me and my department. The consultant and one of his clinical leads will manage me and my team.

Is there anyone you can speak to for psychological support in the first instance? In my trust we have a free employee assistance line that is 24/7 and also an internal psychologist for staff, is there anything like that? The first priority is to take care of your wellbeing and they might be able to talk you through the steps you can take. Do you have access to an intranet that sets out anything else available?

ETA I have used both the helpline and the psychologist before and found them incredibly useful even when I was feeling like there was no way to fix things.

Why can't you get a job elsewhere?

I rarely say this, but do you have a log of documented evidence and could you raise a formal grievance and take work related stress leave while it's investigated?

What happens if you tell him to fuck off to fucksville and walk out. Temping? Shop work? Cleaning? Bar work? Retrain as a bus driver?

No job on this earth is worth feeling like you want a bad accident to happen before you get there.

I do not have any documented evidence the consultant tends to say these things only when I have 1 to 1 meetings with him. I haven’t gone to HR as he has links and friends in HR.

I am scared to speak up, as he is a consultant and holds a pivotal role within the hospital. I am so scared of losing my job.

I am unsure if these services are available within my trust or where to find them. I think counselling is available but there is a long waiting list. I am contemplating going to the GP, but I’m scared it will reinforce his opinion of me that I am not good at my job. I also dread going back to all the work that will be waiting for me, if I do end up taking time off work.

Op I work in the NHS and experienced a very similar thing, I know how it feels to be so anxious, have you been applying for other roles? I would take some time off sick and look at getting another role asap

I work in the NHS too and it absolutely be like this. I run a department and my director and deputy director above couldn’t be less interested in me and my team if they tried.

I feel so worthless, I don’t drive so cannot look for jobs too far out of my existing childcare schedule. If you don’t mind me asking, What did you do in your situation? Did you speak up or leave?

I left, the manager I worked for was notorious for it 7 other people took grievances out against her but nothing was ever done about it. The job I we to waste great but it got me out of there and I then took my time in applying for something else! It can be really difficult to apply for and attend interviews when your mental health and self worth are rock bottom.

Are you in a union? As your rep is first port of call in this situation. Keep your own records of all incidents of this behaviour as this will help build a case.

Thank you. I’ve emailed the union representative and will be contacting ACAS tomorrow. I also have a meeting with the consultant tomorrow, which I’m absolutely dreading. I’ll aim to book an appointment with my GP as well, as I can’t go on feeling like this – I just feel so hopeless at the moment. I really do enjoy my actual job; it’s just the consultant’s leadership style and the unrealistic workload that are overwhelming me.

Can you go and talk to the Speak Up Guardian, or your union rep?

Good luck for your union and gp appointments! I hope they can help you

@Keira86 can you be assertive. List everything you have to do. Prioritise it. Urgent red, moderately important amber, not urgent green. Estimate timescales and hold firm. There are five urgent things that have to be completed today. They will take me 6 hours. In the remaining hour, I will prioritise what is left against what has come in. There is one of me and I can only do so much.

In the past if someone has ever tried the overbearing, grizzly, bully type attitude with me, I've just looked them in the eye, looked to my side, looked behind me. "Oh, I wondered who you were speaking to? Oh, me, oh dear, I thought it must be someone else, as people don't speak to me like that". Direct gaze.

Nowadays, as I'm old and senior, they just get a hard Paddington stare and a "who do you think you're speaking to". Academics.

You can self certify being off sick for 5 days and during that time get yourself an appointment with the GP to be signed off for longer. It sounds awful, please don’t cause yourself any further mental anguish.

I know someone who won a massive payout from the NHS for similar treatment.

You need to highlight the added workload because you are covering staff that have not been replaced. Get your health record in your GP notes too. Work related stress.

It may take years. But, if you get everything documented you’ll have a chance.

@Keira86 if you take notes during your 1:2:1s these are contemporaneous notes which is evidence. You don’t need someone else to observe his behaviour to you.