Dignity at Work Standards for the Healthservice

Abstract

BAPIO (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin) as an organisation actively promotes the diversity, equality and inclusion of all healthcare professionals. As an organisation which encompasses a majority of ethnic minority members, we hear the unfortunate experiences of bullying, harassment and discrimination that takes place in numerous healthcare settings within the UK. In response to these lived experiences, a committee was appointed to establish a set of standards, to foster dignity within the workplace, using the large body of literature documents available. The ambition of this project is to advocate and advertise for an environment that is free from bullying and harassment and to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards bullying or harassment. We aim to do this by developing, implementing, and evaluating our Dignity@Work Standards. The Standards constitutes of 8 different domains for all healthcare professionals including managerial members to adopt in clinical practice. These domains include: Environment & Culture - ensuring the workplace environment remains a safe place for professionals to raise concerns, be treated fairly and one with dignity for all. Cultural Intelligence - acknowledging and raising awareness of the impacts of culture and diversity on dignity and accounting for intersectionality in the workplace. Organisational Interventions - highlighting the role of the organisation in accommodating the appropriate resources to eradicate behaviours of bullying and harassment. Communication & Interactions - encouraging respectful interactions between staff and creating a safe workplace to communicate any workplace issues. Monitoring & Accountability - adopting a collaborative approach to routinely monitor the standards of behaviour in the workplace and being held accountable for any failures Metrics - collection of data from the workforce to be able to understand the lived experiences of the workplace. Concerns & Grievances - having a transparent process to raise concerns and ensuring the same process is applied to all members of staff. Support - provision of the appropriate support for all staff that are a victim of bullying and harassment. Our preliminary vision of the Standards is to create a document that defines the gold standard for dignity in the workplace. The Standards incorporates the diversity of the workforce and ensures consideration is given to the intersectionality of already known determinants of bullying and harassment within the workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic has created increased pressure on the workforce of the National Health Service and with this pressure has come unacceptable working standards, inappropriate behaviour within staff, increasing reports of bullying and harassment and more staff leaving the NHS than ever before. It is therefore crucial to act now in order to eradicate bullying and harassment within the healthcare setting. We know and appreciate that collaboration is the cornerstone to progress and we encourage working with core leaders within the UK healthcare system to create this change. Together we will deliver.