Category Archives: Workplace Culture

QUIZ

NHS operations, Patient Confidentiality, Workplace Culture

Firstly, which hospital which describes itself as “one of the world’s leading cardiothoracic hospitals” did not consultant a relevant specialist and mistakenly told a patient with a spinal injury that she would become “one of those people who you see walking around bent over”? This caused her untold distress.

Also, when asked by the patient to only discuss with her how she was feeling [while waiting for treatment], which hospital completely ignored this request and carried on speaking only to her son. Unfortunately [as she had suspected] he was wrongly describing her as feeling much better than she in fact was. This of course put her health and wellbeing at serious risk.

Although she had contacted the hospital previously to find out who her consultant was, this information was unfortunately unable to be found.

Secondly, which private healthcare company, after treating a patient as part of an NHS contract, now seems to be trying to avoid paying her the amount agreed with the NHS chief executive following publication on Facebook of her counselling notes? The notes had been passed to a third party by two staff of the private hospital in question.

. . . ANSWERS MAY WELL BE COMING SOON

LEGAL DUTIES UNDER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: IGNORED?

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Freedom of Information Act, Monitoring the Civil Service, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) describes the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as providing “public access to information held by public authorities.

It does this in two ways:

  • public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and
  • members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority, including government departments, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. 

The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to. This is sometimes described as a presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure.”

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WHY I WRITE MY BLOG

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying by Social Media, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Effects of being Bullied, Online Bullying, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

I hope my readers have a wonderful 2017.

It has been suggested that if I had not started writing my blog the online personal abuse about me which has continued for a long time would not have happened.  I therefore want to explain my reasons for writing about the bullying and the order in which things happened.

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ATTENTION-SEEKERS

Bullying by Social Media, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Effects of being Bullied, Online Bullying, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Culture

We all know people who are attention-seekers, and after a couple of alcoholic drinks most of us become attention-seekers.  It is usually fairly harmless, low level behaviour when the alcohol has made us lose our inhibitions.  However, there are those who turn everything that happens in their lives into a drama: from burning the toast in the morning to the evening train being late, it all becomes fodder for this type of behaviour. The people in their lives can reach overload as it can be exhausting for the “audience” if it is relentless without periods of relative calm and stability.

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EFFECTS OF BEING BULLIED

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Effects of being Bullied, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

I decided to write a blog about workplace bullying  to inform readers about the facts: what happened, how it was dealt with and the outcome.  I wanted to enable readers to recognise the signs of workplace bullying if something similar happened to them.  In my next post I hope to give people some skills in dealing with being bullied in the workplace. With hindsight, there are some things I would have done differently in order to achieve a better outcome.

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BREACHES OF TRUST AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Confidentiality, Monitoring the Civil Service, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

Although I doubt that my previous employer would be a fan of my blog, I feel that writing it helps me and others who may be going through a similar experience.  It has also rekindled my love of writing, so I will continue in my own unassuming way to try to entertain and inform my readers about aspects of my experience in this particular organisation.

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THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Confidentiality, The Psychological Contract, Toxic Organisations, Why Do People Bully, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

When I resigned from the civil service I had (and still have) a strong sense of injustice at the way I had been treated, and this is what led me to write my blog.  Not only does it help me to make some sort of sense of what happened, but I hope that in some small way I can help others going through similar experiences.

Today I would like to have a look at the relationship between management and employees, which is of major importance in any organisation in relation to employee morale and productivity .

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TOXIC ORGANISATIONS

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

A bit of history here!  The 30 year period after the end of World War II is called the “golden era” of the public sector in the UK.  It was assigned the role of “model” employer and expected to implement good management practices. The purpose was to set an example to employers in other sectors.

The end of the golden era led to increased financial stringency and the introduction of competition into those public services which had not been privatised.  There was reduced job security (many areas were at that time sub-contracted to private companies) as well as an increase in the number of part-time workers.  The public sector unions were weakened by the reduced membership and the legal constraints imposed on all trade unions.

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TRUTHFULNESS?

Blog on Workplace Bullying, Bullying by Social Media, Bullying in the Civil Service, Bullying in the Workplace, Civil Service, Monitoring the Civil Service, Toxic Organisations, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Bullying Blog, Workplace Culture

Even though I had worked for the organisation for 15 years, I was initially taken aback at the lack of truthfulness surrounding the whole bullying situation and its ramifications. Readers of my blog will know that the bullying manager steadfastly lied about the bullying and manipulated 2 of my colleagues into lying for him; my final line manager decided to find out about me from a relative, broadcast what he was told and then lie about it.  Then there was the online bullying from two relatives.

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