DHB culture blasted
Over the past three months, 17 current and former staff members from six different departments of Nelson Marlborough Health have spoken to the Weekly alleging a culture of bullying and poor working conditions. Jonty Dine reports.
She was good at her job, she’d been doing it for ten years and enjoyed the satisfaction it gave her – she was helping people.
But she says a sustained bullying campaign by her manager at Nelson Marlborough Health left her broken, she lost confidence and was constantly on the verge of tears.
Her story is not unique.
The Weekly has conducted interviews with 17 current and former staff members of the DHB as well as one former board member.
They say management do not deal with chronic under-staffing or complaints of bullying. Of the 17 people, all have asked that their names are not printed as they fear being targeted by senior management, and all but two spoke to us individually.
All interviews were conducted face-to-face and recorded for accuracy. The people we spoke with are nurses, administration staff, doctors, support workers, surgeons and an anaesthetist.
The PSA Union which represents health workers say NMH has one of the worst procedures in dealing with bullying complaints its seen.
The Weekly reached out to Nelson Marlborough Health for an interview with its CEO Lexie O’Shea, that request was declined. She did send a written statement.
“Bullies are not welcome at Nelson Marlborough Health. Complaints meeting the definition of bullying are investigated by a registered investigator and a panel reviews the report. The panel always includes union representation and can include external parties.”
The PSA responded saying by treating each complaint as a separate and isolated incident, the DHB is failing its staff and its responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
“Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace. There are clearly huge systemic and culture issues at the DHB. The DHBs insistence that each case of bullying is dealt with on its own merits is sending a message that they don’t want to deal with the underlying problems and that they don’t care about the impact this is having on workers.”
An experienced staff member in Nelson says the toll on nurses is affecting the quality of care patients are receiving.
“I see the nurses overworked, I see them crying, I see that they are unhappy. They have got nothing more to give. They have been run dry.”
They say nurses are having to also be cleaners because many cleaners left when the vaccine mandate was brought in and they haven’t been replaced.
The worker says nurses are bearing the biggest brunt of poor management.
They say the hospital has gotten away with such poor treatment of its staff because it relies on the fact that they got into healthcare to look after people and until recently, had a strong supply of workers.
The worker says there is a horrible shortage of staff, and the current culture is to “keep flogging the staff you’ve got.”
A high number of doctors are also taking stress leave.
“It’s depressing because you feel like you’re giving a substandard level of care. It’s not why we went into healthcare.”
They say they don’t feel able to approach senior management to raise issues.
“I don’t feel confident that I’d be listened to or that they can illicit any meaningful change and feel I would be marked as someone who is a troublemaker.”
Board member speaks out
A former DHB board member, who resigned in 2021, says they were bullied off the board and felt targeted by a fellow board member for making a complaint about a family member’s health care in the Emergency Department.
They also allege the board was dismissive of any issues not related to finance, and discussions of staff being bullied never took place, despite being raised.
“I don’t think they are looking at how the staff are treated, it’s about bums on seats and a focus on financial accountability.”
With numerous allegations of bullying across the DHB, the former board member says they “absolutely need” to be discussing it at board level.
“We have got a responsibility to keep the nurses safe, and we are there to represent and advocate.”
Following the alleged suicide of a worker, the former board member asked if it could be discussed by the board.
“I was told, ‘this is an operations matter’ and it was not to be discussed at a board meeting nor was it to be brought up by me.”
They say they were never allowed to raise the death again, despite serious concerns about its impact on staff. The board member says during their time as an elected official, they felt silenced and micromanaged.
Our society’s most vulnerable
The bullying culture has not escaped the disability support services sector.
Support workers allege that when they have raised complaints with management about acts of negligence, abuse of clients, bullying, and disparity in treatment, the DHB have not taken the complaints seriously or actioned the complaints.
They say some team leaders responsible for the residential houses yell at staff, make medication errors, and do not give vulnerable patients the care they deserve.
Many workers are now hesitant to raise concerns as they are afraid that instead of support they will be punished.
The workers say the stressful work environment manifested physically as they endured nausea, sleepless nights, skin conditions, stress leave, and eventually were put on medication.
Many support workers have made separate complaints and all say they were met with resistance.
As a result of one worker’s complaint, they were called to a two-hour meeting with no support person.
Despite previous complaints against the team leader, the worker was called a gossip and a liar.
“I was in tears, I was made to feel worthless. To walk out of there feeling like I was the problem was not cool.”
Another support worker with more than ten years’ experience, says they have also been the victim of bullying and harassment, not just by the current team leader but also the previous.
“I felt unsafe and threatened and I repeatedly informed my manager about the impact this behaviour was having on service users and other staff.”
They say there was a deep seeded fear that their team leader would accuse them of misconduct.
After first being brought to the DHB’s attention in February, it wasn’t until December that the findings of the investigation showed that bullying and harassment had occurred.
Bullying across cultures
The prevailing issue of bullying has even extended into the Māori health care system.
Intimidating, inept and negligent, is how one worker describes management.
They portray a manipulative, hierarchical environment, where those who speak out against the manager become targets.
When management has initiated investigations into staff members, the investigations have lacked “impartiality, fairness, or independence” the PSA union says.
“The ways in which the investigations were conducted, ignore the values of the DHB’s disciplinary policy and the DHB itself.”
The union pointed out that serious bullying investigations require an independent, impartial investigator.
The union says about a dozen members have left in the five years since the manager has been in charge.
The union says what’s happening in Māori Health is emblematic of what’s going on elsewhere at Nelson Marlborough Health: “The reports we’re getting are distressing. We’re concerned.”
A repeat offender
Nurses at Nelson Hospital allege bullying is continuing at the hospital despite investigations taking place.
In 2021, an investigation into one nurse’s behaviour was carried out and she was stood down with pay for four and a half months following 40 complaints.
The nurse, who we have decided not to name, has since returned to work though her behaviour has not changed.
The “constant, petty, and bullying behaviour” left one of the nurses so distressed that they became suicidal.
Nurses also allege that an ‘inner circle’ receives preferential treatment while there is a high staff turnover for those that challenge them.
Notices issued:
In 2020, WorkSafe also issued two ‘Improvement Notices’ to the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board’s (NMDHB) alcohol and drug addiction services department over staff workload pressures, bullying and mental distress.
The notices come four months after a staff member died in a suspected suicide in what a former colleague alleges was partially the result of extreme job stress.
The colleague previously told the Weekly the job took place in a “powerless and humiliating” work environment.
The nurses say they all fear for their jobs if they complain about the culture.
They say many good nurses have left due to management.
“So many careers, so many lives have been f***** up.”
Ongoing union battles
The DHB policy, which was approved in 2014 and updated in 2017, states that if an employee feels they are being bullied or harassed, they are required to report this directly to the general manager or human resources.
If a formal investigation is required, a team will be assembled by the general manager and human resources to carry it out.
Any potential conflicts of interest will again be determined by the general manager and human resources.
When approached for comment, the PSA union said that the system for reporting bullying and abuse is set up against employees and is geared towards punishment for speaking out.
“This is resulting in a scared workforce which has lost all confidence to raise any kind of grievance, and that makes them unsafe workplaces. The policy and practice is doing the opposite of what is supposed to do.”
They say for an organisation that specialises in health and wellbeing, the health of their workers doesn’t even come on the radar.
Union organisers say bullying policies should be updates at least every two years.
“This isn’t good process, this is putting people at harm. There is an HR team employed to address these issues and the problems with the process predate Covid, so that is not a good excuse.”
MP’s response
Nelson MP Rachel Boyack says everyone should have the right to feel safe in their place of work and should be treated with dignity and respect.
"Nurses and staff at Nelson Hospital are raising legitimate concerns. I commend these staff for speaking up against bullying and intimidation. Only by shining a light on these issues will we get change," she says.
She says constituents have raised issues with her in the past.
"I’m pleased to have been able to work alongside workers and unions to resolve some serious instances of bullying at the DHB. I encourage staff with concerns to continue raising these with the DHB, their unions and their local MPs."
As a former union organiser, and health and safety advisor, I’ve long held a view that organisations need to take the emotional health and safety of workers as seriously as physical health and safety. I encourage the DHB to act on these concerns,” she says.
Kaikōura MP Stuart Smith is accusing district health bosses of consistently concealing bullying behaviour.
Stuart says he believes management are not taking the situation seriously enough.
“The DHB has a culture [of bullying] and I believe management are playing games in terms of having their own agenda.
“I’m well aware of the situation and I’ve had constituents come to me with concerns about it and I’m encouraging them to speak up, with both the DHB and the media.
“I have concerns about the management of DHB. I’ve written to the DHB but they just trot out soothing words.
“A delegation of four people came to see me officially and I’ve heard from others in a social setting. Many of them I know personally, and they are people I trust.
“There are always two sides to every story but the people who have come forward to me, I’m confident they’re not making it up.”
What next?
Asked what needs to be fixed, a senior doctor said: “Better staffing is crucial. We need communication and transparency. We don’t know what the managers do and we need to see actionable change.”
The doctor says that management is capable of productive policy as shown with the initial Covid response team.
“It was really refreshing that there was a group of senior staff and managers that were able to institute some actual physical clinical change that was productive. It worked really well.”
However, this proved to be an anomaly.
“They can do it, it’s just whether or not they want to.”
One nurse told the Weekly to keep exposing what is happening for the benefit of staff and patients.
“Keep going, you will save lives.”