Nurses call for zero tolerance on work bullies

Cutbacks in the health service are fuelling workplace bullying, with more than half of nurses surveyed saying they had been bullied in the previous six months.

A study for the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) found 51.9% of the 2,442 nurses who responded to the survey had been the victim of bullying at least once — a 13.4% increase on the result when the survey was last carried out in 2010.

When asked to explain the background to their experience, nurses consistently reported that cutbacks and the resulting overcrowding and understaffing in hospitals and other healthcare settings had exacerbated stress levels and contributed to the bullying.