More than 58,000 NHS staff reported sexual assaults and harassment from patients, their relatives and other members of the public in 2023 in the health service’s annual survey.
For the first time ever, the NHS staff survey for England asked workers if they had been the target of unwanted sexual behaviour, which includes inappropriate or offensive sexualised comments, touching and assault.
Of the 675,140 NHS staff who responded, more than 84,000 reported sexual assaults and harassment by the public and other staff last year.
About one in 12 (58,534) said they had experienced at least one incident of unwanted sexual behaviour from patients, patients’ relatives and other members of the public in 2023.
Almost 26,000 staff (3.8%) also reported unwanted sexual behaviour from colleagues.
Rates were highest among ambulance workers, with more than 27% reporting sexual harassment from the public and just over 9% from colleagues.
Nursing and healthcare assistants reported the next highest rate of unwanted sexual behaviour from the public (17%), followed by nurses and midwives (11%).
The survey also found record numbers of health workers experienced discrimination, including racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism, from patients and colleagues last year.
More than 57,000 staff (8.5%) reported experience of discrimination from patients or the public last year, up from 7.2% in 2019.
There was a similar rise in discrimination by staff over the same period, with more than 61,000 respondents (9%) reporting experiencing this from managers, team leaders or colleagues.
Nearly half the overall NHS workforce responded to the survey, which also found slight improvements in rates of other forms of harassment, bullying or abuse from the public in the past 12 months. More than 174,000 staff (25.8%) reported experiencing at least one such incident.
No data on the level of physical violence experienced by staff was included in the survey due to “an issue with the quality of the data”.
The survey reported small improvements in reported levels of burnout – 30% compared with 34% in 2022, and the proportion of staff finding their work “emotionally exhausting” – down from 37% in 2022 to 34%.
Royal College of Nursing’s director for England, Patricia Marquis, said: “Nursing staff go into work to care for others and it is a disgrace that racist, sexual and other discriminatory abuse is becoming the norm for so many. But this is potentially just the tip of the iceberg, with no data presented on the levels of physical violence faced by staff. We know NHS workers are repeatedly being attacked at work and it is deeply concerning that the data is not available.”
Prof Vivien Lees, the vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and lead on sexual misconduct, said previous research found two-thirds of female surgeons and a quarter of male surgeons had reported sexual harassment from colleagues.
Dr Becky Cox, of Surviving in Scrubs, which campaigns against staff-on-staff sexual harassment in the NHS, added: “[This] suggests staff don’t feel safe or comfortable reporting harassment by colleagues, even in an anonymous survey,” she said.
Sarah Woolnough, the chief executive of the King’s Fund health charity, recognised “some positive improvements” but said NHS staff “are feeling undervalued, stretched and unwell”.
NHS England launched its sexual safety charter in September, which commits to enforcing a zero-tolerance approach to any unwanted sexual behaviours in the workplace.
Dr Navina Evans, the chief workforce, training and education officer at NHS England, said: “It is very distressing that more than 58,000 NHS staff reported experiencing unwanted sexual behaviour from the public last year and such conduct should not be tolerated in the NHS.”
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
