A third of trainee doctors have been bullied

One third of trainee doctors say they have experienced bullying and harassment at work, according to a survey by the Medical Council.

One quarter of trainees working in smaller hospitals say the quality of care there is poor or very poor, the survey also finds.

Over half of trainee doctors – 56 per cent – have witnessed someone else being bullied or harassed in posts, it also finds.

The problem is worst in smaller hospitals, where almost one-quarter of trainee doctors say they have been bullied frequently. This compares to 16 per cent in larger hospitals and just 4 per cent among trainees in GP practices.

Asked who was responsible for this behaviour, respondents identified other doctors as the source of bullying in 49 per cent of cases, while nurses or midwives were blamed by 36 per cent of the trainee doctors surveyed. Only 8 per cent of bullying was blamed on patients and their families and 3 per cent on managers.

The Your Training Counts 2015 report marks the second year the council has gathered data from trainee doctors about the quality of their clinical learning environment.

Chief executive Bill Prasifka said he was disappointed the reported experience of bullying by trainees had not improved since the first survey and that many seem to be receiving little or not feedback. "These findings are worrying and need to be addressed as quickly as possible. I am fully aware that the issue of bullying cannot be dealt with overnight and that a cultural shift needs to occur in this instance. However, an improved induction programme or the simple delivery of feedback is something that can in fact be achieved quickly."

Experience of bullying was highest among doctors in their internship year, where 29 per cent reported being bullied frequently.

Almost seven in 10 trainees who experienced bullying in their learning environment did not report their experience to someone in authority. Of those trainees that reported bullying to someone in authority, almost 40 per cent perceived nothing to have happened about it.

Trainees who felt action was taken when they reported their experience of bullying rated their learning environment higher than trainees who perceived nothing to have happened when they reported their experience.

Overall, 86 per cent of trainees rate the quality of patient care they were providing as good or very good, but 6 per cent rated it poor or very poor. One in four trainee doctors working in smaller hospitals, and one in eight of those working in larger hospitals, rated the quality of care as poor or very poor.

On foot of findings in this and other recent reports, the council says it is commissioning new research into the education and training needs of medical graduates who are new to the practice of medicine in Ireland.

The information gathered will be used to design a registration support programme for doctors new to the Irish system, according to Medical Council president Prof Freddie Wood.