Key Summary
- 14.47 percent of NHS staff were physically attacked by patients or the public last year -the highest rate in three years.
- Nearly one in three ambulance staff or 31 percent reported being subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour from the public.
- Despite the abuse, 87.78 percent of staff still feel their job makes a positive difference to patients.
The latest NHS staff survey shows that almost one in seven staff or 14.47 percent were physically attacked by a patient or the public last year - the highest rate for three years.
A record percentage of staff were subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour from the public.
The issue is particularly acute in the ambulance sector, where 31 percent of staff reported such incidents. Discrimination from the public and the patient also reached an all-time high of 9.26 percent.
Established in 2003, the NHS Staff Survey is one of the world’s largest workforce surveys and this time more than 766,000 workers took part.
Danny Mortimer, Director General (People) for NHS England, said, “These figures paint a deeply worrying picture of the abuse our hardworking NHS staff face. Staff safety and wellbeing is paramount, and we want everyone experiencing any kind of unwanted incident to feel confident enough to report it.”
He pointed out that the staff have worked so hard to improve NHS performance and deliver care over winter months. “These survey results show it is now for the NHS to deliver improvements for staff because there is so much more to do to make the NHS a better place to work.”
About 87.78 percent of respondents to the staff survey felt their job made a difference to patients.
However, the number of staff who would recommend their workplace to others fell slightly to 58.05 percent, from 60.79 percent in 2024.
Last year, NHS took tough action against incompetence and let go a record number of staff on 'capability' grounds.
