A BULLYING survey at a Merseyside hospital unit revealed more than a quarter of staff claimed to be victims.

Arrowe Park Hospital carried out the questionnaire to address concerns about morale in its women and children’s unit.

Nearly 400 workers were asked questions about harassment and the health strains of work.

Half of staff replied, and 58% of these workers said they had been bullied.

The hospital last night said it was addressing “cultural issues” by taking action like conducting the survey.

Responses from the Wirral unit were more negative than the national average calculated by the company Robertson Cooper, who carried out the study.

A total of 112 staff said they had been bullied or harassed in the last year, and 125 said they had witnessed it.

But only 28 people reported the bullying and 22 said their problem had been resolved.

Staff were asked a series of questions and gave them a score from one to four.

One meant strongly disagree and four meant strongly agree.

When asked about suffering from panic attacks, the unit scored an average of 1.98, higher than the national average of 1.54.

When asked if they “feel valued and trusted”, workers gave an average score of only 2.6, compared to an average of 3.54 across the country.

Staff reported higher than average marks for other complaints including headaches, insomnia, mood swings and constant tiredness.

More problems were apparent in midwifery and nursing than administration, according to the survey. Those who claimed to have been bullied on average scored more negatively in the health questions.

The sources of alleged bullying were also identified as mostly coming from senior management as opposed to colleagues or patients.

Community midwifery and the labour ward generated the most negative responses.

Tina Long, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at the hospital, said the survey was carried out in the women’s section of the unit, where problems had been reported.

She said: “The Trust recently commissioned a survey to be undertaken to identify how best to address some underlying cultural issues that had been identified in the Women’s directorate.

“This is a proactive initiative aimed at understanding the issues and the root causes.

“The staff welcomed this initiative and there has been a high level of engagement.

“The work undertaken to date has highlighted a number of issues, both good and not so good in some areas.

“We are now working in partnership with staff to address the issues in order to improve the overall well-being of the staff, and in turn ensure that they are best placed to continue to provide the very highest quality of care for our patients.

“This piece of work provides a really good platform for improvement and is something that the Trust is committed to seeing through, together with staff across the directorate.”

Staff contacted the Daily Post when the results were released, and claimed the problem was having a big effect on staff morale.

They complained of a “long-established” bullying culture.

Unison rep Karen Hughes said unions were working with managers to address the issues.

She added: “ I recognise the work and commitment the Trust is putting in to tackle the issues.”