THE number of North Wales health workers who are harassed, bullied or abused at work has risen in the past year.

There has also been a rise of one per cent in the number injured or felt unwell due to work-related stress.

The figures were revealed in the latest annual survey of all health board staff throughout Wales.

In the Betsi Cadwaladr region, which covers North Wales, there were 5,276 responses – or 31 per cent – the highest in Wales.

Several of the responses were very positive. There was a 22 per cent rise in the number who stated their line managers gave clear feedback compared with 2017, 24 per cent more felt they could meet all the conflicting demands on their time at work, 23 per cent more felt they were kept up-to-date with developments in their field and 25 per cent more said they received strong support for training.

However, there was a rise of four per cent to 22 per cent in staff who had personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients or service users, and 19 per cent – an increase of two per cent – had experienced the same from managers or colleagues.

The number of workers who knew who the board’s executive team were – 34 per cent - was 10 per cent below the average for NHS in Wales, and only 24 per cent in North Wales felt the executive team had a clear vision of where the organisation was going.

Only 20 per cent – four per cent less than the national average – felt the executive team would act on the results of the survey.

In a report to this week’s board meeting Nia Thomas, head of organisational development, says: “One of the key messages and, as such, one of the top priorities that I believe we should focus on is to understand what would increase the confidence of our workforce in the services we provide and as an employer.”