Toxic culture

Despite efforts to deal with the issue in the adult mental health unit, it appears to still rife in the youth division, considered one  of the most systemic in the state. 

A union report provided to the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office for a statewide audit into bullying and harassment in the health sector specifically analyses the culture at Ballarat Health Services. 

The survey figures were taken from the youth and adult mental health teams and comprised of more than 60 per cent of staff in those areas. 

These figure are supported by numerous employees who have spoken to The Courier about the bullying culture. 

The report completed by the Health and Community Services Union, surveyed staff and found huge problems within the sector with a staggering 84 per cent of staff in the mental health unit saying they were verbally abused or put down as part of their employment.  

More than 85 per cent claimed the environment was part of “normal work culture at BHS”.

An even more worrying statistic found almost 95 per cent of staff were concerned about the consequences if they spoke out about the problems. 

More than 88 per cent said the environment had a negative impact on their home and social life.

These are only some of the long list of damning statistics provided in the report. 

The statistics paint a stark picture for all of the community mental health teams in Ballarat and the approach BHS is taking to bullying and harassment in the workplace. 

Health and Community Services Union area organiser Angela Carter said the union had been involved with the bullying and harassment issue at Ballarat Health Services for more than 10 years. 

“A two-year campaign was launched where HACSU and Ballarat Health worked in conjunction with external facilitators to tackle this issue,” she said. 

“Since the campaign we have seen considerable improvements in the adult teams that is promising, but continued to need monitoring . It has taken us a long time to get here and has involved a collaborative approach between the union and the employer.”

“What concerns HACSU now, is that we are hearing from staff that similar, if not worse issues of bullying in the youth mental health team is occurring.”

Ms Carter said one of the biggest issues was the retention of staff with many employees leaving due to the bullying and harassment issues within the workplace. 

“The youth team has seen a 100 per cent turnover in staff, in the three years since its inception,” she said. 

“We saw similar retention issues with the administration team having 100 per cent turnover in a short period that prompted an external review, however Ballarat health only adopted two of the 10 recommendations from the audit.”

This report completed by the Auditor-General’s Office is expected to be tabled in December.

“Belittling, nasty and vicious.”

That is how one former employee described the work environment within Ballarat Base Hospital’s Mental Health Services department. 

The Courier has spoken with a number of current and former employees who all painted a similar picture of the work environment. 

A number were forced to leave the workplace after being unable to handle the “brutal” working environment. 

All of the staff who spoke to The Courier did so on the basis of anonymity, due to a fear of retribution as a result of speaking out about the culture. 

“It was the worst experience of my life,” one former employee said. 

“I can't walk into the hospital anymore.  I have worked in a number of organisations and have never experienced anything like it.

“It (the morale) was incredibly poor and low. People were frightened and anxious.”

A number employees believe they have been threatened in the workplace, verbally abused by staff, isolated by other staff and bullied by management. 

Despite some efforts to improve the working environment over the past 10 years, including the hiring of external facilitators to tackle this issue and the completion of an external review, the problem seems to have reached its peak in the youth teams that were established three years ago. 

These youth teams deal with patients between the ages of 15 and 25 years.

Another employee said the environment was definitely having an impact on patient care. 

“It was a toxic culture, that is how I would describe it,” the employee said.  

“Morale was just appalling, it could not have been any worse. 

“It wore you down, if you were going to see a client your head needs to be clear, you can't have this stuff jumping into your head.”

One employee said while the youth mental health team was particularly bad, the issue was far broader across all of the mental health services and psychiatric service units. 

“People are fearful, you shouldn't have to go to work in that sort of environment,” the employee said. 

“You end up feeling like something is wrong with yourself, you have people that are highly skilled, but have to leave.”

Other employees also contacted The Courier backing up many of the claims made by other staff and statistics provided by the union. 

However, most were too fearful  of being identified by BHS for it to be included in The Courier.

BALLARAT Health Services has strongly denied that a poor workplace culture exists within its mental health unit. 

While results of a union conducted survey point to a number of issues within the workplace, BHS would not comment on the details of a survey they did not conduct or have knowledge of. 

BHS spokesperson Daniel Anderson  flatly rejected  that such a culture existed.  

“Ballarat Health Services is unable to comment on the results of a survey that it has not seen and did not conduct.,” he said. 

“The alleged findings are not consistent with our experience and totally inconsistent with the extensive policies and procedures in place at BHS to prevent bullying in the workplace.

“We reject the claims entirely.”

The survey was conducted by the Health and Community Services Union focused on the adult and youth mental health teams. 

The Courier approached Ballarat Health Services for a response to the alleged culture of bullying and harassment and provided them with much of the data as evidence.  

The Courier also told BHS that a number of staff had backed up the statistics but were concerned about the consequences of speaking out.