The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) has launched a new anti-bullying and undermining campaign called #LetsRemoveIt, aimed across the whole health service.

In the College's own membership survey, nearly 40% of respondents reported that they had been victims of bullying and undermining behaviour, with the same amount reporting that they had witnessed it. It has been estimated that this issue costs UK organisations £13.75 billion annually, and healthcare professionals have attributed disruptive behaviour in the perioperative area alone to 67% of adverse events, 71% of medical errors, and 27% of perioperative deaths.

The RCSEd wants to change the culture of surgery, dentistry and healthcare to make bullying, undermining and harassment so unacceptable that it can no longer go on. It wants to support those who have been bullied and to get people to reflect on their own behaviour and take ownership of the fact that this is everyone's problem.

  • The #LetsRemoveIt campaign aims to bring about:

  • Compulsory training on bullying for junior doctors

  • Core competences for clinicians embedded with the GMC and GDC

  • Consequences for those who bully

  • Campaign sign up by all healthcare professionals.

The campaign encompasses a lot of resources including online learning, posters and presentations and a new performance workshop called 'How to survive and thrive as a surgeon' which will include work on team behaviour and how, as leaders, surgeons can build and support successful, effective teams.

The campaign links to the result of the criminal case against Ian Paterson, the breast surgeon who was jailed for 15 years in May this year after being convicted of intentionally wounding his patients.

For more information visit www.rcsed.ac.uk/bullying.