Compassionate and respectful workplace cultures

Positive workplaces lead to happier, healthier staff, and better patient care.

• The 2025 NHS Staff Survey results revealed that 17.1 per cent of staff who responded to the survey had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from a colleague in the last 12 months, and 9.11 per cent from a manager. See our building positive workplace cultures page for resources to help stop harassment, bullying and abuse.
• The 2025 NHS Staff Survey results showed that 9.07 per cent of staff who responded to the survey had been the target of at least one incident of unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature in the workplace in the last 12 months from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public, and 3.51 per cent from a colleague. See our sexual safety in the NHS page for information and resources to tackle sexual harassment.
• Employers in the NHS, in partnership with trade unions, have been working to create just and learning cultures. This is so that when something goes wrong, staff can speak up without fearing blame and all parties share learning. Evidence shows that creating a just and learning culture can lead to improvements in staff experience, which impacts positively on the delivery of patient care.
• The 2025 NHS Staff Survey showed 14.47 per cent of staff who responded to the survey had reported at least one incident of physical violence from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public in the last 12 months. The SPF is supporting the prevention and reduction of violence towards staff, creating a culture of safety where staff are supported, safe and secure. Find out more and access useful resources on addressing violence in the NHS on our violence reduction web page.