Why Anti-Bullying training is important for healthcare in the UK?

The Anti-Bullying online training is vital for UK healthcare in 2025, this is not only for the protection of individuals but for strengthening institutional flexibility and patient care standards. Online training would help staff recognize bullying, cyberbullying as well as undermining behaviours and equips them with strategies to respond effectively.

When is Anti-Bullying week in the UK?

Anti-Bullying week is an annual event and in 2025 will be the week of 10^th November to 14^th November with a theme of “Power for Good”

What is bullying?

When we think of bullying, most times we picture a big boy terrorising little children in the park or some tax guy seeking their monthly payments from a shop for protection, but bullying is much more beyond just those scenarios. Bullying is a harmful form of behaviour when an individual or group intentionally and/ or repeatedly cause another person distress, pain or humiliation. Bullying comes in many forms and in different types of settings; it might not always only involve aggression or shouting, it can also be a quiet, ongoing behaviour that chips away at a person’s confidence or even create a toxic atmosphere or environment.

Examples Bullying in a Care Setting:

1. Staff-to-staff:

• A senior staff consistently mocking a colleague in the presence of others
• Exclusion of an individual from social or team meetings and events
• Spreading of rumours about a co-worker or gossiping about them

2. Management-to-Staff:

• Assigning unrealistic workloads as a punishment or to put pressure on them
• When a manager often criticizes a worker’s performance without any guidance or support
• Ignoring concerns and complaints raised by certain staff intentionally

3. Staff-to-Resident:

• When a carer is deliberately rude, short with or dismissive towards a resident
• The use of intimidating behaviour or language that may cause distress
• Failing to involve a resident in decisions about their care out of impatience or frustration

What is workplace bullying?

Bullying in the workplace is repeated, unwanted behaviour directed at a group or individual which makes them feel degraded, humiliated, undermined or intimidated. At times it may be about power and control and comes in different forms, like the usual verbal abuse or elusive actions like criticism or exclusion.

Possible early signs of bullying in the workplace:

• When a colleague is unusually quiet, anxious or withdrawn
• Avoidance of particular individuals or work areas
• Tearfulness or visible distress during or after interactions with certain individuals
• A quick drop in attendance or performance
• A team where the atmosphere feels divided or tense
• When residents’ notices or comments on staff changes in care or conflict

Types of Bullying

1. Verbal Bullying

• Includes shouting, insults, swearing or sarcastic remarks
• May seem as name-calling, making threats or mocking
• Repeated criticism or belittling of someone’s work in front of others

2. Physical Bullying

• While this is not very common in professional settings but may include gestures that are aggressive, invasion of personal space or physical intimidation
• May involve closing doors hard, items being thrown or blocking someone’s movement

3. Psychological Bullying

• This is often more subtle but this includes behaviour which undermines confidence or causes harm to an individual
• Excluding someone from team meetings or activities, or giving them silent treatment or questioning their competence
• Gaslighting or making an individual doubt their own judgement

4. Cyberbullying

• By using digital communication to humiliate or harm someone
• These may be by sending threating emails or sharing inappropriate messages in a group chat or being rude or criticizing on social media
• May involve the misuse of work systems by logging falsified complaints or leaving harsh anonymous feedback

Just a note:

Doing an Anti-Bullying Online Training course with Train Healthcare, which takes approximately 1 hour to complete, will earn you 1 CPD point per course. Once you have completed the course/s, you would receive a certificate thereof.