A FRONTLINE worker at Musgrove Park Hospital has said she is ‘sick and tired’ of the rudeness of patients and families at the hospital.

The staff member, who did not wish to be named or reveal which department she worked for, said verbal abuse was a daily occurrence.

Her comments come just weeks after a staff survey published for all NHS Trusts in England revealed almost a third of staff at the hospital said they had experienced harassment, bullying or abuse in work in the past 12 months.

The figures revealed that at the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, who run Musgrove Park Hospital, 29 per cent of staff who took part in the annual survey said they had experienced the abuse from patients, relatives or the public in the last 12 months, compared to 27 per cent nationally.

The anonymous woman said people would not believe how rude patients could be, and that she’s considered leaving on a number of occasions.

“I have worked in the NHS for 40 years, and it has just got worse,” she said.

“You would not believe how rude people are to us and to receptionists in particular, it happens every day here.

“I frequently see patients telling receptions to shut up when they’re trying to help them, and telling us how to do our job.

“I’ve had personal experience of people making remarks about my age and I know other staff have had comments made about their weight.

“One person in A&E even turned round to a colleague to complain about the coffee.

“I think people forget this is the NHS, not Portland Hospital (in London).”

The woman, who has worked at Musgrove for more than 17 years, said she was speaking out in the hope that people would read her story and think before they speak.

Dr Stuart Walker, the medical director at Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said that abuse of staff is unacceptable and that strong action would be taken.

He said: “It is disappointing to hear that one of our staff members has experienced verbal abuse from members of the pub- lic while going about her job.

“I want to reassure her, and all our staff, that my door is always open and I would like to hear about her personal experience, as would our director of patient care and the whole hospital management team.

“I would also like to be totally clear that any abuse of our staff is unacceptable. We are taking strong action giving our staff more support in dealing with these types of incidents.”

But the woman said, despite raising concerns with managers, she felt nothing had been done.

She added: “We’re trying to do our jobs and help these people. But some days I go home and swear I’m not going in again, it’s difficult to not take what they say personally.

“They forget that we are there to care for them and we know what we are doing.

“I sometimes wonder why I stay in this job, I’m sick and tired of it. If people don’t stop being rude, more staff will walk out and there won’t be anyone left in the NHS to care for them.

“The rudeness of people all ages and from all walks of life is just shocking.

“We have tried to bring it up with managers but they don’t care and are no help.”

But the hospital said a number of initiatives have been taken to help staff, including ensuring that specialist training is given to the majority of frontline staff and encouraging staff to tell them about their experiences.

The trust is also promoting Schwartz Rounds across the hospital’s wards.

These are where clinical and non-clinical staff come together regularly to discuss the emotion-al and social aspects of working in healthcare.