It's been just another week at the Worst Health Department In AustraliaTM
and the mister men have been watching from all over the territory with their usual mix of shock, horror, disgust, dismay and awe. We shouldn't be surprised by anything that happens, but sometimes even we are. We can't help it.
So before we release our next big story, here's a few snippets by way of a quick mister men fix. Call it a snack.
There have been a few emails lately asking the same thing. 'Where are you?' 'Have you gone away?' 'When is the next story?'
We are still here. We haven't gone away. And, the next story will be released very soon.
In the meantime, what did the week past with The WorstTM entail?
About a week ago, yet another scandal broke in the media concerning an incident in a remote community where a patient received a ketamine overdose and nearly died. Naturally, The WorstTM covered it up just like they always do.
Again last week, the mister men obtained details concerning the dismissal of a notorious bully.
We also spoke with a former NT nurse who has given it all up as a result of bullying.
Yesterday Dr Ruth Rudge bravely spilled the beans to ABC and went national on the appalling lack of care as she saw it, provided by The WorstTM. in a remote community.
As we know ourselves, it takes a lot for clinicians to go public. Well done Dr Rudge.
Under normal circumstance, maybe Dr Rudge would have considered a complaint to the HCSCC. But she probably knows as we all do that the HCSCC is run by an Elferink crony, secretly installed into position without any fair selection or advertising process.
As Orwell wrote;
Secret appointments indeed..
There appears to be a huge loss of confidence and trust in the complaints process now that it is run by a welded on CLP member, ex minster and former advisor to the current health minister Elferink.
Why was it done in secret?
Only he can tell us the truth. And why transparency is his enemy. What has he got to hide? We can only wonder.
Why has an important position where obvious impartiality would be crucial been politicised by the health minister?
Of course now it would appear that concerned citizens are taking their complaints elsewhere to places where Elferink cannot influence things motivated by his slightly odd political ideology and his besties protecting him.
This will negatively impact upon morale and the confidence the public has in relation to services. No doubt they will be reading more scandals and shocking stories in the media because people like Dr Rudge have no where else to take it.
The health minster has no one to blame but himself.
We are predicting leaking on an industrial scale. Insider trading alert here; it's already started so all bets are off folks.
There appears to be a huge loss of confidence and trust in the complaints process now that it is run by a welded on CLP member, ex minster and former advisor to the current health minister Elferink.
Why was it done in secret?
Only he can tell us the truth. And why transparency is his enemy. What has he got to hide? We can only wonder.
Why has an important position where obvious impartiality would be crucial been politicised by the health minister?
Of course now it would appear that concerned citizens are taking their complaints elsewhere to places where Elferink cannot influence things motivated by his slightly odd political ideology and his besties protecting him.
This will negatively impact upon morale and the confidence the public has in relation to services. No doubt they will be reading more scandals and shocking stories in the media because people like Dr Rudge have no where else to take it.
The health minster has no one to blame but himself.
We are predicting leaking on an industrial scale. Insider trading alert here; it's already started so all bets are off folks.
Meanwhile, most of the DM's in the top end have been allowed to go off on their holidays leaving in at least two instances, well known bullies as replacements.
Does it ever end? Are we ever going to run out of information to share?
Not as long as we have the evidence to back up what we say.
Nationally, there have been some interesting developments with a Senator and an MP coming together to demand a national inquiry into the bullying and laying of false allegations to AHPRA by managers.
Eminent neuro surgeon Charlie Teo spoke eloquently of the suicide of one of his colleagues bullied in this manner. These tactics are of course standard in The Worst Health Department In AustraliaTM. The distress it causes to clinicians is immense.
Plus there have been some fantastic articles in national media which we will cover next time.
And finally, we became aware of this published in a professional social media arena:
Gosh - they have come a long way since the denials published in the media that bullying of their staff wasn't an issue, haven't they?
But we feel they have a much longer way to go because this is not going to go away any time soon. Judging by the angry and disillusioned tone of the emails we receive from clinicians the mister men are going to have to stick around for quite a while.
This is what happens when a health department is managed by notorious bullies and protected by cover up cowboys in human resources and the OCPE. Informed staff vote with their feet. Clinicians don't need to put up with the constant stream of lies, cover up and bullying from their employers.
But we feel they have a much longer way to go because this is not going to go away any time soon. Judging by the angry and disillusioned tone of the emails we receive from clinicians the mister men are going to have to stick around for quite a while.
This is what happens when a health department is managed by notorious bullies and protected by cover up cowboys in human resources and the OCPE. Informed staff vote with their feet. Clinicians don't need to put up with the constant stream of lies, cover up and bullying from their employers.
When will they learn?
We don't think they ever will. With that in mind we will continue to go where the evidence point us to go.
We don't think they ever will. With that in mind we will continue to go where the evidence point us to go.
As we have said so often, you cannot trust The Worst Health Department in AustraliaTM with your registration.
They even covered it up when they had a fake nurse working for them.
Patient safety? Not with this lot.
Professional safety? Only if you are part of the bullying clique that run the show. Then, they will even give you a Nurse of the Year award. Think those awards are impartial? They go to the favoured few. The cronies.
It's a fix, folks. Another mirage. Another self congratulatory pat on the back opportunity. And they won't dare risk having someone up on the stage on award night who might tell the truth.
It's a fix, folks. Another mirage. Another self congratulatory pat on the back opportunity. And they won't dare risk having someone up on the stage on award night who might tell the truth.
Don't say you weren't warned if you decide to work for this mob. Don't go complaining to the corrupt HR Department who will ignore your complaint for months or even for ever. Don't naively believe that the truth will prevail. Because it won't. Not with this lot.
Read the results of the ONLY fully independent survey ever done on them HERE
Read the results of the ONLY fully independent survey ever done on them HERE
And as for the OCPE. Forget it. They haven't upheld a grievance for years. Its a veneer of a complaints process; a sham arrangement designed to protect the bullies as well.
Even when you are right you are wrong with this lot. They don't know what the truth is. They don't care what the truth is.
They are the Uri Geller of truth. Even when they bend it its fake. Outcomes are pre determined and never impartial.
They are the Uri Geller of truth. Even when they bend it its fake. Outcomes are pre determined and never impartial.
They deliberately HIDE the truth. From patients, their families and of course, the clinical staff. They are the cover up cowboys of the health industry.
We'll be covering all these stories and much more in greater detail very soon.
Keep checking back.
Stay informed and be empowered.
Stay informed and be empowered.
Keep sharing our blog with your colleagues.
Every clinician has a right to know what goes on in the NT so that they can make an informed choice about working here.
A transparent and honest health department would have no problem with that.
But this lot cannot even own the problem. All we hear from them is denial and oblique defensive comments when they get caught out again and again and again.
Are we expecting too much?
Tell us what you think.
A transparent and honest health department would have no problem with that.
But this lot cannot even own the problem. All we hear from them is denial and oblique defensive comments when they get caught out again and again and again.
Are we expecting too much?
Tell us what you think.
until next time
the mister men
They really are the cheap bent spoons stuffed down the back of the drawer. The ones you use for spooning out the dog food. Great work mister men. Timely snack.
ReplyDeleteHaving the courage to speak ut about these matters is admirable. It is born from the failure of the health department to adequately investigate and sanction the perpetrators. This failure is ingrained into the culture. It is cover up and move on.
DeleteThe HR department refuse to link the behaviours of a manager from one set of instances of bullying to the next that they are involved in. It is to reduce the chance of a pattern being identified. And it covers their own collective useless ass.
I'm enjoying the mister men because they have the guts at least to stand up to the organisation and expose their ineptitude and poor performance.
They are reading this; of that there can be no doubt. And they know that they are being exposed for what they are which a club to protect managers who have been bullying for years.
Now that you are being caught out by the mister men the morons in the HR department will perhaps experience an element of discomfort. Whatever they feel will be exponentially less than targets of this awful bullying feel.
I personally wish that the HR morons felt more pain for allowing this situation to develop and become embedded into the culture of the organisation.
Its ironic that the very people responsible for ensuring fairness across the board have allowed this to develop under their noses.
Speaking as a former employee it is wonderful to see this movement against the rampant bullying in the health department take shape. I left about three years ago completely exasperated by the antics of the management. Working for this lot is like diving into a career black hole – you simply don't know if you will survive and get out intact on the other side. And it is luck of the draw if you do. I saw many who were drilled through suffering and angst for absolutely no reason at all. It was usually on the say so of one of the oh so important special managers in Cas Plaza, special I kight add because they were so out of touch and completely incompetent. Don't forget folks, fast forward a few years and you will be able laugh about it but it is no laughing matter when your name comes up and you get targeted for their treatment. Get out while you can. Because it isn't worth working for these deceitful, sly, game playing bastards.
DeleteNT Nursing Awards 2015 was congrats you are now an apprentice in the management bullying club. Was there a secret ceremony afterwards with one trouser leg rolled up and special magic underpants handed out? Anything is possible with the cover up bully sect in remote health. Worth seeing cos then it was believing.
ReplyDeleteA 2012 book by Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Ronald Schouten and coauthor James Silver, Almost a Psychopath (www.thealmosteffect.com) discusses the gray area between normalcy and full blown psychopathy. In a recent article in Psychology Today, Dr. Schouten offers some warnings and indicators for leadership. “Almost psychopaths are able to fly under the radar and operate close to the ethical edge, in part because some of their psychopathic traits can help them succeed in the business world and allow them to deceive their superiors and co workers.”
Delete“It pays for senior leaders to be aware of some key indicators that the person being evaluated may not be as honest and ethical as they are inclined to believe. These are:
• He or she knows the difference between right and wrong, but they don’t care about it.
• His or her interactions are noteworthy for their glibness, superficial charm, and efforts to show how much the employee and the leader have in common.
• Whether in business dealings or personal interactions, the employee is unable to appreciate the feelings of others.
• When there is a choice of action, it is always in favor of self-interest and self promotion, even where it is ethically questionable.
• Chronic and pervasive lying about matters that may be major or insignificant.
• Lack of remorse for harm caused to others.
• Blaming others for their mistakes or problems.
• Insincere or transient emotions, but capable of emotional outbursts.
• Failure to fulfill responsibilities.
• Evidence of conning and manipulating coworkers, customers, clients, and competitors.
The presence of some, or even all, of these does not necessarily mean that the employee in question is an almost or full-blown psychopath. But they do mean that the leader who is assuming the best should take a second look.”
Loved the story. Can't wait for the next one to hit my screen. I shall read this 20 or 30 times and laugh every time and laugh even harder when the CLP get chucked out of office.
ReplyDeletethis is what i think FANFUCKINGTASTIC. ITS BEN A LONG TIME COMING.
ReplyDeleteKEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MISTER MEN
DeleteGood analogy. Uri Geller bent spoons and the THS. Works for me.
ReplyDeleteEntertaining. I'd like to see the faces of the bullies when they read this.
ReplyDeleteNo, none of us are expecting too much to be safe and respected in our jobs. But the games that go on behind the scenes at remote health are famous across the nation. Keep up the fantastic work. Rest assurd the entire health department in reading your articles.
DeleteA recent study published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology showed that many workplace bullies are successful in business, winning at the expense of others. The study found that some workplace bullies have high social and political skills that they use to strategically abuse their co-workers while still receiving positive evaluations from their supervisors.
ReplyDeleteWhen the ability to manipulate and intimidate is rewarded there is little reason for change. It is difficult for employers to identify and address bullying and mobbing behaviour when the perpetrator may be a high performer has a group of admirers and colleagues with whom he or she seems to relate well, while others are targeted.
ReplyDeletefancy words doctor bollocks to tell us the THS is run by a clique of managers who will lie, collude, conspire and deny fairness and justice to clinicians when they feel like it. A pack of bastards in other words.
DeleteBullying is difficult to fight alone. Get help from others. I drew colleagues to my cause, and together we were able to confront the bully and hold them accountable for their actions. I could not have achieved this alone – the bully needed to feel the peer pressure from those around them to change their behaviour. However, this was another moral dilemma I struggled with. How can what I did be considered any different to bullying? Perhaps it isn’t, and perhaps some out there will disagree with this decision. I can only tell you that it was ultimately effective. Just be absolutely sure your cause is right before you use it.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. And don't forget to look up the reasonably forseeable test.
DeleteSome of my experiences were:
ReplyDeleteTold by a colleague/superior that it wouldn't matter if I was dead (done in private, of course)
Physically pushed three times (the pusher apologised, but can three times in ten minutes be an accident?)
Isolated – staff involved would never sit with me during morning tea, lunches, meetings, courses, etc. My name was omitted from birthday acknowledgements. All other staff names on whiteboard in staff room and on work trays were in black, only mine was in red. When we were asked to bring a plate for morning teas or special lunches, no one ate any of mine. I volunteered to help on many projects only to find later that the projects had been completed without my help.
Humiliated often: dunce hat put on my head during school performance; coerced to skip in front of whole school; yelled at during meetings; singled out for arriving late to a meeting (others arrived late but no comment made); at a staff night out and after dinner we went to a bar and the Principal said, ‘Come on, Wendy, let's find you a man.’ (Needless to say I am single); ridiculed or ignored about complaints/concerns about students; at school performances or meet-the-parent nights, one member of staff introduces staff with a bright, bubbly tone but the tone always changed significantly when I was introduced; office staff sending children with offensive messages; lunch thrown in the bin.
Psychological games to make me feel as though something was wrong with me: told by Principal, ‘We're going to toughen you up, Wendy - now we're going to up the anti’ (things heated up for me after this); while I was questioned individually about child sex abuse, the remainder of staff were asked to do the same during a staff meeting; I was repeatedly talked over as though what I had to say was irrelevant; teachers constantly interrupted my dealing with playground matters and would take over the matters; told that nobody would want to work with me during a lunch time disco; jobs were taken from me without notification or justification.
Denied appropriate resources to do my job effectively: told 30 pieces of art paper was my quota for the year; denied key to store personal belongings; automatic financial assistance for an emotionally disturbed boy in my class withheld, etc.
I am a vegetarian and my love of animals was well known. During a lunch, two bullies sat beside me (unusual, I thought, then I got it) and vividly described a frog dissection. During a dinner, one bully described the removal of a road-kill kangaroo's testicles. My bullies knew of my pet house rabbit, a much-loved little friend – in one day, one bully described vividly three times how she had cut her finger whilst chopping up a rabbit, while another bully laughed hysterically.
This is only a sample of the behaviour I had to put up with on a daily basis for six years. A few years ago, a doctor asked me if I was depressed. I dismissed this though, looking back, if I had addressed the problem then, perhaps my symptoms would not be so bad today.
I have major depressive illness now, with anxiety attacks so bad that I lay and groan on the floor or bed. I have night-time enuresis that worsens when highly stressed. I have tried to commit suicide, have become a recluse, and am a shadow of my former confident self. I am still fighting for worker's compensation – my confusion and bewilderment has now turned to fury and anger upon being enlightened about bullying."
Document everything. The NT insurance lawyers are utter bastards and will use every trick they can think of to avoid their responsibility. They will have you in court more times than you could imagine. The risk is huge. If you lose you are up for their costs and in my case I could have lost my house.
My biggest regret was ever going to the NT. I wish I had never gone there.
I work at a clinic and deal with some of the most bizarre, yet mean people I have ever met. My boss harshly criticizes everyone and never admits when she is wrong, blaming everyone else for her mistakes. She is rude and always interrupting everyone. Another coworker is lazy and never does a thing, while I'm working my but off, and she is the star of the place. How does that even make any sense? I feel singled out a lot because I am new. In addition, another coworker is always angry and takes her anger out on others. Every day I walk in and have no idea what I will end up getting, the angry or happy coworker who will not be a bully the whole time. It is just far too draining and sometimes I just wish I could tell everyone to fuck off and walk out.
ReplyDeleteHR crawling all over Jabiru today trying to put a lid on the crap that has gone on there for years. All that plotting and scheming by the 'managers' is finally being exposed. Too late. It's leaked.
ReplyDeleteFACT. Not a single grievance about bullying has ever been upheld by the OCPE concerning the health department and their managers. HR officer Fiona Roche who attended Jabiru will cover the whole thing up because she is a master of the art having spent years doing precisely that at the OCPE before coming to health. You cannot trust HR to do the right thing EVER. Any worker trusting HR in the health department is going to get hurt and embittered. Contact your union and get your complaints taken up by bodies outside the department. Processes inside the health department are corrupt.
DeleteFiona Roche has been in the OCPE for many years. She is part of the entrenched privileged class in Darwin: long term public servants who never find against the GOVT, whoever they may be. She is a small cog in a vast GOVT unAccountability machine, but an efficient one if all you want to do is protect GOVT. There are many like her. They are like an army of Agent Smiths, from the Matrix movies. Their job is to prevent us from getting through, that's all. Fiona Roche does not care about the real people behind the complaints, or whether they have merit, her job is only to protect the GOVT/managers.
DeleteRoche; well known in HR circles for her complete acquiescence to whatever her bosses want. To hell with the workers. Another one about whom you wonder how does she sleep at night. Cannot be trusted to be fair. Will look for one tiny grey area and exploit it to use as the rationale to shut down a complaint. Fairness is not in her. I wouldn't play a round of golf with her as she'd probably cheat at that too.
DeleteNot only nt health, I know an NGO in the Nt whose manager has gone through at least 15 nurses, destroying their confidence and in a few cases their career.....all because of a personality
ReplyDeleteNow this is a common sense, helpful approach and guide for all employees of THS.
DeleteWhy is this not readily available and in place for employees? Much more helpful than "Zero Tolerance to Bullying" slogans/posters with no "how to address" information.
From the 2012 parliamentary inquiry into
ReplyDeleteworkplace bullying, where 5200 cases were
examined:
Stress factors
The highest prevalence of bullying comes from
four different industries: public administration,
education, health and defence.
The most common form of mistreatment is
around verbal abuse: shouting, swearing, malicious
sarcasm and intimidating behaviours.
One in two people who experience bullying
then suffer an extreme version of a stress related
complication: stomach ulcers, tachycardia, hair
loss, dermatitis, panic attacks or irritable bowel
syndrome.
• Over 70 per cent of the perpetrators of workplace
bullying are deemed to be managers, yet managers
are often protected in the process.
• ‘Inadvertent bullying’ can happen where people
are demonstrating bullying behaviours because
they are inexperienced, they are untrained, they are
unsupported or they are emulating the behaviour
of others whom they see are successful in the
organisation.
• In almost 50 per cent of cases, the bullying
behaviour has gone on for more than a year.
• Around one in five people do not have faith in
the complaint process – whatever that complaint
process looks like.
• 90 per cent of people being bullied make the
comment: ‘I just want it to stop.” They don’t
want to go down a formal path, but just want the
behaviour to stop.
• Stopping the bullying behaviour needs to be the
end goal.
• About 30 per cent of bullying occurs in ‘mobbing’
where the behaviour is carried out by more than
one person.
• An apology can go a long way in dealing with
bullying, but an apology is useless if the behaviour
does not change.
• It’s rare to see ‘contributing to creating a dignified
and respectful workplace’ as part of the core
competencies of training for a manager.
Speaking as a former employee it is wonderful to see this movement against the rampant bullying in the health department take shape. I left about three years ago completely exasperated by the antics of the management. Working for this lot is like diving into a career black hole – you simply don't know if you will survive and get out intact on the other side. And it is luck of the draw if you do. I saw many who were drilled through suffering and angst for absolutely no reason at all. It was usually on the say so of one of the oh so important special managers in Cas Plaza, special I kight add because they were so out of touch and completely incompetent. Don't forget folks, fast forward a few years and you will be able laugh about it but it is no laughing matter when your name comes up and you get targeted for their treatment. Get out while you can. Because it isn't worth working for these deceitful, sly, game playing bastards.
ReplyDeleteIF you get your HR FILE, don't be surprised with the lies and malicious BS it contains.
ReplyDeleteJust read my file and copies emails from HR AND the manager named in my complaint...full of cover ups, lies and even the OCPE was scathing of the manager and his version....BUT no action taken. The manager was even told of my suicide attempt and being in cowdy ward from the psychological injury of the harassment...so if you make a complaint and are on leave prepare for. Long fight and to hanging your dignity and hurt out for all to see....HR was great until they realised the couldn't make a case against the manager. Beware making a complaint, it takes a STRONG person to survive them process..."..and HR drop the case as soon as they can't find hard evidence.
They never take any action. They haul out the big guns if its serious and cover it up. Then the managers collude and lie. And the only option left is sue them. That is when things get interesting.
DeleteHR and workers comp just hope that the victims will give up, go away, drop dead...
DeleteOnce you start getting FOI Documents detailing the BS and lies, poor investigations, interference from persons higher up the chain, the bully and the cover up clowns get nervous.... I would love to see the figures on how many bullying complaints made, how many declined, how many just gave up and resigned, and how many (if any were finalised and ruled in favour of the victim). Watch this space...I am not giving in the their tactics, and will see them in court.. HR just can't, won't or isn't allowed to tell the victim the outcome of investigations within HR about the bullying managers..