STAFF at Wirral’s main hospital say they dread coming to work and have trouble sleeping after shocking allegations of “widespread” bullying were revealed.

The claims relate to Arrowe Park Hospital and have been made by both an experienced nurse and the former interim head of governance, Shelley Watson – a contractor who recently left the organisation.

The nurse, who has worked at the hospital for over 20 years, said staff constantly feel “threatened”, and that when complaints are raised, “witch hunts” are started to find out who made them.

She explained: “Bullying is carrying on. It’s widespread through the organisation. People feel threatened. [The management] are not bothered about us.

“If you cannot work extra hours, you are threatened. You are told it’s up to you to cover the ward.

“They are nit-picking your work all the time and constantly on your back about stupid things.”

When asked why she hasn’t left her job, she said she has “no choice” but to keep working there.

She explained: “I can’t quit as I need to pay the mortgage. I never thought I wanted to stop being a nurse, but I do. I hate going to work now. I spend my entire time on my days off worried about going back in.

“If you go to HR, they don’t want to know. It’s just constant. I have put up with it for about three or four years now.”

The mum-of-two said she knows “at least three others” in a similar situation, but said it must be a “hell of a number” it’s affecting.

She added: “They have got policies around whistle blowing and complaints but if you make it formal, it’s like a constant threat all the time – it’s a witch hunt to find out who said what to who.

“It’s worse now than it’s ever been. They try and do it dead quietly.

“I hate coming to work. When I was doing my training I never dreamt it would get to this.”

Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) is the trust in charge of the organisation.

A trust spokesman said this week there was “no place” for such behaviour within the organisation, adding that the hospital takes duty of care to all of its employees “seriously”, and follows a “zero-tolerance” approach to bullying.

He added: “Where negative attitudes and behaviours are identified, we will investigate and address the concerns appropriately.

“We are very sorry to hear that one of our staff feels unable to raise her concerns and feels let down.

“We would actively encourage anyone who has concerns to come forward to any team member, Staff Side representative, Manager or Executive either formally or informally.”

The allegations come after the hospital last year said sorry for a perceived culture of bullying and harassment, with almost half of doctors saying they had “experienced bullying, harassment or abuse” in a 2017 survey.

It has been reported that Dr Susan Gilby, medical director at the time, said they deeply regretted failures to deal with allegations made by staff, promising “cultural change” at WUTH.

A month before that, former chief executive David Allison stood down after colleagues reportedly accused him of aggressive behaviour and a “lack of grip” on the organisation.

Also raising allegations of bullying still going on at the hospital this week was ex-interim head of governance Ms Watson, who left the hospital recently after being a contractor there for around a year.

She’s worked in different roles for dozens of NHS trusts over 20 years, often up to board level, and charges up to £1,000 a day for her services.

Speaking about her experience, the mum-of-one said: “The bullying started straight away. It was absolutely shocking. I felt worthless. I doubted myself and my capability.”

She said she would often by sworn at while at work and told her work was “s***”, sometimes even in front of her own team.

She said: “I felt like I couldn’t voice my opinion. I just wasn’t allowed to raise important issues.

“Lots of other people feel this way too. A lot of committee meetings would just be silent and people would say it was terrible. We felt really uncomfortable. You could cut the atmosphere in those meetings with a knife.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep and was afraid to go into work.”

At one point, Ms Watson said she was prescribed sleeping tablets to help her deal with the problem.

A few months in, she said she tried to raise a concern, but was told to “just get f****** on with [the job]”, to which she “just cried”, with team members rushing to comfort her.

After that, she said she “couldn’t take it anymore”.

Seeing the member of staff in question in the corridor, she said she would “run in the opposite direction”.

Ms Watson said she couldn’t bring it up with senior staff/board as she was afraid to do so as it would be “seen as a weakness”. She said she went to the ‘Speaking Up Guardian’, but no effective help or advice was offered.

Ms Watson said in the days before leaving, she spoke with and raised concerns to the executive officer and HR director, but they in turn offered no notable concern or apology whatsoever.

Now she is being supported by mental health charity MIND, and is taking a period of time off work.

She said: “It has affected me and really knocked my confidence.

“I’ve never had that before. I’ve been a freelancer for fifteen years, but I’ve never had somebody make me feel worthless.”

Ms Watson expected “around 100” people in the organisation to be going through the same sort of thing.

She added: “I want people to know. I want to raise awareness with regards to bullying within the NHS. The staff that I know are going through the same as me. They’ve got mortgages to pay, children to look after so they’re not lucky enough that they can afford to leave.

“I just want their lives to improve, but I will never go back. I have heard about this culture and toxic environments at other health trusts, but never experienced it outside Arrowe Park.”

The spokesman for the hospital did not address the allegations of bullying, but said: “Ms Watson was appointed as an external contractor last year on a short term contract. The contract ended as planned at the end of March 2019.

“Ms Watson did not raise any concerns formally until three days before her contract was due to end and after she was advised that her engagement would not be renewed.”