Nurses cancel annual conference over allegations of sexual harassment | UK news

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The Royal College of Nursing said its annual conference will be held online only after “serious allegations of sexual harassment”.

The union, which represents about 465,000 health workers, said that after “independent legal advice” the elected members of its council decided to “move this year’s meeting to a fully virtual event.” The union says the decision was not taken seriously and was necessary to “protect” members.

The RCN was scheduled to take place in Liverpool over three days next month.

The union said it was “as a matter of urgency” it was “doing a full review of all protection policies and procedures as part of our cultural change”. She did not provide details of the allegations but said she had taken a “zero tolerance approach” at all times.

“We acted quickly and made a unanimous decision that protected all attendees. We know that many members planning to attend were looking forward to seeing each other in person for the first time in two years. But this decision was made with members’ safety in mind,” said Carol Poppleston, RCN Board Chair. This is what we are here to protect at all costs.

I am absolutely determined that Congress remain a wonderful mixture of debates, events, and speeches. Coming together almost won’t get in the way of that.”

Popplestone took over the RCN board after filing complaints against her predecessor, David Dawes.

RCN said it was taking the complaint “extremely seriously,” adding: “An independent external investigation will now be conducted and Dave Dawes has announced that he is voluntarily stepping down as RCN board chair.”

It was not clear if the two investigations were linked. RCN said it could not provide further details about the allegations at this stage.

A recent study by Nursing Times and Unison found that sexual harassment is prevalent in the nursing profession. The survey of more than 2,000 nurses found that six in 10 reported experiencing sexual harassment at work, although only 27% of those who experienced harassment did.

Nurses who said they were harassed said the most common source was patients — 58% said they were targeted by a patient, 26% by their medical colleagues, 24% by nursing colleagues, and 19% by patients’ family or friends.

Only 28% of those surveyed felt that enough was being done in their workplace to protect them from sexual harassment. Josie Irwin, Women’s Officer at Unison, said: “NHS staff should be able to do their jobs without fear of unwanted attention, swear words or feeling uncomfortable.”

The union was originally scheduled to hold its conference in May, but was postponed after an increase in Covid cases. Its 2020 conference, scheduled for June last year, has been canceled due to the pandemic.

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