ALMOST one in ten local health workers at Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust (PCT) say they have been bullied by work colleagues -- nearly all of them by their boss.

And more than a third revealed they were not aware of any procedures in place to deal with harassment or bullying in work.

Now bosses at the PCT are setting up a "whistle blowing" policy after learning of the disturbing statistics from a staff survey.

Janet Howarth, Unison branch secretary and staff side secretary for both Chorley and South Ribble PCT and Acute Trust said she would be bringing up the issue of bullying in work at the next Improving Working Lives meeting in August. She said: "I'm quite worried and concerned by it. In particular, it does indicate quite a high percentage of bullying is from managers."

But Judith Faux, chief executive of Chorley and South Ribble PCT, said the trust showed up well in the survey compared to other organisations that took part. Regarding the bullying, she said: "To pick that out is not a balanced view of the staff attitude survey because the essence is there's only one area where the PCT is not doing as well as other trusts. In other areas we are doing an awful lot better than other trusts."

She said the trust was taking the allegations.

The statistics were revealed in an annual Staff Attitude Survey as part of the implementation of the Improving Working Lives Standard. They were due to go before a board meeting of Chorley and South Ribble PCT on Wednesday.