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Nearly one in five UK care workers feel unsafe while on shift, according to a new survey highlighting the array of pressures facing the frontline workforce.
The stark finding comes as part of a global survey published on the fifth anniversary of Covid being declared a global pandemic, amid warnings from the World Health Organisation of a looming shortage of 11 million healthcare workers by 2030.
In the report from Uni Global Union, which surveyed more than 11,000 health and social care workers from 63 nations, with 2,132 in the UK including doctors, more than a third reported experiencing or witnessing violence or harassment at work at least monthly.
And in what the union described as a global staffing crisis, less than half of those surveyed worldwide believed their career to be sustainable until retirement age.
In the UK, where more than 700 care workers were polled, two-thirds said they were frequently too short-staffed to provide a high quality of care to patients, defined in the survey as “when the number of staff is too low compared to the needs of patients”. This included 33 per cent who said this was “always” the case, while just eight per cent said they were “never” or “rarely” short-staffed.
And just 45 per cent of UK-based care workers reported feeling safe at work, while nearly one in five said they felt unsafe. A third said they felt neither safe nor unsafe, in polling carried out by the GMB union.
With the global survey finding that those working in understaffed environments were more likely to report experiencing regular harassment or violence, one staff member at a UK mental health facility said: “We are seriously physically assaulted on a regular basis.”
Detailing three separate assaults in the space of two weeks – including being bitten, punched, and dragged by their hair – the respondent said they “suffered massive hair loss, abrasions, puncture wounds and whiplash” as a result.
“I struggle to sleep due to anxiety of knowing I have to return at some point,” they added. “I get paid £1 more than minimum wage to be assaulted daily. The level of staff turnover is so high they struggle to replace them.”
Warning of a vicious cycle of violence and understaffing, another nurse working in a UK hospital – who described being verbally abused and filmed by a drunk patient – said: “Verbal abuse [and] aggression are more likely when patients or visitors become agitated or frustrated.”
A UK hospital worker who reported bullying and racism in their department claimed it was “always brushed under the carpet”, adding: “I believe this is done because we are so short-staffed.”
Ruth Pitchford, a 27-year-old local government care worker and GMB representative, told The Independent: “There’s a crossover between staffing level and the amounts of incidents in a care home. You can never remove all falls but the amount of falls are increased.”
“For example, after meals, especially in the evening, there would be an increase when transporting from dining areas into lounges [and] bedrooms” when some residents cannot be observed, said Ms Pitchford.
Safe levels of staffing would ensure “that staff are able to complete their roles without the need for having eyes in the back of their head or a sixth sense”, Ms Pitchford added.
The survey also found that more than a fifth of UK care workers reported suffering an injury at work which had effects lasting for more than a month. Nearly half reported having suffered anxiety and having trouble sleeping due to work, while a third said they had experienced burnout.
Meanwhile, just one in five UK staff said they were satisfied with their salary. One staff member at a UK care home said: “The pay does not reflect the emotional and physical toll on staff. Everyone I know in the care sector is stressed or ill due to work.”
The report comes just a fortnight after thousands of care workers marched in Westminster to protest over the financial difficulties facing the sector, amid warnings of a “doom loop” in which fewer people are accessing care despite growing demand.
Alan Sable, head of care at Uni Global Union, said: “There is no shortage of care workers – there is a shortage of care workers willing to endure low pay, chronic understaffing, and unsafe conditions.
“The care staffing crisis cannot be solved simply by training new workers or recruiting migrant care workers. Unless we address the core issues driving people out of the sector – low wages, understaffing, and widespread violence and harassment – the cycle of worker shortages and declining care quality will continue.”
The new report comes just days after a separate survey by Unison and the Nursing Times suggested that nine in 10 nurses and midwives have experienced physical violence in the workplace.
Staff responding to that survey reported harrowing incidents, including staff being stabbed in the neck and stomach, having their teeth knocked out, and having bedpans of urine thrown at them.
Describing the new report – which drew mostly on responses from the UK, Turkey, Argentina and Peru – as a “wake up call”, the union’s chief Christy Hoffman added: “Five years after the pandemic, care workers are still being overworked, underpaid and exposed to dangerous conditions.”
The government has previously said it “inherited significant challenges facing social care” and has taken immediate action “including a £3.7 billion funding boost, 15,000 new installations to help disabled people live safely and independently in their own homes, and a £2,300 increase to carers allowance”.
It said the Casey commission – an independent investigation into adult social care set to report on its first phase in mid-2026 – will develop recommendations “for a National Care Service to provide high-quality care for everybody who needs it and help us deliver our commitment to rebuild the sector so that it is fit for the future”.
