The new president of the Irish Medical Organisation has said that bullying within the medical profession is one of the unspoken secrets of the health system.
Dr John Duddy told the union's annual meeting in Sligo today that the culture has to change, as it is bad for doctors and patients.
The union itself also confirmed today it had investigated several internal bullying allegations but none were upheld.
Dr Duddy, who is a non-consultant hospital doctor, said he had experienced bullying in his early career.
"I know what it's like to have my performance in the operating theatre consistently undermined every day," he said.
Dr Duddy said that the "getting on with it" attitude perpetuates the culture of bullying and allows the bully to thrive.
He criticised the Medical Council, which he claimed had shrugged its shoulders saying bullying is culture thing and that culture is hard to change.
Dr Duddy also said that non-consultant hospital doctors were not being paid for all of the hours they worked and have had to threaten industrial action.
He said this was another aspect of the disrespect towards junior doctors shown health service management.
Eric Young, the IMO's assistant director of industrial relations, said that constant humiliation, verbal abuse, intimidation and hostility are examples of bullying in the workplace.
He said that under the HSE bullying process, the idea is to resolve the issue as early as possible and that the investigation must be thorough and objective.
The IMO said it takes the issue of bullying in the workplace very seriously.
It added that no settlements have ever been made on foot of a bullying complaint and there are no complaints currently being investigated.
The IMO has not disclosed how many alleged bullying complaints it has dealt with.
Also at the conference this afternoon, a leading health policy expert has said it is a shame that Ireland has always missed the opportunity to introduce universal healthcare.
Allyson Pollock, Professor of Public Health and Policy at Queen Mary University of London, said that as a result, the country was living with the consequences of a two-tier system, which was unfair.
She said there was a vested interest among a proportion of consultants who engaged in public and private medicine to keep the current system.
Prof Pollock said that universal healthcare could be introduced but it was a political decision.
She said it could be changed so that the State paid consultants a fair salary but they would only be allowed do public work.
