More than half of staff who responded to a survey at Southern District Health Board report that colleagues are "often'' rude to each other.
Results from patient and staff surveys conducted this year as part of the project that included "listening sessions'' have been released by the board under the Official Information Act.
About 2500 of about 4500 staff responded to the survey or took part in a listening session.
In the survey, 52% of staff agreed with a statement that staff were often rude to each other, 26% neither agreed nor disagreed, and the rest disagreed.
A quarter of staff reported having insufficient time to do their work, and 64% said they felt able to speak up if they noticed an error.
Fewer than half (44%) felt valued at work, but teamwork appears strong, as 56% agreed that their team had the characteristics of a "real team''.
Only 27% felt their leaders communicated well, and 41% disagreed with that statement.
Patients rated SDHB staff highly in most of their questions, but when asked whether any staff talked in front of them as if they were not there, or had been rude, 70% of patients agreed.
Staff and patients were asked if they would recommend SDHB services to others, and patients were more than twice as likely as staff to say they were "extremely likely'' to do so.
