Rachel Stephen-Smith said Canberra Health Services would prioritise a safe workplace and if that meant senior staff had to face repercussions, then they would.

"One of the things that has happened in the past in responding to cultural issues is there has been a concern that person is too important for us, clinically for us to take action and to respond to the cultural issues that are being raised. That is no longer the case," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"We are recognising that a safe workplace for our staff is a more productive workplace and a safer workplace for patients and that is what is being prioritised here."

Independent investigations are under way into the intensive care unit and the cardiology department at Canberra Hospital over allegations of bullying and a toxic work environment.

Senior staff in the cardiology department have already been stood down over allegations.

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Cardiology staff have reported shocking behaviours from colleagues, including swearing, screaming, kicking doors and throwing objects.

Staff members also reported some doctors who were rostered on for duty in the department were often not actually in the hospital and would not always answer their phones.

Ms Stephen-Smith said her comments were not about individuals involved in the investigations but were broader comments about the need to ensure a safe workplace for staff.

She said the organisation wanted to reassure staff that complaints would be taken seriously if people came forward about poor behaviours.

"We've been working very hard over the last three years to improve culture across the ACT public health system and part of doing that is to understand when we get staff surveys back where those areas are where we're seeing really high responses from people about their concerns on culture," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"One of the key things that we have seen repeatedly in staff surveys over many years, and it should be noted that some of those results have improved over the last few years, but a concerning thing is when we hear staff say that they're not confident that if they make an allegation of bullying and harassment, if they raise a concern, they're not confident that it will be addressed or it will be taken seriously.

"Our message to staff is those concerns will be taken seriously and action will be taken."

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