‘Bullying and abuse’ led staff to attempt suicide
Union hits out over ‘cover-ups’
A vicious culture of bullying at a scandal-hit ambulance trust led to some emergency call handlers attempting suicide, leaked reports state.
The claims, coming from an internal investigation and reported in the Daily Telegraph said staff working at South East Coast Ambulance Service’s ( Secamb) operations centre in Coxheath were living in a culture of fear, in which they were subjected to a campaign of harassment and abuse.
Documents also allege a senior member of staff had affairs with young women, that the reputations of whistleblowers were ruined and the trust protected staff who were working on the trust’s response to a scandal involving 111 emergency call times.
The documents attest at least two women members of staff attempted suicide after they became victims of bullying and another considered deliberately crashing her car to get away from the abuse.
Others are said to have been under such pressure they were unable to concentrate on dealing with emergency calls.
It is alleged there was a culture of fear and nepotism at the trust’s operations centre, focusing more on achieving targets than looking after patients, while bosses played ‘psychological games’ with some staff members.
Female emergency call handlers were alleged to have been addressed with a shocking expletive, while women aged around 40 were told “the oldies have to go in the end”, according to the reports.
It is understood Prof Duncan Lewis, from the University of Plymouth, has been asked to carry out a review and create a report on bullying and harassment at the trust.
A spokesman for Secamb said: “This covers a range of historic allegations, most of which have been investigated and dealt with.
“Others are unsubstantiated, with no evidence to support them.
“We take the issue of bullying and harassment very seriously and have been working hard to address this area of concern highlighted by the CQC in its report last year.
“This work includes improving the internal avenues for serious concerns to be raised and more structured support for staff.”
The GMB union has called on Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for health to intervene.
Gary Palmer, GMB regional organiser, said several inquiries and investigations had been held, which named individual managers responsible for systemic bullying at the Coxheath centre.
But he added they had not had action taken against them, as the reviews recommended, but instead enjoyed promotions and impunity.
He said: “This is an absolute disgrace. Workplace bullying is bad enough at any time, but the scale and intensity of the bullying endured by staff at Coxheath is shocking even now.
“This has been further compounded when those treated so badly, bravely sought the support and protection of their employer to seek redress, only to find out the very top of the organisation were hell bent on covering up and shielding the very bullies who should have been brought to account and dismissed.”