Covert operation put lives at risk
Former Secamb chief executive Paul Sutton resigned last year after an investigation revealed the trust was putting lives at risk by engaging in a covert operation to downgrade thousands of life-threatening emergency calls.
On his orders secretive protocols saw almost 20,000 people with serious conditions forced to wait twice as long for an ambulance if they went through the 111 phone line.
The policy was structured to make it look as if response times were being met and so the trust’s performance appeared improved against NHS targets.
It was exposed by a whistleblower in 2015 who told senior officials what was going on.
Mr Sutton is believed to be named in connection with bullying and victimisation of a female colleague.
According to the leaked information, complaints were upheld by an independent investigation.
However, Mr Sutton strongly refutes any such allegations, stating: “I stand by my record as chief executive of Secamb and I refute the wholly unsubstantiated allegations concerning my personal conduct.”
The documents also quote from an investigation claiming a paper drawn up by a senior operations manager “misled” a committee looking at the secret policy.