BULLYING RIFE AT AMBO TRUST Whistleblowers are too frightened to r eport incidents’
A SCANDAL hit ambulance trust’s bosses are accused of bullying staff and giving jobs to the boys.
East of England trust staff say some were sexually harassed, punched and subjected to false and malicious claims.
They feared whistleblowing would be ignored or make them bullies’ targets.
The complaints, in a survey commissioned by public services union Unison, is the latest damaging disclosure about alleged mismanagement at the cashstrapped trust.
Chiefs have been accused of blowing “They feel disappointed if it’s true. They understand they are a private couple but are surprised to see them potentially cut out their loved ones from their big day. They feel they’ve been kept in the dark.” One source claims the family had been told a summer wedding in Sussex – where Simon is from and the pair once shared a home – was on the cards. The source said: “Adele has a busy schedule and the family were told she’d be public cash by using of a fleet of luxury cars, despite the trust’s £10.6million budget deficit, and £2million a year on private ambulances due to staff shortages.
The Unison report found 322 of the 518 staff who took part said they had experienced bullying and harassment, usually by their immediate boss or theirir senior manager.
And 297 said they y had seen someone beingeing bullied, while 18 casesases involved staff being ng punched and pushed..
Other incidents involved name calling, sexual harassment and staff feeling socially excluded. The e doing a few dates in the UK after her Australia and New Zealand tour and she was planning to squeeze a wedding in after that.
“As far as some of the family was aware, that’s still the case.”
Adele dropped the “husband” bombshell when she accepted Song of the Year award at the Grammys in Los Angeles two weeks ago.
She was introduced to Simon, who runs clean water charity Drop4Drop, by Ed Sheeran five years ago.
The couple have a four-year-old son, Angelo, while Simon has a nine-year-old daughter from his previous marriage.
It was reported last autumn they had secretly got engaged and were planning a swift ceremony in Los Angeles at Christmas.
But their plans changed and they ditched the idea of a US wedding in favour of getting hitched in Britain. survey was also told managers misused power and showed favouritism. A worker said: “I was frightened if I made a complaint or put in a formal grievance I would be bullied out of my job.” A second said: “Most of the bullying is by managers or senior staff, so who do you turn to?” A third claimed an “old boy network covered up for the bullies”. The report said there is a “face fits” culture at the trust with individuals promoted not on merit but because of who their friends are. Unions say a Governmentimposed squeeze on NHS finances adds pressure to the 4,000 East of England staff serving six counties and struggling to deal with a record number of 999 calls.
Unison’s Alan Lofthouse said: “In this fraught climate, it can be easy to take out frustrations on each other.”
The trust said it had carried out its own “cultural health and well-being audit” last year and was “surprised” Unison had commissioned the survey.
A spokesman said: “Our annual NHS staff survey findings show we’ve not seen an increase in bullying and harassment.
“Our results are broadly comparable with those of other ambulance trusts.
“We will be responding to Unison.”