Troubled 999 trust is ‘toxic’ Whistleblower blasts bosses after 3 sudden deaths
A WHISTLEBLOWER has accused an ambulance trust where three staff died suddenly of having a “completely toxic culture”.
Paul Fitzgerald, former equalities lead at East of England Ambulance Service, first raised the alarm in October – a month before the deaths.
He now claims six more workers have contacted him to discuss suicidal thoughts and said the trust was “an accident waiting to happen”. It comes after an independent review was launched into the deaths of ambulance dispatcher Luke Wright and paramedics Christopher Gill and Richard Grimes.
Mr Fitzgerald said: “In nearly 30 years of working in the NHS, I have never witnessed anything like the toxic culture at the trust. There is a very real risk of more staff committing suicide.
“Six other staff members raised concerns about suicidal thoughts [in recent months] but the support provided is wholly inadequate.
“Last year they disbanded the health and wellbeing and outsourced the function to a private company.”
He continued: “The trust has told me I will not be able to see a copy of the investigation it commissioned – it will not be released publicly.
“The only way to sort the trust out is to hold a public inquiry.”
The trust’s chief executive Dorothy Hosein said she was
“deeply saddened” by last year’s deaths and confirmed the board had commissioned an independent investigation.
A trust spokesman added: “We take staff welfare seriously. This is why we reviewed the service and have an enhanced service in place provided by Kays Medical. “Our new contract provides additional proactive wellbeing support for our staff.
“We have also engaged additional services from a range of agencies to support mental health.”