Ambulance trust bosses hounded women staff for sexual favours

WOMEN working at a scandalhit ambulance service were groomed and hounded by managers for sexual favours, according to a damning report.

They spoke of being groped, of ‘ sexualised gazing’ in front of patients and of ‘sexual predators’ who ‘groomed students’ for sex.

The report into South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust speaks of female employees being promised promotion in return for sexual encounters amid a culture of bullying and harassment.

The ambulance service, which covers 4.5million patients in Surrey, Sussex and Kent, is one of the worst in the country and is currently in special measures for its failure to reach critically ill patients on time.

Part of the 69-page report said: ‘Several female staff felt that such behaviours were the norm, with some stating “my a**e was slapped regularly” and others who felt they were demeaned by highly sexualised gazing in front of colleagues and even patients.

‘Some female respondents talked about “sexual predators” among male colleagues who “groomed students” for sexualised ends.

‘Some managers felt there was a history of comments being turned to lewd remarks but slowly these were being addressed.’

The report was commissioned by senior managers at the ambulance service after concerns over bullying were raised in February.

It was carried out by Professor Duncan Lewis, an expert in management at Plymouth University, who interviewed 2,093 staff.

Some 42 per cent said they had experienced bullying and 11 per cent said it happened at least once a week. But Professor Lewis also uncovered widespread ‘sexualised behaviour’ among frontline paramedics and senior managers higher up.

Some female employees said that they were leered at in front of colleagues and even patients, while others reported being ‘hounded’ for sexual favours, often

‘Promise of promotion’

with the promise of promotion if they agreed.

The report also spoke of ‘military-style leadership’ and an ‘old boys’ club’ among senior managers. Women employees said there was a lack of female role models in senior positions.

Other staff said they were ‘bellowed’ at, ‘ belittled’ in front of others or just ignored – with emails never replied to. The report also noted that ‘time after time’ staff spoke of their fears of speaking up about bullying and harassment.

Senior bosses at the ambulance service said they were taking the findings ‘extremely seriously’.

They said certain individuals had been referred to human resources departments and may be subject to disciplinary action.

Daren Mochrie, chief executive of the ambulance service, said he was ‘truly disappointed and upset that so many of our staff have experienced bullying and disrespectful behaviour in the workplace.

‘One such area was high reported levels of bullying and harassment evidenced by our staff survey and from last year’s CQC inspection. We chose to commission this independent report to help us address this worrying issue.

‘The behaviours it describes are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated, in any sense and at any level, moving forward.’

Richard Foster, the organisation’s chairman, said: ‘It is now important that we work closely with staff to build a very different workplace, where all staff will be supported and where poor behaviours will not be tolerated.’

The South East Coast service has the third- worse response times of the ten ambulance trusts in England. Two years ago managers admitted to rolling out a controversial pilot scheme which led to up to 20,000 patients waiting longer for an ambulance.

The scheme allowed operators to ‘reassess’ calls referred to them from the 111 helpline, to check if they really needed a response.

It was introduced in secret between December 2014 and February 2015. Health Service whistleblowers have claimed that patients had died as a result.