‘Worker took overdose after job destroyed her’

THE PARENTS of a 999 call handler who claims NHS bullying drove her to attempt suicide have said their daughter was “destroyed” by a job that had once been her dream.

The case is one of two alleged suicide attempts detailed in investigation reports into the South East Coast Ambulance Service trust. They describe a “climate of fear” in one Kent control room.

One woman, then 37, took an overdose because she was unable to cope with repeated bullying by managers at Coxheath emergency operations centre. And her parents told The Daily Telegraph how the abuse left her so desperate she could see no other way out.

An investigation into the centre said the abuse was so bad that it left some staff struggling to make life-or-death decisions about 999 calls. Several described “psychological games” used by managers, with shouting and swearing, and anonymous phone calls.

The investigation into Coxheath was ordered after a group of staff raised concerns with a trust board member. Several said they had decided to speak up after feeling guilty over the attempted suicide of the handler.

The investigation report talked of allegations of “severe bullying, coercion and intimidation that were overbearing and aggressive”.

It also said that when the woman returned to work, after extended sick leave following her overdose, she was threatened with suspension over her complaints. It said it was “not justifiable, nor indeed what a caring employer would do”.

The Telegraph is protecting the iden- tify of the woman whose parents came forward. Her father, Des, 73, said: “She joined the ambulance service 20 years ago, back in 1997 – it was what she always wanted to do, it was her dream job.”

For years she was happy, her parents said. She received a commendation and even attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Then, in 2006, Kent Ambulance Service was merged into the much larger South East Coast Ambulance Service trust and things started to go wrong from 2012.

Her mother Pat, 70, who previously worked for the ambulance service, said: “We encouraged her to stand up for herself, we said ‘they can’t treat you like that’, we encouraged her to put in a grievance, but that just made it worse.”

Des worried about the pressure on his daughter but also on the effect it had on the public.

“You are doing a job that is life or death and you’ve got people shouting at you the whole time.”

Things came to a head in May 2013. “We assumed she’d gone to work as normal then, at about 8pm, Pat got a call,” Des recalled. “She was really, really distressed – she said ‘I’ve done something stupid, I’ve taken an overdose’.”

“She did it from sheer desperation,” Pat said. “It was absolutely distressing to see how they destroyed her.”

‘She did it from sheer desperation ... it was absolutely distressing to see how they destroyed her’