An NHS spokesperson says it’s an “incredibly important report, and we welcome its recommendations”.
By Rachael Venables, News correspondent @rachaelvenables
Ambulance services have been told to stamp out bullying and sexual harassment and do more to allow whistleblowing, in a damning report published today.
It comes after a Sky News investigation exposed a toxic culture of “incessant” sexism and harassment in the ambulance service, with one woman saying she became suicidal after being locked in an ambulance and sexually assaulted by her colleague.
The independent review was commissioned by NHS England after a National Guardian “Freedom to Speak Up” report in February 2023 found “examples of serious allegations of sexual assault, harassment or inappropriate behaviours” were “accepted as part of the culture”.
A year later, today’s review by Siobhan Melia found much the same – with bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, “deeply rooted” in ambulance trusts.
Staff told her they “continue to face harassment, discrimination, and bullying”, which she says is often met with “scepticism”.
Her work also found trusts often “prioritise operational capacity” and keeping staff in place over addressing claims of misconduct.
Former paramedic describes sexual assault
Nicole has been a paramedic for more than a decade and fears women are not safe in the service, describing harassment as “rife”.
She says her early career was marred with older men “leering” at her, with one senior paramedic once bending her over a table in the crew room and “miming having sex with her”.
“Everyone was laughing, I had no choice but to laugh along,” says Nicole.
Nude photos stolen
A few years ago she says a male colleague stole nude photos from her phone and then sent her an explicit video of himself.
She told management but feels it wasn’t taken seriously:
“It’s horrible. I hate bumping into him at work. I obviously feel really uncomfortable,” she told Sky News.
“There have also been a couple of times where we’ve actually been crewed together.
“And when I’ve said to management, ‘I’m not working with him’ they just say ‘It’s not a playground, you don’t just get to pick and choose’.”
He has since been promoted, which Nicole says puts her in a really difficult position:
“I do know that he is good at his job and he’s worked hard, but then there’s this niggle in the back of my brain where I’m like, could he do this again? Would he do this again?
“And he’s in a much better position to be able to do this again to someone more junior.”
Nicole doesn’t trust the ambulance service to keep women safe and believes cultural reports like this won’t be enough to fix the problem.
“I mean, they’ve been saying for years [that they don’t tolerate harassment],” she says.
“And yet there are still people in the service that have had very questionable behaviour, and they’re still in the service.
“Maybe they’ve just been moved to different stations, but they’re still working.”
She was visibly emotional as she thought about the toll the harassment had taken, saying she’s become “very sad” and “disillusioned” and doesn’t believe the NHS is out to protect her.
In response to today’s report, Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce, training and education officer for NHS England, said: “This is an incredibly important report, and we welcome its recommendations, which will help build on the work we have already been doing through the NHS People Plan, and equality, diversity and inclusion improvement plan.
“We are committed to supporting ambulance trusts and all NHS organisations to continuously improve staff experience and services for patients.
“Everyone working in the NHS must feel safe from any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination or abuse, and feel confident that they can raise concerns and that they will be taken seriously and acted on.
“Our NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out how we will do more to ensure staff and volunteers have equal opportunity within a compassionate and inclusive culture, and we look forward to working with ambulance trusts, local integrated care boards and key stakeholders to implement the recommendations in this report.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
