‘Unacceptable’ behaviour at ‘every level’ of Peterborough ambulance trust being addressed, chiefs promise

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust launched an anonymous harassment survey in October after it was placed in special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The CQC took action after uncovering bullying and abuse, with the summer inspection prompted by information from sources – including whistleblowers – about the safeguarding of patients and staff from sexual abuse, inappropriate behaviour and harassment.

The regulator said shortcomings had led to the trust’s failure to learn from sexual harassment directed towards staff in one of its workplaces, including after recommendations were made in an independent report.

Leaders also failed to act decisively when staff faced allegations of predatory sexual behaviour towards patients.

Following the inspection the CQC ordered the trust to carry out a series of improvements.

Updating members of Peterborough City Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee on what action had been taken after the CQC report was released, the trust said it had sought to gather more in-depth feedback from staff, volunteers and students on their current and historical experiences.

It said more than 2,000 people (just under half of those eligible) responded, with the findings showing that colleagues at every level “are experiencing, have experienced or witnessed a wide range of unacceptable behaviour, including bullying and harassment on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation and disability”.

The trust added: “They have also told us this behaviour is taking place at every level in the organisation: from manager to staff, staff to managers, colleague to colleague and even patients to staff.”

The trust said it has begun taking action before the results of the survey came out, with staff being asked to “speak up and speak out”.

It continued: “We have acted on these concerns. We have intervened to stop poor behaviour, addressed grievances earlier and updated outdated policies. We have heard directly how we can and should change our culture.”

Actions include:

. Specialist culture support teams working with managers

. Wellbeing support and provision being reviewed, promoted and improved

. Instigating a trust-wide review of all cases that involve sexual harassment

. Independent investigators being appointed to strengthen and speed up some HR processes.

. Coaching and support put in place for managers, as well as a new management development programme

. A review of disciplinary policy.

The trust added: “The feedback from staff and managers in areas where interventions have taken place is that they are already noticing a positive difference, but we will regularly assess work and progress.

“The survey will be carried out again in a year’s time to check how staff are feeling

and how much progress has been made.

“We all want EEAST to be an excellent place to work. We want every member of staff to be treated equally, fairly and considerately. We are taking the approach that one case of inappropriate behaviour is one case too many.

“The leadership will not tolerate poor behaviour.

“We continue to update stakeholders and partners on our action plan. We hope that our progress so far, the support we have already received and the extra help which will result from special measures will provide additional reassurance that we will get the right culture, leadership and quality in place permanently at EEAST for our staff and our patients.”