Ambulance services told to stamp out sexual harassment and bullying

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.

'Everyone was just laughing'

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.

She says she doesn't trust the ambulance service to keep women safe from this type of behaviour and that 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]," says Nicole.

"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 on her, saying she's become "very sad" and "disillusioned" and that she 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."