“THERE must be no hiding place for bullies in the ambulance service,” a trade union has said, after a report showed “problem hotspots” in the south west.

The independent report into workplace culture at the South West Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) was published last week.

It was based on staff surveys and interviews, and was jointly-commissioned by the Trust and trade union, Unison.

Although the report did not find evidence of a culture of workplace bullying across the service it found “problem hotspots” that are a cause for concern.

A third of the staff had witnessed bullying, mostly of their colleagues, but of managers in some cases too. As many as two-thirds reported some degree of friction or anger between colleagues, and up to three-quarters that relationships at work were strained.

Some complained of feeling intimidated in the workplace by behaviour of a sexual nature, citing intimate conversations, the viewing of pornography, and the play-acting of sexual acts

The report said senior managers “might be unaware of such matters” but pointed out they were still responsible for tackling these issues.

And it said “incivility and disrespectful behaviour have been normalised” in some parts of the Trust. “Cliques and in/out-groups operate in some stations and gender, sexuality and disability groups are statistically more likely to report feeling marginalised,” it continued, adding that “gossip and spreading of rumours” was also a feature of the workplace culture.

The report said “both suicide ideation and actual suicides” have occurred in SWASFT, adding: “It is impossible to connect these directly to alleged bullying/inappropriate behaviour, although some staff we interviewed made those connections themselves.

Unison’s SWASFT branch secretary Chris Nelson said culture among the ambulance services has been “all wrong” and that inaction by managers gave bullying “the green light”.

He added: “Whenever staff complained, they felt that the perpetrators were let off the hook, and sent away with a slap on the wrist, or a training course at best.”

“The real work challenge will now be to bring our service back together. It won’t be easy, but this report will help enormously. Employers have a moral, legal and financial duty to keep their workplaces bully free, and there must be no more brushing of the problem under the carpet.”