An NHS manager joined a work video call with a swastika flag, Nazi armband and a framed photograph of Adolf Hitler in the background, it has been revealed.
Speaking to Sky News, an anonymous worker at South East Coast Ambulance Service described her shock at logging on to a team meeting, only to notice the Nazi paraphernalia in her manager’s home office.
"I kept looking around the room, thinking 'Why is no one saying anything?’” she recalled.
“When I spoke to people afterwards they said: 'Oh yeah… he's always been into Nazi stuff.’”
A framed A4 photograph of Adolf Hitler was seen behind the NHS manager in his home office. (Credit: Sky News)[Missing Credit]
She blew the whistle anonymously at first but was told she would have to name herself and put in a formal grievance for it to be investigated, according to the report.
The investigation reportedly found that the manager’s “inappropriate behaviour” should have been “challenged”, but the manager kept his job.
Video footage of the work call shows a framed A4 photograph of the Nazi leader alongside a large swastika flag, and a red swastika armband on the bookshelf.
The whistleblower was “horrified”, saying: “[For] 45 minutes I had to stare at that… The thing is, the more you look at it, the more upsetting it becomes.”
A red, black and white Nazi Party flag was seen behind the NHS manager's bookshelf. (Credit: Sky News)[Missing Credit]
She also claimed her colleagues turned against her after the whole incident, adding: “It killed my career. They’ve not supported me at all."
The witness alleged that, at one point, the police were involved then days later, she “had bags of dog faeces on my doorstep. That went on for a few days, I felt like a prisoner in my own home".
The anonymous whistleblower accused her colleagues of isolating her after she reported the incident, which "killed" her career. (Credit: Sky News)[Missing Credit]
"Whenever I heard sirens, I got palpitations. I was terrified of who would be in that ambulance," she went on.
The employee claimed to have been isolated by her colleagues, frozen out of meetings and uninvited to group events. However, an independent report into the allegations found that there was not enough evidence to prove that she had been deliberately excluded.
A spokesperson for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: "We continue to work hard to make SEAmb a safe organisation for all of our people and are committed to drive real change.
“We will always take appropriate action when it comes to addressing inappropriate behaviour that is not in line with our values and will not tolerate this from anyone, regardless of their role in the organisation.
“We take the welfare of our people, and our patients seriously and fully investigated the historic cases covered in a Sky News report today. This included independent external reviews, commissioned by our Chief Executive.”
