East of England Ambulance Service: NF graffiti at HQ

The National Front logo was scratched onto a kitchen table at the trust's headquarters in Cambridgeshire

The boss of an NHS ambulance trust accused of institutional racism has condemned the appearance of far-right graffiti at its headquarters.

The initials "NF" - a reference to the National Front - were etched on to a kitchen table in December 2019.

The East of England Ambulance Service has acknowledged its initial response to the incident was inadequate.

Chief Executive Tom Abell said: "The investigation at the time was not effective."

The National Front is a small far-right group which became well known in the 1970s when it organised anti-immigration marches and demonstrations.

It has fielded candidates at elections, but has never had anyone elected to the UK or European parliaments.

It comes as the trust was highlighted as being at risk of an "historic and institutional culture of racism" in a recent report.

A survey of staff from ethnic minorities showed examples of "blatant racism" and "cultural ignorance".

'Trivialised'

The graffiti was found at the trust's headquarters in Cambourne, near Cambridge, in a section used by the Hazardous Area Response Team (Hart) who are trained and equipped to provide the ambulance response to high-risk and complex emergency situations.

Mr Abell, in a message to colleagues, admitted that the initial response to the incident was poor.

"There were failures at multiple levels of the organisation in how this was handled at the time," he said.

A fresh investigation by the ambulance trust into the actions of Hart's management following the discovery was commissioned after Mr Abell took over in May 2021.

The BBC has obtained a copy of its key findings, which state the incident had been "trivialised" and "documented fact-finding had not taken place so that an official investigation could be instigated".

It said no attempts had been made to establish who accessed the building on the day or the days before, with the focus more on vandalism of the table than the impact on staff.

The culprit has never been identified.

Chief Executive Tom Abell acknowledged the initial investigation into the incident fell short

The incident was not initially reported to the police by management, but they have since been notified.

However, the new report stated that it was requested that the scratching be removed immediately, but this resulted in "evidence being destroyed for the police or/and internal investigation". 

A trust source told the BBC the Hart team had often been used to support the emergency service response when migrants had been discovered in the backs of lorries.

"I'm deeply saddened and disappointed that it has taken three years since this deplorable hate crime was committed... for it to come to a supposed conclusion, albeit in a way some might deem totally unsatisfactory," they added.

They said it was "abominable" senior leaders had initially said that an investigation had been carried out and a report issued "only for this to be proved unfounded with no evidence or documentation to support this claim".

"It's deeply concerning to think that the person or persons with this repulsive ideology still work at the trust and are mobilised to care for patients and families of BME background, or any background for that matter."

Unison's Glenn Carrington said far-right graffiti was "really upsetting" for staff with ethnic minority heritage

Unison branch chairman Glenn Carrington criticised the trust for not investigating the incident properly in the first place.

"This was really upsetting for our ethnic minority members," he said.

"How can people of colour speak up when management didn't investigate this properly?

"Hopefully, now we're under a new directorate, they will start taking our concerns seriously."

Apology

The ambulance service, which serves Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk as well as Cambridgeshire, said there had been a significant turnover of staff in the Hart team since 2019.

In a statement, Mr Abell, said: "We have been open and honest with our people that this deplorable incident in 2019 was not addressed properly, and the investigation at the time was not effective.

"It is important to be clear that this is not about singling out any specific team or individual and that the learning from this incident has wide implications across our entire service.

"I want to reassure colleagues that any such incident would be thoroughly investigated in future, and I have apologised to those who were affected by it.

"I have been clear that any discriminatory behaviour is not acceptable and we have implemented new training and other measures to create a more inclusive culture across the trust.

"We are beginning to make good progress at [the service] - as evidenced by our Care Quality Commission report - but it is also clear the trust has work to do to ensure we eradicate this behaviour from our trust."

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