An NHS manager at South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) kept his job after joining a work video call with a swastika flag, Nazi armband and a framed photo of Adolf Hitler clearly visible in the background.
The incident took place during a virtual meeting about staffing. An anonymous colleague told Sky News she was stunned by what she saw in the manager’s home office: “I kept looking around the room thinking, ‘Why is no one saying anything?’”
A recording of the call showed a large Nazi flag leaning against the wall, a red swastika armband displayed on a bookshelf and an A4 portrait of Hitler.
“When I spoke to people afterwards, they said, ‘Oh yeah… he’s always been into Nazi stuff,” the worker said.
She initially reported the display anonymously but was told she would need to name herself and file a formal grievance. When she did, she says colleagues turned on her.
“It killed my career,” she said. “They’ve not supported me at all. Whenever I heard sirens, I got palpitations. I was terrified of who would be in that ambulance.”
Ambulance vehicles.
She also alleged that after police briefly looked into the matter, she received bags of dog faeces on her doorstep for days.
While a report found the manager’s “inappropriate behaviour” should have been “challenged,” no disciplinary action was taken, and he remains employed by SECAmb.
The anonymous worker’s complaint of workplace exclusion was reviewed, but investigators concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it was deliberate.
In a statement, SECAmb said: “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.”
The Trust has not disputed the presence of Nazi imagery during the meeting.
