After several years of volunteering with St John Ambulance (SJA), including revitalising the training programme for my local units and volunteering full-time as an ambulance crewman at the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was dismissed for gross misconduct in August 2020.

This report contains my account of this absurd time, during which I believe I was scapegoated by the organisation in order to cover up for a series of dangerous decisions made in the early days of the pandemic which resulted in the deployment of underprepared and unsupported ambulance crews, putting volunteers, patients and members of the public at risk.

Following my dismissal I submitted the report, along with a summarising cover letter, to the SJA Internal Audit team (along with the CQC and the Charity Commission); the Internal Audit team subsequently began a whistleblowing investigation. Following the unsatisfactory conclusion of this process I produced a final conclusive report, but this interim report serves as an interesting time capsule, having mostly be written during the initial few weeks of the investigatory process, when I still had faith and trust in my colleagues.

It also has an appendix for memes.

Bottom Line, Up Front ¶

The SJA investigatory process is unfit for purpose. The process is both powerfully counterproductive and utterly neglectful of the rights and well-being of those under investigation. Luckily, a handful of simple changes will have an outsized effect on this issue without negatively affecting the organisation’s ability to conduct investigations. Adopting these will spare SJA people from significant distress, ensure their time is used more productively and protect SJA from financial and reputational losses.

Whilst researching this issue it became apparent that the same issue may be endemic to the broader healthcare and volunteering sectors, up to and including the level of Parliamentary legislation. This would be far beyond my pay grade if so, but I do propose some simple changes that should serve as a jumping-off point for alleviating this. This will extend the benefits previously mentioned across these sectors.

Despite the simplicity of the remedies, the potential risk of not implementing them is serious. It is my belief that the worst-case scenario of not making these changes is that an SJA colleague may, under exceptional circumstances, be driven to serious harm. I would much rather raise the alarm now and risk being seen to overreact than to not and for the same realisation to only occur following an inquest.