Tribunal rules whistleblower NHS nurse was unfairly dismissed

Clinical care co-ordinator Linda Fairhall was unfairly sacked after almost 40 years of service and an ‘unblemished’ record, an employment tribunal in Teesside has found. In its judgment, the panel found that North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trust had suspended Linda Fairhall for 18 months without a “meaningful or adequate” explanation prior to her dismissal.

Ms Fairhall had raised concerns about working conditions, potential risk to patient health, and had claimed that district nurses were being put under unfair strain due to new duties placed upon them in 2013. Her concerns were finally vindicated in 2016 following what Ms Fairhall described as the ‘preventable’ death of a patient.

After beginning the whistle-blowing process, Ms Fairhall returned from leave to find that she had been dismissed from her position due to concerns over her leadership capabilities, despite recent praise from the Care Quality Commission commending her management over the previous year.

In 2013, Ms Fairhall had raised concerns over the introduction of new requirements for district nurses to monitor patient’s prescriptions. She said this would cause an increase of 1000 extra patient visits per month for nurses, with no extra resources available. Over the following 10 month period she raised 13 further instances where she felt patient or staff health and safety had been put at risk.

After several investigations and appeals Ms Fairhall was dismissed in April 2018.

The employment tribunal found the investigation into her alleged misconduct to be ‘inadequate and unreasonable in all the circumstances of the case’.

It said witnesses referred to little more than “themes” or “perceptions” by staff, which lacked detail and did not enable Ms Fairhall to respond. The panel also noted the timing of the trust’s decision to suspend her, being in such close proximity to the disclosure of her concerns.

The judgment added, “The trust’s decision to dismiss the claimant fell outside the range of reasonable responses open to an employer in all circumstances of the case.”

A North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust spokesperson said, “We acknowledge the ruling and intend to appeal the decision.”

Sources: dailymail.co.uk, 02 March 2020, ‘Whistleblower nurse with spotless 38-year record was unfairly sacked after warning that crippling NHS staff workload had led to patient’s death, tribunal rules’, gazettelive.co.uk, 02 March 2020, ‘Whistleblower nurse who raised concerns over patient death was unfairly sacked’.