A senior district nurse who was unfairly dismissed after voicing her intention to launch whistleblowing proceedings has been awarded more than £462,000 in compensation following a four-year legal battle.
Ms Fairhall, who had 38 years’ experience in the NHS and oversaw a team of around 50 district nurses, was dismissed by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust in 2018 after she raised concerns about patient safety due to pressure on district nursing resources.
In 2015, Fairhall voiced concerns about a new local authority requirement for district nurses to monitor patients’ prescriptions. She said it meant a sudden increase of around 1,000 extra visits a month for the service with no extra resources.
Over the next 10 months, she made numerous reports about the health or safety of patients and staff being put at risk.
The death of a patient in October 2016 prompted a meeting in which Fairhall suggested that the incident could have been prevented had her earlier concerns been addressed. Later that month, Fairhall told a manager that she wished to begin a formal whistleblowing procedure.
She then went on annual leave, but on her return she was told she was suspended over allegations of gross misconduct relating to her leadership. She was suspended for 18 months and after various investigations and appeals she was dismissed in April 2018.
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In February 2020, employment judge Johnson found that Fairhall’s complaints had amounted to protected disclosures.
The judge said North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust’s investigation into the alleged misconduct had been “inadequate and unreasonable in all the circumstances of the case” and had been designed to dismiss Fairhall because she had made protected disclosures. The tribunal panel ruled she had been unfairly dismissed.
However, University Hospital of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust appealed the decision, alleging that the tribunal had placed an “evidential burden on the Trust to prove that the making of the protected disclosures was not the reason for the dismissal” and that it had erred in its approach to deciding that the claimant was dismissed because she had made protected disclosures.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed its appeal in July 2021, and remitted the case back to the original employment tribunal to decide compensation for Fairhall.
Following a two-day hearing in May, the employment tribunal awarded Fairhall £462,612.26 for unfair dismissal, loss of earnings and interest.
Fairhall said: “I feel relieved I am finally at the end of very long process. I may have lost my career in nursing but if it changes things for others then it will be worthwhile. I couldn’t have done this without my legal team and extend massive thanks to Thrive Law and to my barrister Matthew Rudd for the advice and support throughout the whole process.”
Jodie Hill, managing partner at Thrive Law, which represented Fairhall, said there had been “unreasonable conduct” on the part of the NHS Trust, so her legal team is making a further application for costs.
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North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has been contacted for a response.
