A “commended” NHS nurse has been awarded nearly £500,000 for being wrongly sacked after she claimed that high workloads led to a patient’s death.
Linda Fairhall, 62, a 44-year veteran of the health service, said she made 13 separate pleas to bosses warning that her colleagues were overburdened, but she was ignored each time.
Fairhall, who joined the health service in 1979, told officials at the University Hospital of North Tees and Hartlepool that she was worried about a recently imposed policy that obliged nurses to monitor patients who took prescribed medicines. Fairhall, who was a clinical care co-odinator, maintained that it led to nurses having to conduct 1,000 extra patient visits a month without extra resources.
She said nurses were overwhelmed by the additional responsibility, which resulted in rising “anxiety” among staff and higher rates of absence. However, Fairhall told the tribunal in Teesside that nothing was done in response to her concerns, and ultimately a patient died.
Fairhall, who was responsible for the management and quality of care at the trust, told the tribunal that the death was preventable. The tribunal heard that the nurse raised her last warning with officials just before she went on annual leave. On her return she was suspended and investigated for “bullying and harassment”, then sacked for gross misconduct.
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A tribunal has now ruled that the decision to dismiss Fairhall was “materially influenced” by her complaints regarding patient safety, with the panel adding that it could not “genuinely believe” that she was guilty of misconduct.
After upholding Fairhall’s claims of unfair dismissal, unfair treatment prompted by whistleblowing and breach of contract last year, she was awarded £472,800 in compensation.
Earlier, the tribunal had heard that in 2015, the Care Quality Commission watchdog had “commended” Fairhall for her work. Shortly afterwards the conflict with managers started, prompted by the change of policy. Fairhall informed her bosses that a health service risk assessment showed that patients could suffer “possibly major harm or likely severe harm” because nurses were “increasingly unwell and insufficiently supported”.
The tribunal was told that several meetings were held to discuss Fairhall’s concerns but nothing was done to address them. When a patient died in 2016, Fairhall said it could have been prevented if staff had not been so overworked. Four days later she had a meeting with bosses to inform them that nurses were “unable to function in their roles” and the patient may have survived if the managers had listened to her.
Fairhall was suspended as part of an investigation into claims of “inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour including bullying and harassment”. She was also accused of dishonest behaviour regarding charity money. Fairhall was fired for gross misconduct in 2018. She unsuccessfully appealed, then sued the trust.
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In an attempt to justify her dismissal, one of her bosses described Fairhall as “strident, angry [and] overassertive” — but in its ruling the tribunal noted that no examples of that alleged behaviour were provided.
A hospital report related that some junior nurses felt “micromanaged” by Fairhall and called themselves “raggy dolls”. However, the tribunal said the investigation that prompted that report had been “unreasonably superficial”.
In a statement the trust said that the ruling had prompted changes to its processes that resulted in “positive change”. It added that “the trust remains committed to supporting staff and patients in raising concerns relating to practice and care”.
