Whistleblowing complaint upheld by appeal tribunal

A clinical care co-ordinator with 38 years’ unblemished service was dismissed because she made protected disclosures.

In 2015, Linda Fairhall became concerned that her team of district nurses had become subjected to an increasing workload because of a change in policy by the local authority, and the impact this had on both her nursing team and the quality of patient care they could provide.

Fairhall began to express her concerns verbally and in writing to her managers, and by making entries on a risk assessment register. She was dismissed following these disclosures.

An employment tribunal upheld her complaint that she had been dismissed because she made protected disclosures and the trust appealed to the EAT.

The EAT upheld the tribunal’s decision, ruling out the argument that it should have considered the motives of all those involved leading up to her dismissal. It was enough that the tribunal had heard the evidence presented, from which it concluded Fairhall had been dismissed because she had made protected disclosures.

However, her claims of detriment prior to her dismissal were sent back to the tribunal to be reconsidered.

University Hospital North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust v Fairhall UKEAT/ 0150/20

https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2021/0150_20_3006.html