Darlington nurses win their employment tribunal

So if it's the NMC and it pursues this, surely it will just mean another legal case which the nurses will win at great expense to that body?

Witch hunting whistleblowers.

They went to thd press because they had no choice. When they tried to use the grievance procedure, they were told to buzz off and suck it up.

No need for you to apologise!

How can ordinary members of the public make sense of any of this.

We have got to the point where rules and regulations, or at least how they are applied, is so bad it makes having them seem pointless.

Apologies I think it’s because they need to conclude Rose’s grievances.

Have just seen this where those commenting seem to think it is Nursing and Midwifery Council
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5549207-darlington-nurses-not-over

The issue is that the Public Sector has a recognised process for making a protected disclosure. This is under PIDA (Public Interest Disclosure Act)

The process should mean employees have no justification for going to the press.

The Darlington nurses did go to the press and in doing so didn’t follow the process. This is why it is a disciplinary matter.

This is a double edged sword as the NHS want to deter other employees doing something similar and want them to use the speak up process. So taking disciplinary action in this case is partly about discouraging other employees from doing the same.

Personally I think this is going to backfire and lead to a second ET.

Being unkind ladies.

What would the disciplinary action be about???????????

Probably about speaking to the media.

Such petty revenge - they know, the nurses know, the media knows, and the public know that their chances of winning are less than zero.

What would the disciplinary action be about???????????

Revenge.

The Trust would not dare - they know perfectly well it would end badly for them. So much posturing on their part though - bizarre behaviour.

About the Trust

"The regulator served a warning notice in December over concerns about the organisation's governance systems, management of identified risk, and the processes for learning from incidents and complaints."

Found the right thread!

Has anyone seen this on Twitter?

It's about the Darlington nurses. The authority has said it may take disciplinary action against them:

https://x.com/DarlingtonUnion/status/2072292462584868972

BREAKING: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is refusing to rule out taking disciplinary action against the Darlington nurses despite an employment tribunal finding they were unlawfully harassed. President of the Darlington Nursing Union, said: “After everything we have been through it is astonishing that the Trust is still refusing to rule out taking disciplinary action against us. “The trust has apologised. It has paid damages. It has accepted our concerns were not properly heard. An employment tribunal found we were subjected to harassment and unlawful discrimination. Yet somehow, even now, the trust appears to be keeping open the possibility of punishing the very nurses who were vindicated" See more breaking in the media

^https://express.co.uk/news/uk/2223944/nhs-nurses-trans-biological-sex-gender-gender-equality^

Folx on a placard. That's not going to make 93.67% of the population go, "Er, what?" and disengage immediately, is it?

What a contrast with the SWP. Very reasoned and calm.

Not a mention of women's rights from the SWP, I hope their female members are cancelling their subscriptions.

Anyone wanting a palate cleanser, have a read of some Morning Star coverage on gender issues. Proper structural analysis. This from October is good, directly critical of the Scottish TUCs stance on women's sex based rights.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/road-ruin

I too would like to know who's funding the SWP on this one.

As far as I can make out the SWP does not actual political work itself, but turns up at demos organised by other people with enough placards to make it look like they are the organisers.

They are the sort of cuckoos of left wing politics.

Why do they do it? Some sort of strange male bonding?

Dont forget this is what they grew out of. ie Remember Comrade Delta
https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2014/05/comrades-war-decline-and-fall-socialist-workers-party

TRAs are so sucessful because they exist on the long standing anti woman politics of MRAs. If the MRAs weren't still the dominant culture in the UK (and elsewhere) the TRAs anti woman politics would not have been so quickly taken up and promoted.

Thanks for the link, but I read the first lines of the article and gagged, so I didn't get very far.
The anti-women protestors that turned up at the Senedd on the Day 199 protest, were sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party. They had 3 minders there giving out the placards, they'd been re-identified from another protest, you could read the original message on the back. 😂 Revolution on a shoestring.

I love to know what exactly the SWP are getting out of this, why they're supporting/funding so many protests

Yet another example that seems to show that "socialists" really hate women.

https://socialistworker.co.uk/lgbt/fight-to-defend-trans-rights-in-workplaces-after-tribunal-ruling/

A good friend of mine is a Unison rep. I mentioned the Darlington case before the judgement. I requoted Rose as saying something like “Aren’t you going to get changed yet?” which she repeated and seemed to have taken in as a bad thing.

Unfortunately that aspect didn’t appear in the judgement.

I normally see her in an online hobby group at least one of whom is non-binary, so I don’t like to bring up the subject there. I saw her several times last week, in person at a different shared hobby. The Unison statement hadn’t come out then: I must find another opportunity.

Also (I think) because Rose was not the duty bearer or employer.

im glad they can’t claim the policy was fine but “some women are creeps”, at least.

had been through their solicitors

I constantly see this and grimly laugh. My brother is a solicitor. He wouldn’t do the conveyancing on our house as he knows nothing about conveyancing, or write our wills as he knows nothing about that. He certainly wouldn’t defend me in court if I were arrested. Solicitors are specialists and it is likely that your average inhouse NHS solicitor mostly specialises in contracts with various suppliers. If I asked him to look over something not his area (as a relative, not a client - clients he would direct to the appropriate colleague) he would read it though to make sure it sounds like it made sense but would know nothing of the legal requirements of that area.

These NHS HR people are not professionals. They are less use than telephone sanitisers.

From the judgment (my underline):

121. Ms Bailey spoke to someone at the South Tyneside Trust who told her that its policy had been through their solicitors who confirmed that it was in line with current legislation and guidance. At the time Ms Bailey was not aware of the content of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. She became aware of these at some point in time. It is more likely than not that this was after proceedings in this case had commenced. She was not alone. Mr Thacker did not become aware of them until March 2025. When he read them, he understood two things: firstly, that they provided for single sex changing facilities for men and women and secondly that they were binding on the Trust as an employer’s obligations in the workplace. The Trust’s TIW policy had been drafted and reviewed in ignorance of these Regulations.