The disgraceful RCN and Nurse Jennifer Melle

[ArabellaScott]

The Darlington Nurses Union has now formally intervened to ask the RCN to step up and do its actual job:

'Suspended nurse Jennifer Melle says her gender row with the NHS has left her abandoned, vulnerable and alone.
The medic claims she has been cast into the wilderness and feeling like a pariah over her unshakable and religiously-held beliefs on biological sex.
She has been suspended from work for four months for breaching patient confidentiality after “misgendering” a convicted sex offender.
Single mum Ms Melle, 40, now faces being struck off but says the silence from those with a duty of care towards her has left her broken. '
...
'Ms Melle was hauled before a disciplinary hearing after an incident in May last year during which she refused to use female pronouns for a patient under her care.
She remains unable to work after Patient X, who was born male but identifies as a woman, was taken to St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, from a male prison for treatment for a urinary condition.
Ms Melle was called a n*** multiple times after the inmate overheard her using biologically accurate pronouns during a phone call with a senior doctor.
She was suspended by the trust on April 2 for breaching patient confidentiality after speaking about the racial abuse and referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.'

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2090368/gender-biological-sex-trans-NHS-nurse

'A paying RCN member for 12 years, Jennifer says that when the incident happened the union dismissed her case as not “meritorious” and told her to complete a “reflection” exercise to avoid future ‘misgendering’. She received no support despite the RCN recognising the abuse she experienced.
The Darlington Nursing Union (DNU), which represents Jennifer, has now formally appealed to the RCN to intervene.'

https://christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/christian-nurse-in-trans-paedophile-misgendering-case-says-royal-college-of-nursing-abandoned-her/

Bloody outrageous. I’ve lost all my nice words in favour of frothing indignation.

It says she was suspended for breaching patient confidentiality - not for being GC. What exactly did she say to the press/ did she include the patient's name originally?

I wonder if there are sufficient GC nurses to launch a shared action against the RCN.

NMC Watch is eye opening about the lack of support that nurses can have when referred.

nmcwatch.org.uk/

There is no indication that your scenario happened. Where did you read it?

I've only seen the patient referred to as 'Patient X'.

https://christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/nhs-trust-exposed-waiting-a-year-to-probe-transgender-paedophiles-racist-abuse-while-investigating-christian-nurse-for-calling-a-man-a-man/

She was suspended by the trust on April 2 for breaching patient confidentiality...

In the OP first quote and other news articles. That's why I was asking for details of this.

Fucking disgrace. She was overheard 'misgendering' him on the phone with a Dr. Can you imagine how confusing it would have been to refer to him as a she when discussing his medical condition. Isn't it more essential that he was treated appropriately. If the dr thought he was a she maybe they'd have wrongly asked for a pregnancy test or uterus scan. And then she had to put up with vile racist abuse. It is pure madness and the RCN need to get their act together.

From the Christian Concern site linked above it says :
Meanwhile, Jennifer has been suspended pending an investigation for telling her story to the media and for an alleged ‘potential data breach.’
What the breach is has not been disclosed to Jennifer or her lawyers

Surely if an individual is suspended for a data breach, the details should be disclosed to the individual/ legal team or how can they defend it?

Shocking story. The man was in hospital for a urinary problem, so it was essential to share his biological sex with the doctor. The anatomy of the urinary tracts in men and women are different and prostate enlargement and resultant retention are a consideration for men.

It is possible that the ‘possible patient confidentiality breach’ means ‘she called a man a man’.

I don’t know either way but sadly it wouldn’t surprise me.

The RCN are useless as a union. Always have been.

It's likely because she revealed the massive secret and highly confidential information that he was in fact a man and not a woman by using male pronouns...

She correctly sexed a patient over the phone to a doctor, how is that breaching patient confidentiality? This man had repeatedly called her the N word, but obviously she needs to be suspended 🤦‍♀️

We can only assume this is what they mean? Calling a man 'he' when on the phone to a doctor, about his urinary problem.

"for breaching patient confidentiality after “misgendering” a convicted sex offender"

It says what the breach was. Nothing to do with your made up scenario of talking to the press and revealing the patients name.

If I were facing this in the workplace I think I’d be making a lot of mistakes and earnest apologies.

I’m so sorry Mr, I mean Ms, Smith.
Dr Cann the patient suffers burning when he- so sorry, she- urinates. She says, I mean he says, no of course, I mean she says…

I think what may have happened is she had a disciplinary for the misgendering and was sent for reflective training or whatever bullshit and aldo had to move wards. She was also unable to apply for extra shifts at the hospital as her card was marked. She then spoke to the press saying she had been racially abused and her union and employer had not dealt with it. Following this she was then suspended. So again whistle-blower are criminalised. I don't believe she ever revealed his name. It's absolutely disgusting.

Yes, I imagine they mean she just went to the press. He would potentially be “identifiable” from the details so they can call it a data breach and weaponise policy against her. Remember how ERCC tried to claim that asking for someone’s sex was against GDPR.

I wonder if she has legal representation to bring a claim against the Trust. Could be a worthy cause for J K Rowling Women's Fund to provide the financial backing.

I think she's being supported by Christian Concern

’He’ is it not a hateful word. It is an inoffensive pronoun used for a male person. The N-word on the other hand is a hateful word. It is racist and highly offensive. It’s such a harmful word that we don’t even say it when we talk about it. It’s the N-word. We don’t call ‘he’ the H-word.

Welcome to the Upside Down. Here we have a black woman trying to do her job as a nurse to provide healthcare for a trans paedophile. She uses ‘he’ which is accurate, emotionless, factual, but upsets him as he wants to be called ‘she’. He unleashes a torrent of abuse in which he calls her the N-word.

Can someone please tell me how the hell the nurse is the baddie in this exchange?

Also, I highly doubt this man ‘passes’ as a woman; vanishingly few do. I don’t see how outing his trans status could identify him. He’s a man, and that’s a cold, hard, biological fact. His medical condition knew it too.

I'm glad Christian Concern take these cases up: I can recall a few teachers being supported by them. So many cases needing funding for this insanity.

So the nurse hasn't actually been told what she's done wrong (in their eyes) as the actual nature of the breach hasn't been disclosed. The hospital I worked in was rebuilt and lots of it became more open plan, which looks nice, but when you needed to make a confidential phone call (a frequent occurrence) there was a real shortage of places to do that and you'd have to unplug a phone and take it into a distant office.

Not difficult to 'breach confidentiality' in those circumstances.

Exactly! He was transferred from a male prison with male prison officers which had already given the game away long before this nurse uttered a word. I hope she wins substantial compensation for the appalling way her Employer and Union has behaved.

This is sickening. Is this MAN being prosecuted for racially abusing Jennifer?

Can The NHS afford to lose a dedicated nurse?

Yes, big success was Higgs v Farmors School which went all the way to the Court of Appeal which is good for all of us. https://www.hilldickinson.com/insights/articles/landmark-court-appeal-judgement-higgs-v-farmors-school-school-workers-dismissal

Words fail me...

In what world is a woman of colour trying to do her job and speaking the truth in the face of shocking abuse the bad guy here?