"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 4

[ThreeWordHarpy]

Thread 1, 7-Oct to 23-Oct; pre-hearing discussion, KD (day 1 of evidence) and BH (day 2).
Thread 2, 23-Oct to 28-Oct; BH (day 2), CH, JP, MG (day 3&4), TH, SS, ST, LL (day 4), JS, AT (day 5)
Thread 3, 28-Oct to 29-Oct, AT (day 5&6), TA (day 6)

Five nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital have filed a legal case suing their employer, an NHS trust, for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The nurses object to sharing the women’s changing facilities with a male colleague, Rose, who identifies as female. The hearing started on October 20th, with evidence starting on October 22nd and is scheduled to last 3 weeks. To view the hearing online requests for access had to be made by October 17th. The hearing is being live tweeted by Tribunal Tweets who have background to this case on their substack. An alternative to X is to use Nitter: nitter.net/tribunaltweets or nitter.poast.org/tribunaltweets

The Judge made clear at the start of the public hearing on Day 1 that only TT or press have permission to tweet. If online observers see/hear something in the court that isn’t reported by TT, we don’t mention it until the next time there’s a break. This is a very cautious approach to avoid any accusations of “live reporting” on MN. Commentary on the content of TT tweets is fine as soon as they’re posted on X.

Key people:
C/Ns - Claimants, the Darlington nurses
R/T/Trust - Respondent, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
J/EJ – Judge/Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney
NF - Niazi Fetto KC, barrister for claimants
SC - Simon Cheetham, KC, barrister for respondents
RH - Rose Henderson, trans identifying nurse
CG – Clare Gregory, ward manager
SW - Sue Williams, NHS Trust HR
KD – Karen Danson, first claimant to give evidence.
BH – Bethany Hutchison, claimant
AH – Alistair Hutchison, husband of Bethany
CH – Carly Hoy, claimant
JP – Jane Peveller, claimant
MG – Mary Anne (aka Annice) Grundy, claimant
TH – Tracy Hooper, claimant
SS – Siobhan Sinclair, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust
ST – Sharron Trevarrow, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust, former housekeeper and wellbeing officer
LL – Lisa Lockey, claimant
JP – Professor Jo Phoenix, expert witness
JS – Jane Shields, witness for the claimants
AT - Andrew Thacker, witness for the respondents, NHS trust Head of HR
TA – Tracy Atkinson, witness for the respondents, NHS trust HR.

Here's one each=

💐

It reminds me in a way of the Post Office Inquiry. Layers of over paid, over promoted thick, defensive managers making a complete mess of things. A Kingdom of bureaucracy.

Be careful. You're doing so well that people will say 'you're a natural' and we all know what that means.

I wrote earlier that I don't usually have access to the technology (a computer) to do this. It's my very good reason and I'm sticking to it. ♥

I think the J has explained he is asking questions on the hoof (my expression)rather than wait til end which feels a much more productive way to do it. He’s giving the witnesses a chance to clarify points which inference of lying might be reasonable by panel. I like it better but don’t class it as interventions per se.

Fantastic job, and thanks to your DH for abandoning the computer for the greater good.

Thank you!

💐 💐

Edit - too late to edit them into my earlier post, though.

I have a wide variety to choose from when I'm on my ipad. ☺ Have I mentioned that I'm normally not on a computer? 😉

It's just his age. Most of my schoolfriends were Andy, Dave or Steve.

Yeah, me too.
I wonder how my own large organisation would fare under scrutiny like this.

Poorly, is my guess!

I did plan to paste this afternoon but my job application took priority and wasn't finished till 3.45pm.

If I feel well enough I will paste tomorrow morning, though I may need someone else to do the afternoon.

I might want a T shirt that says "Nice girls don't sue" (looks hopefully for @Boiledbeetle )

Yes, thanks very much for keeping us up to date with TT

Can one of the observers here tell me what was o good about the judge as it was only partially reflected in TT

thanks

I'm not here.

I'm a figment of your imagination.

I have been out for most of the day but caught the last bits of AM.

To be fair to AM, in the FWS SC case the panel repeatedly asked the Scot Gmt KC what did it mean to live in their chosen gender. The KC kept saying I will tell you after lunch. Then after lunch said I'm not going to tell you!

If the Scot Gmt KC can't answer the question who can?

I had forgotten about After-Lunch-Gate.

He tends to ask the questions that we are all shouting at the screen.

Stern expression

Not that I'm telling you what to do

but

Do only what you must - job applications, reading MN, eating crumble - otherwise, rest and recover.

Both organisations sadly struck by an epidemic of slopey shoulder syndrome.

@Hedgehogsrightsarehumanrights, I think it was this bit in particular that everyone was pleased about.

He rightly saw that their TITWHOOP policy was a pile of impenetrable word salad that had no actual meaning that anyone could define.

But he did it politely and didn't say "Can you just admit this is a pile of corporate crap to cover your arses?"

It’s his delivery, as well.

This is a judge who was explaining the set-up to a new person about to give evidence, and he said that it’s like turning up to a party when everyone else has already had a couple of drinks.

That’s lived with me!

I know I shouldn't laugh, but this post, after the Judge's questions to AM and his string of "I don't know" answers, made me snigger 🤭

Thanks as always to those re-posting TTs, the thread commentary and also to TT themselves.

I am so jealous of everyone who is watching live. This sounds like an absolute corker.

I can't wait for the tv series.

Is the appeal available to watch anywhere? I’ve tried YouTube but cannot find it.

Thank you xx