"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.

I think what he also did was highlight that AM possibly had not actually ever read the whole document and if he did read it he had done so without any critical analysis.

Also, going back to some posts here suggesting that NF didn't drive home some of his points, whereas NC did in Peggie, I think it may be a Q of how well you know/trust your judge. NC didn't know the Scottish judge (and we weren't so sure!). Maybe NF knows this judge and assumes he'll draw the correct inference. I've known barristers so confident of their judge that they will let the other side lead their own witnesses throughout their testimony, confining themselves to a shared eyebrow raise with the Bench. It undermines the opponent's case if his witness can't get through his evidence without being led.

I think our new favourite judge is a party animal🍻

Although I would love some Pete appearances is it possible that there is no argument between parties in this tribunal about Rose being male/ a man? Whereas Fife were thoroughly TWAW.

Yet again we see the same answers to the same questions that we get on FWR:
"Don't know"
"[inaudible]"
"It's complicated"
"It's not my job to have an answer"

Agree.

I didn't think it possible that anyone could do less work than HR Andy, but this Andy today proved he does absolutely fuck all.

My opinion after today's performance:

At the most he skim reads stuff but none of the detail of anything makes it into his long term memory unless it's about one of his pet topics.

If he does begrudgingly have to get involved in something he responds without checking what he may have already been told about something and makes up whatever shit pops into his head, then palms it off to some underling and never bothers to follow up with the underling to see if the problem was sorted.

He doesn't give a flying fuck about the well-being of the female staff and wishes they would just shut up and fuck off.

Re the R's barrister giving up, I did wonder if they were even in the room this afternoon. Maybe just gently rocking to and fro, hugging themselves...

Don’t forget Poets Day.

A 'tin hat' job - put the hat on, and duck

I don’t know if it was just the cumulative impact of the three HR witnesses but AM had me absolutely raging at his attitude this afternoon. Towards the end I did wonder if the penny was dropping slightly but that may be me being too generous

I want one that says 'good girls will sue' (and win)' please and thank you 🙏💐

Someone way up thread (sorry, I was skim reading) was saying that the NHS didnt like patients. For those not old enough to remember today reminded me of this

The NE party culture down the quayside is renowned!

I don’t think so. Sorry.

Front and back.

Brilliant! 😂That must be old; they both look so young!

Wilhelmina, Susan, and Winona?

I know my Dniece went to uni there!

Does it all get somewhat lively on the Big Market?

God that takes me back....I think we still have the full set on DVD somewhere although it was a family favourite back when it was aired the first time.

That is it in a nutshell thanks

Does anyone know when Rose is due to take the stand?

Perfect

I remember travelling on the last train from London to Edinburgh one evening in the company of several members of the NE bar. Their appreciation of the free drinks trolley was something else (as was how quiet the train suddenly became when they all got off at Newcastle). It was fun but I was also trying to get DD to do her English GCSE coursework and she, obviously, preferred the distraction.....

This is the kind of judge Sandie Peggie should have had, although TBF, that judge hasn't delivered his outcome yet.
What we need, instead of a series about these tribunals, is some kind of 'in the thick of it' reboot where the ministers struggle with handling gender identity BS
I'd love a Malcolm Tucker sweary rant relating to this.