"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.

Does anyone think that the respondents barrister has been noticeably less aggressive this week? - last week he was calling the claimants liars and trouble-makers. I'm wondering if this didn't go down to well as he's toned it down a bit this week - especially embarrassing given the HR lies and obfuscation we have heard in the last couple of days.

I must say it is nice to follow an ET without Jane Russell's constant theatrics and disruptions - although I'm not sure this judge would stand for it

I find it hilarious that an HR department that couldn't decide whether a complaint was a complaint, or whether concerns were concerning - actually have a "Talent Manager" in the HR team 😂

The NHS was awash with money in the early - mid 2000s, with no accountability for what was done with the money. I remember a colleague being made redundant, receiving a huge pay off, then starting back in the same role the following week as a consultant on an even bigger salary.

Our NHS organisation had an away day. At a vineyard.

Amy went from placing less than 3 people per month at the NHS in the 90's to more than 30 in some months in the 2000's

Reading along, highlights seem to be that the judge would be 100x more fun to socialise with than the HR 'non-expert experts' who struggle to dress themselves.
Plus some good ideas for Tshirts or adaptable for stickers.

I thought there may be some interesting discoveries, reflection for lessons to be learnt or something. Maybe even some flashes of reality that this is all about Tyler in holey underwear watching women undress in plain sight of his management.

Workplace Experience Manager? Well I guess we'll find out what that means tomorrow. www.linkedin.com/in/jillian-bailey-93992455/?originalSubdomain=uk

I keep reading workplace experience as work experience, which does tie in with the sulky-teen vibe.

I would suggest it’s safe to assume that the HR directorate is a charisma free zone.

I would suggest it is safe to assume that this level of utter incomprehensible wafflery is going on in pretty much every single organisation that brought in self ID under the guise of 'inclusion' across the globe.

What a colossal waste of time, effort and money.

Graham Linehan or Ricky Gervais could write the best satirical sitcom based on these fools.

J given your seniority how you came to be appointed as a welfare officer?

AM I was brought on after a press release re Rose

"How on Earth did you manage to get this job? You're useless and know very little, isn't that the case?"

Bruce Bowman's summary (above) really nails it. I loved his description of Andrew Thatcher as "a man cornered by his own paperwork"😀 Can't wait to see his summary of Andrew Moore.

I wonder how the fragrant Rose is feeling, watching his discrimination case sinking into the mire...🤔

I agree, didn't Judge Tayler (?) of the first round of Forstater get applause on here for knowing that TERF was a slur, and then went on to find that sex realism wasn't WORIADS? I think we can enjoy the judge's interventions but should be really wary of assuming that means anything about his actual views.

I read that as ‘work experience’ managers and they do give the impression that they have that level of responsibility.

It means that was when he was appointed as a welfare officer for Rose specifically, not appointed to the job as a whole.

That's apparent but just comes from the structure of the case. Last week was evidence of the claimants being tested and this week is evidence of the respondents being tested. You could flip this around with NF being noticeably less aggressive last week.

The difference I see is that SC is sensible enough to know that when a respondent's witness gets themself into a total mess, he doesn't go charging in like some counsel would do in a foolish attempt to rescue them.

Interesting. Have we found out who was appointed as a welfare officer for the nurses, or is that a silly question?

Isn't the Guardian coverage of this amazing? Either it's not there or it's incredibly well hidden. Previously, I thought that was because Scotland is outside the M25 so reporters might be attacked by dragons if they travelled there. Then I started thinking how triggered they might be and did not laugh.

Sniggering nastil counts as not laughing, doesn't it?

I looked for coverage in the Guardian too, couldn’t find it. They pride themselves on their fearless reporting . The cognitive dissonance must be twisting their guts.

@SelfPortraitWithKetchup what is WORIADS?

Worthy of respect in a democratic society.

A belief must be WORIADS in order for it to be protected under the Equality Act

Worthy Of Respect In A Democratic Society

I have been lurking on here for a while, following mostly all the gender related stuff and I have to say, you ladies are magnificent. I am a bloke in my senior years and this case, plus the Sandie Peggie one, just shows how ridiculous this whole gender ideology is. The amount of obfuscation in this tribunal is so far off the scale, that it would have been helpful, if all the witnesses defending Darlington's action, had been asked to provide their precise job descriptions prior to the tribunal taking place, because I don't have a clue what anyone does, or what they are responsible for. To this point, it would seem that every witness is trying to throw someone else under the bus. They all remind me of Manuel in Fawlty Towers - "I know nothing".

Thanks @spannasaurus and @Redshoeblueshoe

Me too!