"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 6

[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&7)
Thread 4, 29-Oct to 31-Oct; TA, AM (day 7) JB (day 8)
Thread 5, 31-Oct to 04-Nov; JB (day 8), SW, CG, JR (day 9)

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, NHS 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, NHS trust Head of HR
TA – Tracy Atkinson, NHS trust HR.
AM – Andrew Moore, NHS Head of Workforce Experience
JB – Jillian Bailey, NHS Workforce Experience Manager
AT – Anna Telfer, NHS Deputy Director of Nursing
SW – Sandra Watson, Matron for General and Elective Surgery
JR – Jodie Robinson, manager of Rose

And I do wonder if this relates to why so many otherwise leftwing women (including feminists) try so bewilderingly hard to accommodate gender identity, because it seems to segue into the avant-garde movements of their younger days?

It feels familiar … and any discomfort felt can’t be expressed or they risk sounding like the disapproving parents they so despise(d).

Unfortunately, we know the answer to that.

The nurses were all questioned about how they heard about him coming off hormones to try for a child with his wife.
Why was he not questioned about this too?
He would have looked much more male if he was.
( Or did I miss a part of the questioning)

I see we are back to the usual camera angles today.

It was touched on briefly. He was asked about Jane Shields' evidence.

The witness statements and evidence bundle are available in the tribunal room at the back. TT has no one on site (someone went first day as we had some concerns about whether our previous permission to report was still good). And if the statements are only 'in the room' then the only time they can be examined is while the tribunal is in session.

In Fife, the evidence bundle was in a different room and anyone who was admitted as an observer or press could go read it before the Tribunal started (remember all those delays?). This gave Maya and others time to copy out particularly interesting bits of the evidence bundle.

Thanks for sharing that@Madcats. I had seen in the Dale Henderson coverage that he was clinic manager of the dialysis unit. But it looks to me that in 2021 Diaverum retained rather than gained the contract which they'd already had for a decade or so. So DH might have been on the Darlington Hospital site when the unit was there but was employed by Diaverum not the Trust.

From TT

J Before we hear from SW, on the matter of WS requested. We dont have the facility. I'm saying this for the members of the public who have asked. We can only share via our CVP which requires someone to scroll through the document. So it isnt feasible for us to do this. We wont email

From TT

J The solicitors setting up a system hasnt been possible. Part of the problem is asking for WS now. Might have been possible to do w more notice
SC We're squarely behind practicality issue. There's also a cost implication
NF I've nothing to add.
SC We can say we've tried

J We're constrained by physical space and IT practicalities. That's the only explanation we have for that member of public.
NF There's one page of doc that SC has agreed to I want to put to SW
NF We might give it to the witness at a later moment
J Thank you. Bring in SW

J Thank you. Bring in SW

In chains?

To be tortured?

Ahh, so the person on the "HR bench" at the hearing who I couldn't recognise was Sue Williams. So that's been pretty much 4 HR or EDI people from the Trust attending the whole hearing.

😁

From TT

[SW swears on Bible]
J Take a seat please
SC Name and job title please
SW My name is Susan Jane Williams and I am HR Business Compliance Manager/Officer [sound glitchy]
SC [Correcting some page nos in SW's witness statement]

From TT

[SW affirms her WS]
NF Good morning. Have u been in the ET the whole time
SW Yes
NF Yr role and responsibilities in para2. In 23-24 u were compliance business w/in which
SW Workforce planning reporting within HR to Ms Nicholson, AT and Morgan Smith

From TT

NF In whose team
SW Reporting to TA in HR
NF Throughout 23
SW Yes, was in compliance and HR
NF Responsible for H&S
SW Yes
NF Are u aware of workforce H&S rules
SW Aware of them, yes. Didnt think wld be relevant

'Didnt think wld be relevant'...WTF!!

NB My internet may go down for about five minutes as my DH has to reboot bits of our home network. He says it might affect me.

SW Aware of them, yes. Didnt think wld be relevant

There is a bloke in a single sex space FFS

I bet they will be rushed off their feet when they return to work.

For fucks sake.

No one in HR was arsed in the slightest about health and safety.

From TT

NF This was yr 1st awareness of these issues
YEs, W Mr Brockbank another HR manager
NF Who had Lesley spoken with
SW I dont know. We track case progress. It cld just have been awareness of issue
NF Can u see the email attachment. We cant see the bottom of it

From TT

J I'm lost
NF Email from CG.
SW It cld be that one, yes
J The one at p282 from CG of 22 Feb at 9.41 corresponds to this email, correct? Looking at Alison Leybury's email to u. Did it contain the 22 Feb email from CG
SW The date and time correspond

How many HR people have we seen??

From TT

NF U seem surprised re the attachment. Was the email on 277 also sent then
SW I dont know.
NF We understand u had oversight of disclosures, D.
SW Yes, I liased w witnesses and had oversight
NF Look at the supp bundle

HR believed that workplace H&S rules weren't relevant.

Ye gods.