"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

From TT

J We're not a public enquiry so where does this take us
NF It's 4b. The Cs case is declining to address their concerns is an act of harassment. The RP neglect is culpable as harassment [sound glitch]
J I'm concerned about going down multiple rabbit holes

It was said in previous evidence (though I’m afraid I can’t recall when and by whom) that some people withdrew their complaints because they were 'international' nurses and had concerns for their status about getting involved in a contentious issue. But whether these are the same women, I don’t know; it’s just my piecing together of bits of info. Someone please correct me if that’s wrong.

Judge: this is not a public inquiry.
Takes you straight back to Jane Russell’s chorus in Peggie.

A public inquiry is probably what we do need.

From TT

J Is this a good moment for a break?
NF Yes, was about to launch into something new so it is
J [Reminds witness about speaking rules]

SESSION ENDS

I would imagine the withdrawals may have been due to the possible threat of disciplinary action.

I think the ladies who withdrew were Indian(?) and they were worried that they might lose their visa status as well as their jobs.

The first morning session is here:

@tribunaltweets
Salam, the unroll you asked for: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1985994983862677533.html Talk to you soon.

Absolutely.

My advice if you ever have to take a colleague to an investigation meeting make sure they are a bloody good notetaker.

Every email/letter you send at work, every decision think how would this look at an ET. I have even challenged a senior manager how would you answer Q…. at an ET. It often concentrates the mind.

If only she was as interesting as the other Jane Russell.

I can’t see why the judge wants to close this down. It seems critical to the case to me. But it will give grounds for appeal .

Thanks. I don't blame them tbh.
This is outing, but I've taken an organisation to a tribunal. A group of us were going through the formal complaints process, which was fruitless. When the time came to make the jump to the ombudsman and tribunal process the group of us shrank dramatically - 'what if we lose?', 'what if it costs us more money in the end?' (the organisation in question was scare mongering). I was really surprised at how few were willing to formalise their discontent, even though it was a purely financial relationship. So I'm not surprised that so many dropped out.

Who was this about (from TT) "She says she'd rather get changed in car park than lose her job" , and where did NF find that quote?

The judge seems to have quite a one dimensional view of what the complaints were about. He seems not recognise that the nature of the process; its intimidatory and accusatory tone is part of the claimants' case?

I do wish NC was the claimants lawyer in this case, she'd quicky and effectively get to the key points.

From TT

We will shortly return for the second morning session on day 11 of evidence in the employment tribunal of Ms B Hutchison & others v County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

While there's a break. This witness comes across as nervous. In parts of her evidence her hand is permanently at her face, touching and fidgeting around her mouth and chin.

Yes, I agree. He seems to be making heavy weather at the moment.

Big Burly Pete was such a brilliant way of getting people to understand the basic problem.

I can’t say that i’d be any different. I’d be a wreck.

Email from SN withdrawing from the claim.

Me too. I miss her.

It seems a highly pertinent quote, underlining the threat the nurses felt they were receiving. Is the quote not by one of the C’s? Even so, I imagine NF’s position is it demonstrates the very real fear (threat to their jobs) the nurses would have felt because of the Trust’s stance.

Amazing.

And that's it in a nutshell. These idiots (politicians, managers etc) are putting women all over the country (or world) in a position where they are frightened to say they're frightened in case they lose their jobs.

I am also not watching the Tribunal and purely using TT because I am pasting. I think that keeps my mood fairly steady at "completely bloody outraged" rather than trashing my house in anger.

The Trust's (edited) board minutes are available online, with the most recent pertaining to May 2025. I haven't linked as they are long. The HR stuff is towards the end. On p520, under the heading of "Disciplinary", it is stated that "7 (disciplinary) cases are on hold due to other processes that are running parallel". The blurb on disciplinaries is underneath the section headed Employment Tribunals.

Home :: County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

So true.