"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 7

[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)
Thread 6, 04-Nov to 05-Nov; RH (day 10), SW (day 11)

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

I think so

This is a great article.

I love how coherent Sharron and Fiona are in comparison to the whittery that goes before

The gardening for the nurses is going very slowly. In one way it's surprising, but £ is tight, and there are so many gardens to be tended to this year. Also, there has been woefully little publicity about this case so far.
I can't watch the submissions, it's pesky job time, so looking forward to the fabulous updates from you all in the evening.

I think it's partly to do with who's backing them. I've donated to a few of these cases over the years, but I don't want my money going towards Christian Concern.

It's not. It's Crowd Justice Funding.

If you look on the page the money is going to the Lawyers who are representing the nurses:
Lawyers: Andrew Storch Solicitors

And the solicitors will use it to pay the barrister and the court fees, as well as their own bill.

Please RT.

They need £43K to reach their initial target of £50K within 22 days.

If they don’t reach that target then all donations will be returned.

x.com/POWLizPanton/status/1988043314935791881

I may not be online by 10am tomorrow, so here's the reminder for the last time:

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.

I'd be grateful if you didn't get too enthusiastic and fill the thread up between now and then. As always, the next thread is cued up and ready to go.

It's CrowdJustice, not GoFundMe. The money goes straight to the lawyers, not the nurses or CC. I don't like CC either, but am happy to donate via CrowdJustice to the nurses' case.

Here is the Archive version https://archive.ph/par1J

Good luck with the appointment @MyrtleLion hope everything goes to plan.

I should be able to C&P Tribunal Tweets this morning, internet gods permitting.

What do I need to google to donate please?

I also don’t like Christian Concern, despite being Christian. However, as is often the way, we take support where we can find it and I’m pleased they have supported the nurses in this case.

Found it! Thanks all. Sorry for the dopey question.

Gardened! Thank you for the reminders vipers!

I wouldnt donate when Christian Concern were asking for donations on their own website but crowdjustice money can only be paid to the solicitors.

TT

Evidence is completed in B Hutchison and others vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. We will be live tweeting submissions starting today, Tuesday 11 November, from 10 am.

I also donated because the money's going to the solicitors direct, despite not liking CC at all. It's a pity that they also don't seem to have anyone involved who has experience with crowd-funded litigation - setting the initial target so high, with the risk that pledged money gets returned, seems like a rookie error (unless, that is, they do have a promise in the background from someone to top up at the last minute if necessary - but somehow I don't see JKR being willing to be that involved with CC, so even if she did it, I doubt she'd have agreed to it in advance). If it is returned, I wonder whether it works to send the returned money to Andrew Storch Solicitors as an individual donation? I'd be interested in knowing who loses out if they don't reach the target...if it's CC on the hook I'd happily leave them there, if it's the nurses personally I wouldn't, if it's Andrew Storch I might google them and see what their track record is like! I'm getting ahead of where we are though.

.

TT

Waiting for session to start

TT

Submissions start
J 1130 pages!
SC starts. As indicated, oral first then questions. I want to begin p 2 period covered by claim. I find it surprising it is said ‘the tribunal should take evidence pre and post. The claimants added. May 2025 agreed. Amend to add - not absurd to amend.

TT

Any references to alleged after May 2021 . Therefore SC FWS is not relevant. It does mean substantive parts of the claimants submission are not relevant.

TT

2nd main point. The PCPs themselves and our response on what is said about individual disadvantage. P 21.

The SC confirmed that it was always the law so it would be relevant.

TT

Women are more likely to experience sex based harassment esp being compelled to undress.
J the disadvantage is the last part B 1 , 27. Reflected in the issues.
NF page 208
J is it the last part - fear distress and humiliation?
Yes.

TT

SC draw your attention also to individual disadvantage which corresponds to group disadvantage (fear distress etc)