"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

Well she was a shit show of a witness. By the end she was so belligerent.

From TT

J Thank you everybody.

SESSION ENDS

How you diddling, now, @MyrtleLion?

I can't make out whether SW actually answered the £1m question?

I'm back on mainstream X.

Just a reminder that the Trust was careful to hand deliver letters to the 26 nurses at work that warned them of disciplinary action...then called each in for an interview without telling them that the interview was about their complaint, NOT Rose's grievance...and still didn't ask them what their problem was and certainly didn't investigate it with Rose (who, instead, was updated each time one of the nurses backed down and withdrew from the letter).

With a little kiss on the top of his - bald - head.

And too much bloody mumbling for my liking.

Second morning session posts are here:

Hello, the unroll you asked for:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1986031540485214693.html
See you soon.

My signal kept cutting/lagging.

At one point, NF was seemingly changing topic, and was asked, by NHS side? something like ‘You must ask the question’ and he replied ‘I’m going to’.

Does anyone know what that bit was about?

I have an appointment on Friday so won't be available till 1130.

Please can someone else paste from TT till then? Which may be the whole morning session.

Thank you Myrtle, now go and have a rest and a cuppa before it's time for the flu jab

Call disconnected to safe to report that watching the court clearance was just lovely. Al the nurses in the back two rows were sat back in their chairs relaxed. The two blonde ladies had broad smiles and were chatting and laughing as they left.

SW returned to her seat with an empty chair between herself and the two Andrews. AT wound up each of his headphone and laptop cables with a grimace on his face and I imagined him wanting to strangle someone with them. SW and AT took separate furtive glances at each other as they packed up and SW left first without passing more than one or two words with the two Andrews who seemed to be leaving together. Excellent scene. Would give it 5 stars on Rotten Tomatoes.

Pondering the cast for Mean Girls, the return.

I'm sure there are parts for everyone. And if I'm lucky, Andrew Moore might have worked out his collar size by then.

I had to minimise the tab and stop watching, the swinging on the seat was setting my teeth on edge. She was like a teenage girl!

My takeaway from that was that is was a total sham of an investigation, and that witness just did not care at all. What was her job position, HR compliance? If ever there was a good example as to how HR are there to protect the employer, not the employees, she's it.

Fortunately these cases are all over the press, but otherwise it does seem rather convenient for cases to be run referring in Darlington mainly to Rose, and in Fife mainly to Beth, and then these men, Rosalie Henderson and Elisabeth Upton can return to the use of their formal new names with some detachment from the shitshows they caused.

Thank you for asking ♥️

Stitches came out on Monday and I have to see the orthopaedic consultant in six weeks - for the original ankle fusion. They are pleased with progress so far.

Infectious diseases consultant should call tomorrow but I don't have an official appointment, which is irritating. I will have to go into the hospital next week for a dressing change, ECG, blood tests and a meeting in person.

I slept beautifully last night for the first time in weeks. About 6/7 hours in total with one trip to the look but straight to sleep afterwards. This made a huge difference which is why I felt able to paste today.

Other issues like feeling sick and my guts misbehaving seem under control. Maybe my body is getting used to the antibiotics. I am still fighting fatigue though, but trying to stay awake so I can sleep better.

I'm in a certain amount of pain but I have been prescribed more codeine. It's frustrating for my DH as he has to drive me while I'm on opiates. Once I'm off them, I can drive as we have an automatic car and it's my left leg that is affected.

Blimey, a new thread already. I didn't realise the tribunal was was sitting today.

Spot the bloke (and the lovely Ade, I don't mean him).

https://x.com/DarlingtonUnion/status/1986023934764953949

I felt part of this was that SC was worried that NF was hitting nails on heads and the Trust argument was looking woeful. Sort of like coughing a lot to cover anything up.

SW's full initials are SJW which gave me a smile.

I thought the question was around this issue summarised by J

J And the process was to make the Cs lives difficult and to create a hostile and intim enveronment. I'm not sure the witness understands this. U have to put this directly like u did to Rose
NF In fairness yes

Was the question put to and answered at all by the witness?

(I was watching and am still not sure, I'm afraid)

Getting a decent night’s sleep is worth its weight in gold. So, I’m pleased to hear that.

Do you feel like you’re on the mend?

It was a bit before that, but yes maybe.

As in, if you’re going there you have to outright ask the question?

Still not sure what the question was though.

My sound was really spluttering by the end

Her answer, for what it's worth, was 'absolutely not'. With much swinging on the chair.

Ade looking pretty cool there

Good length segment and very careful use of non sensical pronouns.

Amazing to think this sort of clarity and coverage would have been unthinkable even a year ago.