"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

These admissions are absolutely shocking and make a mockery of anything the Trust has put forward.

Imagine being SC trying to discredit the nurses when these are uncontested events and statements.

They're trying to defend the completely indefensible

Independent is not the same as impartial, neutral or unbiased.

Ref the scissor swinging - if this is uncontested and the Trust received the reports a year or more ago...why is Rose still working with unconscious people?

If it is uncontested that Rose questioned a pregnant staff member about her breasts and commented on her size, why and how can the Trust say that nurses were not subject to harassment?

RH then asked her: ‘Have you got those large pregnancy breasts?’

I can't imagine any women would say this to another woman, even friends, it really is shocking.

How is it that this is still going on at all after the high court ruling?

Is it what men who want to be women think that women say though? Just like they routinely say us nasty Mumsnet women are just jealous cos they're prettier than us? To which I say 'should have gone to Specsavers' and frankly, my main goal is not to be pretty.

This is a senior nursing figure from the Trust. Why are they even trying to defend anything?

My theory is that they don't dare look at revising the Transitioning at Work Policy or do anything that might be construed as "excluding" Rose because they are afraid of:

a) being dragged through an Employment Tribunal (that worked well!)
b) massive backlash from the Trade Unions for "institutional transphobia"
c) calls for resignation of CEO and Chair in the local press, by MPs in Parliament, etc. and threats of industrial action
d) "peaceful protests" by local TRAs, death threats, etc.
e) being on the naughty step with the Integrated Care Board, ie. the commissioner that funds them

If I am right then holding out to the bitter end is a win-win situation for them.

If they win at the ET then they are heroes for standing up to a bunch of TERF bigots who conspired to traduce Rose and undermine the lovely, inclusive Trust policies.

If they lose and are forced to recognise that women have human rights then they can hold up their hands and say, "The Employment Tribunal made us do it" 🤷‍♀️

Interesting tweet from CLC ref the Associate Director of Nursing avoiding giving evidence even though it was her who did not sign off on making the alternative changing facilities fire regs compliant:

x.com/cconcern/status/1985303055756112066?s=46

Can't help thinking the union's role in all this hasn't been fully explored.

I wonder if the report writer got full fees for a report that the Trust have been so scathing of?

More public money being spaffed up the wall

Also on a press release 😳🤬:

Jillian Bailey, Workforce Experience Manager at the Trust and former Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) lead

In an email dated 28 September 2023, Bailey wrote:

“Essentially when weighing up the risks in this situation on one hand we have risking upsetting Rose which potentially could be illegal discrimination whereas the other staff that have complained the risk is for them feeling uncomfortable. Therefore on this basis I would recommend going back to the people that have complained and explaining that as an organisation we understand they may feel uncomfortable with the situation however we respect Rose’s right to identify as female and her choice to use the facilities that match her gender. You may wish to point out what other options are open to them to use such as the cubicles if they feel they want to have more privacy.”

Hope Noel Scanlon‘s Christmas stocking contains a nice high quality tshirt with

I TOLD YOU SO

printed on it. Or even better embroidered.

Helen Coppock's Twitter (X! It's called X now!!) Banner.

Happy International Nurses Day poster - with obligatory rainbow!

https://x.com/HelenCoppock/header_photo

@POWNewcastleEastWallsend I think the rainbow will be for the NHS (from Covid times)?

I had forgotten about that 👍

Good spot! I bet that was an awkward car ride.

Interesting to see that the matron, who is the most senior staff member and who was very critical about the CR policy and investigation process, sits in the front. RH and theatre manager are relegated to the back.

Agree!

Sadly this is not "a roving public inquiry" (we definitely need one though)

I'm not sure that's an email that's going to age particularly well.

She was so nearly there, she grasped that there were legalities at play....

Oh my God, the pregnancy, breast and scissor thing??

Do the Trust and Henderson know that this is all going to come out? What the bloody hell are they thinking?

And if it's uncontested, it means that the Trust agrees? So there must be proof? Evidence?

One would've thought it would be witnesses, but the woman in question said she was alone with Henderson.

So has he admitted it? Because he doesn't realise how awful it is?

God, I'm so shocked.

I don't think there's a woman alive who would be watching this ET and not thinking he's guilty of it all, but for fuck's sake it's so much worse.

Thank you! My mistake. Managed to access it now.

I'm not taking back my snide remark about them though 😂

Ikr

Therefore on this basis I would recommend going back to the people that have complained and explaining that as an organisation we understand they may feel uncomfortable...

... with half naked men asking them about the size of their breasts in their own changing room, ffs.

I thought Sandra Watson, Theatre Matron too. The Judge had mentioned that the Darlington witnesses were travelling together, I just hadn't realised how many were present each day.

the saviour complex is strong with this one.

Embroiderers of Mumsnet should be comissioned to get on the job!