Hospital Whistleblower Awarded £230,000 In Compensation

An employment tribunal has ruled that a whistleblower will receive a massive payout of £230,000 in compensation.

Clare Sardari, 57, a former nurse at Torbay Hospital, claimed her boss Dr Paula Vasco-Knight, CBE, had shown ‘nepotism and favouritism’ in the workplace by promoting a member of her own family.

Ms Sardari was said to have experienced bullying and intimidation after she revealed that Dr Vasco-Knight has appointed the boyfriend of her own daughter to be the new quality and diversity manager at Torbay hospital without him reaching the position through a fair selection process.

Ms Sardari made the claim alongside colleague, Penny Gates, 53. The women took their concerns to senior colleague, Adrienne Murphy, who responded that they would lose their jobs ‘through dirty means’ should they continue questioning Dr Vasco-Knight’s actions. This reply was said to have left them feeling ‘bullied, threatened and intimidated’.

The tribunal in Exeter ruled that Dr Vasco-Knight had treated both whistleblowers with scorn for their claim, leading them to suffer detriment as a result. Dr Vasco-Knight was also exposed as having deliberately tried to prevent the release of documents showing evidence of her wrongdoing. She denied the claims but then suddenly resigned her position at the hospital shortly afterwards.

At the tribunal Dr Vasco-Knight said that the whisteblowing actions of her former colleagues constituted a personal attack on her rather than an action intended to correct a genuine wrong, saying “on a personal level I found the allegations as nothing less than personal slander and I wonder if a white middle-class male chief executive officer would have been treated with such disrespect.”

The tribunal ruling

Tribunal judge Nick Roper ruled that Ms Saradi will receive £228,000 in compensation, which includes her back pay and pension benefits along with legal costs and agreed damages. Ms Sardari’s former employers at South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which Dr Vasco-Knight was chief executive of before her resignation, will pay the full compensation costs.

Making the ruling, tribunal judge Nick Roper said:

“We find that there was a concerted effort by the South Devon Healthcare Trust to manipulate the investigation, accuse the claimants of malice, suppress the report and to mislead the other parties as to its contents, with the apparent aim of protecting Dr Vasco-Knight and Mrs Murphy against the force of the claimant’s allegations […] This was completely contrary to the protection which they should have been offered under the Whistle Blowing guidelines.”

Referencing Ms Dr Vasco Knight’s achievements during her time with South Devon Healthcare, a spokesperson for the Trust released a statement saying ‘considerable success was achieved during her tenure. It is unfortunate her achievements have been overshadowed by the tribunal judgement’.

Miss Sardari was visibly moved by the ruling and left the tribunal refusing to comment. The second whistleblower, Mrs Gates, has returned to work at Torbay hospital under a separate settlement.