NHS Nurse Claims Bullying and Racial Harassment After Whistleblowing

A whistleblowing nurse who suffered stress related health issues after she was allegedly intimidated into leaving her position is seeking compensation from her former employers.

Ms Bernadette Rochford was dismissed from Southwark Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), after she expressed concerns over the manner in which patients’ cases are assessed in regards to NHS funding.

Ms Rochford’s whistleblowing began shortly after she became Clinical Comm for Southwark PCT in April 2011. She soon identified a system that had no concise knowledge of exactly how many patients were receiving continuing care from the NHS.

As a result of Ms Rochford’s questions it was revealed that the NHS were still caring for patients unnecessarily, including supporting patients who had actually died. Expressing her concern, Ms Rochford said that a “best guesstimate” of the overall number of deceased patients receiving care was as high as two thirds.

Ms Rochford claims she was the victim of bullying and racial harassment once she spoke out hand that this led to her feeling she had no choice but to hand in her resignation after taking a period of sick leave caused by her experiences.

During this time of sick leave, Ms Rochford’s health was assessed by fifteen separate councillors and health professionals whom she was referred to. Each diagnosis she received concluded that she was suffering severe stress as a result of her situation.

At the tribunal earlier this month, Ms Rochford compared her experiences after whistleblowing to “walking on eggshells”, and she condemned the lack of support from the NHS as well as berating the number of technical formalities she had to endure just to get her concerns to officials.

These claims were questioned by a witness named Alison Rayman who worked as HR consultant with Ms Rochford. The witness agreed that it had “taken quite long” for the claims to be dealt with, but stated that it had taken so long “because of Rochford’s sick leave and the amount of people involved.”

Rochford’s claims of experiencing harassment and racial discrimination as a result of whisteblowing were rejected by an earlier tribunal that took place in October 2014, which led to her appealing for a second case.

Southwark CCG dispute the claimant’s assertions of little being done to assist her, explaining that all her grievances were “fully investigated at the time” and that “an independent investigation recognised that all issues were being addressed and effective systems were in place.”

This second recent tribunal lasted five days in May 2015 but ended before a ruling could be decided upon. The case has now been postponed until September 14th when it will be reviewed once more.