Is This Unfair Dismissal?

[Theland]

My daughter, an RGN in a nursing home, gave a palliative care patient the wrong dose of the prescribed drug, at the wrong time, a purely human error that she admitted.
There were many mitigating reasons for the error, but as the Berwick Report states, mistakes should not be punished, but learned from, to adjust practices and prevent future mistakes. Blame should not be used as a management tool.
Therefore, has my daughter been unfairly dismissed?
Her appeal is today.

[naomi24]

I'd like to know what other allegations are being made against her.

[pixie373]

Theland, any changes by the GP will be written down. They are not verbally told of every change. If it wasn't written on the meds sheet, it wasn't her fault. If it was, and she didn't read it properly, then it was. The risk is irrelevant, it's the mistake that's the problem. But dismissal seems an over-reaction if that is all she has done.

[naomi24]

Pixie, Theland said ...

//the dismissal letter contained several other allegations totally unsupported by evidence. //

....so according to the employer, the one error isn't the sole reason for her dismissal.

[Theland]

Thanks anyway guys

[pixie373]

Yes, the OP seems to indicate the dismissal was due to the meds error. No sure what the other allegations are.

[Theland]

This is so slow. on firefox - going back on IE in a min

[lcg]

if the company your daughter works for follows the correct procedure for dismissal, then no, it will not be unfair dismissal. by your own admission, she gave an incorrect dose (probably because she was working from memory and did not look at the prescription chart as she should do) and also late (but there may be mitigating factors for this - not every dose can be given bang on at 10pm because it takes time). you have not been clear about the other circumstances that the employer is seeking to sack her for, so this makes it difficult to give specific advice. they could use episodes of being late for work, sickness or other transgressions in the job against her, even if other members of staff have done things - your daughter is being looked at, however, not other people. i wish her luck today, as i also have a meeting at work today which i am not looking forward to. you could certainly attend with your daughter for moral support, but not to advise her legally/employment wise as you are trained in neither area. to give the impression that you are may also be something else they could use against your daughter. regards.

[Theland]

She was told that if she resigned she would get a "glowing reference". She refused and was dismissed.
Accused of "signs" of poor record keeping, but no supporting evidence.
Accused of discrimination against manager. No supporting evidence.
Accused of breaching confidentiality. No supporting evidence.
Manager asked daughters colleague to sign a prepared statement damning my daughter, and she refused, we have ior this.

[Theland]

we have evidence for this

[Hypognosis]

I can see what the problem was. The doses were normally 12 hours apart but, as at 22:00, the late dose was only 5.25 hrs old and a fair quantity of morphine would still be present in the patient. Add the (just elevated) dose on schedule at 22:00 and there would have been a risk of overdose.

OR: - someone has to do extra calculations to account for the late-administered dose and adjust down the dose in the 22:00 injection. Merely communicating the need to do this is obviously going to be a challenge in a chaotic, understaffed workplace, during a shift handover etc.

[lcg]

ok....so they don't necessarily have any evidence that may bring your daughter's fitness to practice into question which is good. during the hearing, it would be good for you to take notes of what is said/done during the procedure and going armed with these issues clearly set out and notarised so that they get discussed properly and with clarity. the company would be incredibly stupid to discuss these issues during a dismissal hearing without any firm evidence and you could use this at a later date if necessary....it is a shame she has no formal representative. can you not call unison in your local area to see if they would attend with her as an emergency? i have done this in the past and they were brilliant. imho....no nurse should practice without being in a union for the very reason your daughter is experiencing. once the knives are out, there will be someone looking to stick it in your back. it sounds as if at least one colleague had brains and balls, which is nice.

[Hypognosis]

Being invited to resign sounds like a straight up case of constructive dismissal to me. Pity that these sort of things are done purely verbally.

And how on earth does anyone discriminate against someone who has has seniority (not to mention powers of hire and fire) over them?

I wish her luck.

[lcg]

i agree with hypno and this should definitely be explored during the meeting. remeber to impress upon your daughter to remain polite and calm during the meeting - a 'and why was i told that if i resigned i would be given a glowing reference?' will throw them right off course. remember to include dates and times/people etc. as necessary to support her argument.

[naomi24]

I agree with Hypognosis too. It sounds to me like personalities are clashing here - but having said that, the employer must surely present some evidence to the hearing in support of his allegations.

[Hypognosis]

Found a helpful webpage.

http://www.courtroomadvice.co.uk/information-about-employment-tribunal.html

(note, the 'Previous page' and 'Next Page' links at the bottom point to unrelated articles).

[Peter Pedant]

They have to follow their own rules

and also a few like the rules of natural justice. Finding guilt without evidence would be one.

However when you say there was no evidence of breach of confidentiality
do yo mean that you didnt agree with their evidence ?

also was she given a chance to answer the charges ?

I only ask as I am reading thro a GMC case historically where it is obvious that the two didnt occur in the original hospital investigation (incredibly)

[pixie373]

Has she had any verbal or written warnings yet? They are going to need to provide evidence for all of this. Certainly, the record-keeping is easy to prove/disprove.

[anneasquith]

if the nurse did not check the time, dose, patient identification with another trained member of staff, then she is at fault,sorry. but dismissed seems harsh IMO

[Twenty20]

Given that this is the third post that I've seen concerning your daughter's dismissal, perhaps you, or more importantly she, should be seeking proper legal advice rather than canvassing this site for answers?

I'm not having a go, but from what you've said about your daughter's dismissal I'd say she needs much more than the quasi legal advice you'll get on here.