It was Thursday evening, 8pm and the link worker and I finally left the clients house because I now felt satisfied the baby would come to no harm, having consulted with various agencies. (We usually finish work at 5pm. The link worker was excellent.) Next morning I phoned one of our child protection advisers to tell her what had been happening. She gave her approval and congratulated me on my actions.
Later that afternoon, the specialist adviser for health visitors phoned and asked to speak to me on my own. The nursing auxiliary left the room and then the adviser told me there were queries about my involvement with a particular family and that it was not appropriate for me to remain at work. I would hear the nature of the allegations being made as soon as possible. I was so shocked I have a vague memory of thanking her. The auxiliary came back into the room. When I told her what had happened she went white and sat down shocked and in disbelief. She was very concerned for my safety driving home and when I declined to have her drive me, followed me part way home to make sure I was alright. The worst way of letting someone know they have been suspended must be by letter. The next to worst way must be on a Friday afternoon by phone! All weekend to stew over it. Shock, anger, shame. The emotions are endless. I eventually received an apology from the organisation for this but never from the person herself. We had previously been on good terms and as a manager, this person had been excellent at giving personal support to her staff.
However I had been involved in several new initiatives which had needed her action and which added to her impossible workload. She had become distant in her relationship for the last couple of years. I believe her personal feelings clouded her professional judgement. I received a letter detailing four allegations against me. Investigatory meeting was held five days later by the person making the allegations! My complaint about her lack of impartiality was ignored! Human resources manager firmly on her side to support her. A number of assertions made at the meeting by her were later found to be untrue.
Outcome of meeting – the director of primary care decided one allegation should stand and I should face a disciplinary hearing.
The trust produced a piece of evidence from a police inspector, the evening prior to the hearing preventing time for a considered response. (I already had a police witness statement refuting this beyond doubt but the copy of the fax threw my union rep. I had to raise it myself in my defence.) Moreover a solicitor who saw the fax at a subsequent date, immediately spotted that the copy of the fax of entries to a police log were out of date order to support the investigation manager’s evidence. The investigation manager had already written a note on a hospital document claiming that an event had taken place that had not and for which she had no evidence. In other words, there were dodgy goings on! Why? I will never know. The chair of the disciplinary hearing and the independent witness did not read my lengthy defence prior to the hearing due to a failure of their human resources department to provide them with the document. At the hearing, the investigation manager argued for an hour that I should face all four allegations. She finally accepted that I should face two of them. The union regional officer conceded this for fear we should never proceed. Again the investigation manager presented inaccuracies in her case. Meanings of words are critical. She cannot be woken can mean she was unconscious/drunk or she has been up every night this week and now it is my turn. Leave her alone. What different conclusions may then be drawn. And how tired we all were and how adversarial it all was that no-one spotted the glaring evidence against the first interpretation. The accused stands guilty and has to prove their innocence in the present situation. I was asked about the size of my caseload. I had regularly covered a colleagues caseload for lengthy periods of absence (six months at one time) and helped out with others. It was already a heavy caseload but these were normal for that organisation and area. I said nothing! The union rep was making out a strong case. Then I was asked if this situation was a course for concern. Of course. There was a big sigh from the rep and joy from the investigation manager. I had taken special care for several years to see that all was OK. I would have been negligent not to have done so. I still find myself thinking about all this some years later! The hearing lasted six hours. The chair phoned later to say no further disciplinary action was to be taken but I was to undertake some further training. What an insult. I felt like giving up. The letter gave no verdict on the allegations brought against me. If I had acted inappropriately, what would have been the appropriate action? It also included an error of fact, a measure of the inadequacies (understatement) of the hearing.
My husband and children were very, very angry about the whole thing and the distress they had witnessed. They could not believe the lack of loyalty from my employers when they knew how hard I had worked for the good of clients. One of them wrote to the chairman of the organisation to complain. In his reply the chairman stated that I had been cleared of professional shortcomings. Hurray! Their letter did not spell that out to me.
As there had been no disciplinary action taken, I was unable to appeal. Injustice is one of the hardest things to live with. My colleagues were incensed
by what had happened (I had been able to keep in touch through my union branch) and did not doubt my ability to practice. Their belief in me was
precious. My GP who was very supportive throughout, and who had known other patients in similar situations, pointed out that the opinion of my
colleagues, who worked with me and who knew my work, was the opinion that really mattered. I had received a constant flow of cards and flowers of
support. It was amazing. To my surprise, I was unable to physically go into the management block after my return to work. When my line manager (who had been bypassed in the suspension and who had nothing to do with the process) left me a phone
message to get in touch with her, I started to shake and my colleagues had to calm me before I dared to call back. I asked her never to leave a message without also saying what she wanted to speak with me about. She sounded surprised but agreed to do it. (I had never been off sick in eight years until these events took place. I had never been of a nervous disposition either.) I had already been planning to work nearer home and was able to leave three weeks after my return to work. I was fortunate to be given a good reference and the new organisation was willing to trust their own judgement and give me a chance. My colleagues gave me a fantastic send off but of course, no managers were invited! What a sad way to end my work with them.