The nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, and who had a nursing career spanning 25 years, suffered a brain haemorrhage in December 2016 requiring him to take a 17-month period of absence.
The nurse returned to work in May 2018, however, his colleagues reported to him that he was missing things. As a result, he had no choice but to go off sick in October 2019 while his GP investigated his memory loss.
He returned to work in February 2020 and, supported by his RCN rep, presented his employer with an Access to Work report, detailing the reasonable adjustments the employer was obliged to provide under the Equality Act.
However, despite being presented with a report and reminded of its obligations under the Equality Act, the employer only began supporting the nurse with some of the adjustments in August 2020, with the further adjustments not introduced until December 2020, some 10 months after he returned to work.
The nurse said: ‘I returned to my nursing duties but wasn't office-based. Instead, I was initially placed in one of our hubs. I had developed coping strategies. My anxiety levels at that time were manageable and easing.
‘However, I was then returned to working in the community and it took months for the agreed adjustments, such as laptop memory aids and a recorder you speak into which then prints what you say, to arrive.
‘I believe the onus had been put on me to chase provision of the equipment. When it was provided, I didn't receive training on how to use the equipment, which would support me in my role, and which would ultimately ensure safe and effective care for patients.'
On numerous occasions the nurse was left alone with more patients than he was able to care for.
‘Every time I asked for assistance, I was told there was no one and was often left alone when I should have been supported by another registered nurse. I was left in dangerous situations, with multiple patients to care for, and even though I reported these, they were not acted upon,' he said.
As well as not providing the necessary equipment, the tribunal also determined that the employer caused him to suffer a mental health crisis in April 2021 by failing to remove him from the case load holder/coordinator duties, despite having agreed to do so.
The tribunal concluded that this failure to abide by the agreed reasonable adjustments led to further harm and his eventual and non-recoverable absence from work.
The trust was ordered to pay just over £200,000, which accounts for injury to feelings, personal injury, past loss of earnings, potential loss of earnings, pension payments, the cost of previous care he has received as a result and the potential costs of his ongoing care.
Ferguson Doyle, senior legal officer for the Royal College of Nursing in the North West, who supported the case, said: ‘While this was a complex case for many reasons, I could see that the member had been put into a position where not only had he been forced into deciding to retire, but he was also continuing to suffer with his health because of his treatment at work. It was impacting his life, and I felt that we had strong grounds to pursue his case for disability discrimination against the trust.
‘We had to prove that he suffered an injury distinct from his brain injury because of the Trust's failure to make reasonable adjustments.'
In response, a Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman offered the nurse a further apology.
He added: ‘The trust is committed to learning and has since developed a reasonable adjustments training package, delivered training to managers, reviewed our policies and processes and are currently developing a role to support processes for access to work applications and implementation.'
