Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSOut of court settlement reached in case of whistleblower nurse Karen Reissmann
A nurse who claimed unfair dismissal after she was sacked by an NHS trust for speaking out about her fears over privatisation has agreed to an out-of-court settlement.
Karen Reissmann from Hulme, Manchester, claimed she was dismissed unlawfully by Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, which sacked her for gross misconduct.
Ms Reissmann, a community psychiatric nurse with more than 25 years of experience, had taken her case against the trust to an employment tribunal, but both parties reached an agreement midway through the hearing.
Ms Reissmann was suspended in June 2007 after an interview she gave to a trade magazine criticised the transfer of NHS services to the voluntary sector.
Following the statement she was found guilty by the trust of gross misconduct and sacked in November 2007, prompting a month-long strike by colleagues.
Announcing settlement of the case, Paul Gilroy QC, representing the trust, said: ‘The parties are satisfied that the dispute has been resolved and the Employment Tribunal procedures are at an end by agreement being reached.’
No details of the private agreement have been revealed, but Ms Reissmann will not be returning to work at the trust.
Related article on nursingtimes.net: Sacked nurse fights for her job
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Readers' comments (1)
George Kuchanny | 17-Apr-2009 4:05 pm
This kind of victimisation of people in a freedom of speech democracy is disgraceful - more so in the cases of Karen Reissmann and Margaret Haywood. We, the public lose two nurses who are clearly committed to their jobs and the people they are entrusted with caring for while a convicterd murderer already in prison for killing patients has yet to be struck off by the NMC. Exactly what is going on? What is the taxpayer getting out of this?
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