Mrs J Williams v Ace Medical Services Ltd — 2025

Mrs J Williams was employed by Ace Medical Services Ltd as a trainee nurse associate on a two-year apprenticeship. The tribunal found that clinical concerns arose in July and August 2023, including concerns that she was acting above her competence, and that the respondent held a meeting on 22 August 2023, arranged an assessment visit on 6 September 2023, and held a further meeting on 19 September 2023 to discuss rota, learning needs and continuing concerns about patient safety and her response to feedback.

The tribunal accepted that, at the 19 September 2023 meeting, the claimant raised concern that she had not been taken through the Care Certificate framework and said she believed the Care Certificate was a legal requirement. It found that this was a disclosure of information under s.43B ERA 1996, but it was not made in the public interest. The tribunal found that she was focused on her own apprenticeship, training record and possible future bank work, and that she did not have patient safety in mind. It also found that her belief that the Care Certificate was a legal requirement was not reasonable in context, noting that she was employed as a trainee nurse associate, had completed the relevant core training in February 2023, and the apprenticeship agreement made no reference to a Care Certificate.

The tribunal found that the decision on 22 September 2023 to end the apprenticeship and employment was driven by genuine concerns about clinical incidents, the claimant's understanding of her responsibilities as an adult learner, and the risk of her working outside her competence. It found that the protected disclosure played no part in the review, the termination decision, or the decision to escort her from the premises, and that escorting her out was the respondent's usual practice. Both the detriment complaint and the automatic unfair dismissal complaint were therefore dismissed.