Mrs D Gardiner v Represented by:10 Ms J McArthur - Lay Representative The Wards Medical Practice — 2023

Mrs Gardiner worked as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner for the respondents from June 2019 until 23 November 2023. Her claim was advanced as constructive unfair dismissal based on an alleged breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, said to arise from a series of events culminating in a last-straw incident. Although the pleaded case referred to a meeting on 26 October 2023, the tribunal found that she had already decided to resign by 4 October 2023, which was supported by her email to Babylon seeking an increase in hours and referring to her notice requirements.

The tribunal preferred the respondents' evidence on the main factual disputes. In relation to Patient A, it found that the patient had been booked to see the claimant after presenting with stomach symptoms, and that the claimant had cancelled the appointment because she considered the patient might need a gynaecological examination which she was not qualified to perform. The tribunal accepted Dr Hamilton's evidence that the claimant should have seen the patient, taken a history and done what she could within her competence, with referral on if necessary. In relation to Patient B, the tribunal accepted that the normal practice was to return a refused referral to the original referrer, and it rejected the claimant's evidence that ANP referrals were more likely to be refused than GP referrals.

The tribunal held that the 3 October 2023 meeting was not a formal meeting. No sanction was attached to it, there was no basis for saying the claimant had to be advised of a right to be accompanied, and Dr Hamilton's attendance was reasonable because clinical issues were to be discussed and Ms Millar was not clinically trained. The criticism made of the claimant about booking and re-routing patients, and the follow-up email confirming the practice's position, were found to be supported by genuine concerns and not conduct without reasonable and proper cause. The tribunal also rejected the suggestion that the claimant had been told she was not a team player, found no evidential basis for differential treatment compared with other ANPs, and held that matters after 4 October 2023 were not material to the constructive dismissal analysis. It therefore concluded that the respondents had not breached the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and dismissed the claim.