I feel driven to make a post on All Nurses, mainly to off load, hopefully for advice.--even a bit of sympathy woudl be nice! I am now retired but I was dismissed on sick grounds "stress" ( following a collapse ) because a patient's relative had written a highly vindictive and I might say completley nonseniical letter about a visit I did with a Nursing assisitant colleague overnight two years ago. She said we looked untidy and tired--it was a windy morming and we had just done 9 hours nonstop and then went on with a long list of things we didnt do--(the patient was sleeping peacfully, (after checking her and discussing options with this very hostile and un-communcative family) thankfully the patient did not die or I think i would have been arrested as Nurse Shipman! To cut a long story short I was made to go on days for "support and mentorhip" though I had been senior nurse on nights for 6 years, but when I got on days I was left to my own devises despite all the calumny about my uncaring incapability and untidiness--the sister at the practise where I went--bearing in mind I was supposed to be the local Sairy Gamp--knew nothing of my dreadful reputation and wrote that I was an excellent member of their team, which if I say it myself, I have always had high standards and given my heart and soul to my job. I am deeply distressed at the case which ahs been made against me, which, after two years of battling on my own with no useful input from the RCN . It seems my NA colleague had a further interview and seems to have struck a deal, and was afterwards said not to be my partner in crime after all, she was left on nights!
I am truly shattered, though I suppose in the scheme of things its not in the Amanda Jenkinsin league, but goes to show a frighteneing lack of support for practioners --in fact I was told "I hadnt a leg to stand on" because the complaint was about a terminally ill patient. I am a member of Julie FaGAN'S CAUSE which has been highly supportive, but it seems as a profession we are terribly at risk from allegations which can destroy your life and career. Thank goodness I am retired, or to be specific, dismissed from a profession I once loved but now would not advise anyone to get involved with.
Too true! I had an incident where I was written up for clocking errors and for "unproffessional behavior" because I had written stupid jokes about myself for forgetting to clock in/out. The punishment was way over the top unreasonable so I filed a grievance. Long story short, They reduced it to a first warning from a final warning (yes it was the first and only one) and dropped the unproffessional part (after all my manager signs those things evrry time I fill one out, why would they let me do it for over a year if they didn't like it?). Stupid thing though, my DON sat there and told me their policy on clocking errors is unclear (never states how many is too many) and even wrote that on the revised write up but still wrote me up! how stupid is that!
Hi again Fronky---sorry to hear it happens to other people also, I am glad I am retired! I would not like to be working in such an arena any more knowing I had"not as leg to stand on" and anyone in the world, especially if it involved a terminally ill patient, could say what they likled about me and I would be assumed guilty--if I didnt "repent" and "learn" anyway.
The stupid thing was I went along with their idiotic plan to be mentored and "supported" for my"bad" attitude, but the sister where I went knew nohting about getting a Sairy Gamp in the Camp isntead of the Lady with the Lamp--haha just thought of that!!!!! but I ws allowed to roam round freely visiting, so could have been doing the "same" on days as I ws supposed to be doing on nights,like rushing in and out of my patients and not giving everyone I wene into a bed-bath( what mad nursing tv had they been watching?) I call it Bed-bath-gate!
Good job I saw the funny side--not that it was really funny at all, but I could have gone the other way and slit my throat!
It's good you could get past it. Are you still involved in the nursing community now that you are retired? You could be such an encouragement to young nurses going through difficulties. I'd love to hear more about nsg in Eng. PM me if you feel like it.
"You haven't a leg to stand on, " I was told by my manager late in September 2005 when a patient's relative put in a complaint about me. "The patient was terminally ill. No-one will listen to your side of things. " Another impertinent and inexperienced manager suggested "nipping me in the bud" (!) though I was near retirement age, and had been working, un-nipped, in the area for over twenty years without any ill effect on my patients !
Fortunately I had only been accused of not giving a bed-bath ( among a few other petty matters) and not murdering anyone, otherwise I would probably be behind bars by now! As was Amanda Jenkinson, wrongly accused on flimsy evidence and tittle tattle, of interfering with a patient's oxygen supply and causing the patient's death !
This is indeed a frightening stance for the nursing profession to take and thankfully I am now retired, as I would no longer be happy to practise my profession as district nurse knowing that my employers would be happy to allow any member of the public accuse me of anything they so wished .
For the past two years I have fought a lonely battle. Despite having the so-called support of my union, the Royal College, my case has never been resolved and I was left to get to the bottom of the matter myself. The complaint was, even though admittedly written by a bereaved relative a vicious and untrue calumny. It attacked me at a personal level for basically not waving a magic wand over the situation at the complainant's home when I, and a nursing auxiliary colleague answered the family's request for a visit. Here is not the place to plough through that debacle. I gave a detailed response to my managers and was immediately censured by them for "writing too much." As a result they decided that I needed to come off night duty and onto days for "support and mentorship." My Union Representative advised me to do so on the grounds that it was management's "Duty of Care ", therefore I agreed to to transfer but only on the grounds that I did not agree with the complaint and that I would not return to nights as I had been undermined. In the event I went off with "stress" as my health had been compromised by the upset by a recurrence of supra-ventricular tachycardia, which had been stabilised for the past fifteen years.
When I returned to work to do the three months mentorship I found I was left to my own devises visiting patients. As the letter had said that I was not fit to be let loose on the public and did not know how to perform any basic nursing tasks, and I was supposedly going to be shown what to do after forty years in the nursing profession, I asked matron what was going on. She said there was nothing wrong with my practise, which I already knew of course, so I went on to ask why I was on days being mentored. She replied that it was because of the complaint, where-upon I said , again, that I refused to be mentored on the basis of the complaint as it was a lot of nonsense, and the family had only decided to blame me for their mother going into hospital as none of them wished to be held responsible for this themselves (as they had promised the patient that she could die at home.) Matron said that the family could not be cross examined as all sympathy would be with them, and I had not got a leg to stand on !
Ultimately I left the profession, though thankfully I was already at retirement age so my career has not been destroyed as it otherwise probably would have been. Nevertheless I am still seeking answers from the Trust as to why I was treated in this way, as no other members of the out-of-hoursnursing team has ever been sent onto days for mentorship following a complaint or clinical incident. I ultimately found out that I was not penitent enough, and that by standing up for my professional reputation with some vigour, I was deemed to have got above my station. My nursing auxiliary was "knobbled " in that she altered her version of events, which originally echoed my account, and coincided with management and the complainant, thereby getting herself "off the hook." These managers knew absolutely nothing about me or my job and have a stereotyped image of a district nurse's role, imagining that all we do is to give a patient a bed bath as soon as we walk through the door and that solves everything ! They chose the path or moral cowardice, showing no common sence or discernment by agreeing with the lies which were told about me, --as it was the easiest solution--- without taking into account my reputation,my record, my word and the written letter of support from my former line manager who worked with me on the service for six years.
Hi Sister, nice to hear from you again. Sounds like you not only have a leg but two fists too! Any chance there is something somewhere in the chart written by your collegue that would back your story up? I'm thinking a civil suit against your employer for defamation of character. I don't know if you could supeona the records since they belong to a pt. but wouldn't it be sweet to make your former employer pay up for not backing you and taking the chicken's way out. Good luck in your retirement.
I managed to get the NA's original report which tallied with mine--as we were both telling the truth! But by tracking these other reports down and asking my NA--who was decidely unhappy after all this time--I discovered she had been seen by management again on her own and stated that she complainant had "legitimate" grounds and that she had "learned" from the experience--what she had learned wasnt specified!!!!!!!!! After being confronted with thsi, it ex[lained to me why she hadnt received the same treatment as I had--all the fuss which in the end wasnt followed up anyway. But managers can say black is white and get away with it and my union reps obviously didnt do their jobs right --i think they were in league. These reports the managers wrote are laughable really, from young office girls who know knowt!!!I have now put in for personal injury but dont expect any hope of justice, so I am just telling the story here and there, thinsg have been in my local press which upsets them! Luckily I was ready to retire or someones career and life could have been ruined. See also my thread on animals! I have a message board also but arent allowed to put the link on here,
Thanks St Neoster--I wondered if that ws part of it, as my sister who is an experienced teacher--and some of her colelagues--got told by an impertinent outsider with no experience that they could not teach adn theyw ere all elbowed out by this new headmistress on that sort of pressure. I am doing quite well with the local press, I think the entire story will emerge eventaully--they are a bit cautious but I have loads of letters in about related issues. What made me laugh ws this young jobsworth manager writing a report about me saying I needed "nipping in the bud "--I was on the point of retiring so that had left their "nipping" a bit late. As I said anyway, nobody did anything to "nip " me anyway when I went along with their barmy plan of support!
Any chance there is something somewhere in the chart written by your collegue that would back your story up? I'm thinking a civil suit against your employer for defamation of character. I don't know if you could supeona the records since they belong to a pt. but wouldn't it be sweet to make your former employer pay up for not backing you and taking the chicken's way out. Good luck in your retirement.
fronkey bean
491 Posts
Too true! I had an incident where I was written up for clocking errors and for "unproffessional behavior" because I had written stupid jokes about myself for forgetting to clock in/out. The punishment was way over the top unreasonable so I filed a grievance. Long story short, They reduced it to a first warning from a final warning (yes it was the first and only one) and dropped the unproffessional part (after all my manager signs those things evrry time I fill one out, why would they let me do it for over a year if they didn't like it?). Stupid thing though, my DON sat there and told me their policy on clocking errors is unclear (never states how many is too many) and even wrote that on the revised write up but still wrote me up!
how stupid is that!