Nurse sacked for 'whistleblowing' awarded £15,000

A nurse who was sacked after raising the alarm about the way residents were treated at a care home has been awarded £15,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.

The nurse became concerned about the administration of medicines at the care home and feared that elderly residents were being abused by staff.

She told an employment tribunal that in one incident, a resident who refused medication was punished by being left out in the hot sunshine and threatened with having water poured over his head.

When the nurse raised her concerns with the management of the care home, she was dismissed.

She took her case to an employment tribunal which ruled that she had raised her concerns in good faith and that the care home had been unreasonable when it dismissed her. It awarded her £15,000 in compensation.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing said: “It is vital that employers allow nurses to raise concerns without retribution. Otherwise poor practice can just continue unchecked.”

Please contact Paul Stevens if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of employment law.