A nurse who feels she was bullied into quitting her job at the north-east’s flagship hospital claims she was the subject of a “witch hunt”.
Anne Croft is suing NHS Grampian for loss of earnings after claiming she was forced into leaving her post at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI). She has not been able to find employment as a nurse since.
She alleges her countless concerns about cleanliness in operating theatres were repeatedly “trivialised” by management and surgeons.
And over the course of 18 months, the nurse – who has almost 40 years’ experience – says she submitted countless forms highlighting her issues.
But the surgeons blamed her “scrupulous” nature for delaying operations and wrote to her managers claiming she would not be welcomed back into their theatres.
Mrs Croft was eventually signed off with work-related stress, and claims she was not supported by her management team when she tried to return to work.
During the third day of her employment tribunal hearing in Aberdeen, solicitor Christopher Reeve, who is representing the health board, said her employers did everything they could to help her return to work.
However he claimed her behaviour made surgeons feel “uncomfortable” to the point where they did not feel happy operating.
Mr Reeve said: “Concerns were also raised verbally from the nursing staff, who said that you were standing over them while using instrumentation.
“The nursing staff also raised concerns that you were asking questions that had already been dealt with.”
Mrs Croft denied the claims as well as rejecting allegations that she shouted at staff she found in a coffee room without her approval.
She said: “I didn’t shout. I went into the coffee rooms and said ‘I’m not invisible’.”
Mrs Croft, who is represented by Frank LeFevre of Quantum Claims, told the tribunal that she had been made to feel like she was the subject of a “witch hunt”.
Mr Reeves replied: “It’s the respondent’s position that this is not a witch hunt.
“NHS Grampian in no way breached its duty of care to you.”
The tribunal heard that a meeting was eventually set up to try to ease tensions in the operating theatre, however she said by that point she felt she could do nothing right.
She said: “Everything I did was being overly scrutinised. All of my actions or in-actions were at fault. At that point I felt bullied.”
The tribunal has been adjourned until early next year.