NHS lawyers Hill Dickinson will have to account for how they argued doctors out of whistleblowing protection as they lose strike out on wasted costs

At last some good news from my whistleblowing case.

We won our December Employment Tribunal hearing against NHS Health Education England's law firm Hill Dickinson. Angus Moon KC was leading the team that lost Hill Dickinson's attempted strike out of my wasted costs application. The Judgment of Employment Judge Self can be read here. The Judgment provides an excellent summary of the saga of how junior doctors in England were argued out of whistleblowing protection. Junior doctors are skilled professionals that can have more than 10 years experience. It is this cohort of doctors that has been recently balloted for industrial action.

The legal papers for the December hearing including the skeleton arguments can be read here.

It is my position that HEE and their lawyers misled courts on how doctors were employed and withheld documents/contracts from court disclosure that showed the truth about this. The plan was to undermine junior doctors' employment status and their whistleblowing protection (in order to stop my whistleblowing case ever being heard). HEE's lawyers made significant amounts of public money from this activity but deny any wrongdoing.

These are some of the significant findings in the Judgment.?

Firstly on HEE's lawyers Hill Dickinson;

"It is arguable that depending on the evidence?which is presented about the circumstances that HD’s conduct could be impugned to such an extent that there was a?misrepresentation / fraud which would allow the Settlement Agreement to fall away.”

Secondly, Judge Self?comments on Health Education England’s role;

“It is arguable that documents that should have been?before EJ Hyde were not before EJ Hyde. It is arguable that the?fault lay with HEE or it is arguable that some culpability lay with?HD. It is arguable that had the full picture been known at the time the Settlement Agreement was entered into that the Claimant would have declined to enter into it and sought other terms / outcomes.”

Thirdly, the Judgment acknowledges the wider ramifications of these actions on doctors. The points made by my legal team back in 2017 are included;

“At paragraph 13 Mr Linden identified the importance of the case as it affected approximately 54,000 junior doctors and specialist registrars in the NHS and?also had wider ramifications where working arrangements were determined?by more than one organisation. At para 14 he explained that in his view?the possibility that HEE would be able to retaliate against a whistle blower without any recourse by the whistle blower, taking into account the role it played in relation to doctors in training, was surprising to say the least.”

In 2019, 2 MPs and a journalist attempted to get answers from Health Education England on their conduct on these matters. Their letters can be read here. Below is a further attempt in Parliament when the serious concerns were put on the formal record in the House of Commons by Sir Norman Lamb and Justin Madders.

So far neither Health Education England or Hill Dickinson have responded in substance to the allegations made by me and others. They will now have to following our victory at the December hearing. The Judgment states;

“The Claimant has made his allegations and HD has?denied those allegations although the factual position of HD’s conduct has not been given in any detail at all. A full hearing will enable both parties to produce documents and evidence in relation to that”

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There will now be a full hearing and Health Education England and Hill Dickinson will have to disclose relevant documents and emails on how they went about arguing the nation's doctors out of whistleblowing protection.

The hearing of these matters is likely to coincide with the dates of the proposed junior doctor industrial action and can only add further insight and context to the objections junior doctors have about their pay and working conditions. I have written an article on how HEE's actions are a powerful example of what NHS staff are up against in their quest to be treated properly. You can read my article?here.

We are now?crowdfunding for the next stages?which will include seeking all relevant documents and emails from Hill Dickinson and HEE. There will also be a hearing of several days to explore what has gone on here.?

Check out our Crowdjustice page for more background and to support us

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