Daily Insight: How not to do HR

What would you do if you were sacked by your employer but offered your job back on a pay cut and made to write a grovelling apology?

A tribunal has criticised several leaders at a trust after they dismissed a doctor before saying she could come back – on several conditions.

Manchester University Foundation Trust was ruled to have unfairly and wrongfully sacked Gillian Watts following an incident in April 2018.

The judgment, which was only published this month, admonished the conduct of several leaders, including the trust’s joint medical director Jan Eddleston.

After being dismissed, Dr Watts was told she could come back but only if she accepted a 12 months’ final warning, being stripped of her clinical excellence points and accept being on less pay than before.

Employment judge said Professor Eddleston, who chaired the appeal hearing after Dr Watts challenged her dismissal, said she “acted beyond her authority” at one stage.

Other leaders criticised included Richard Montague, who is still a medical director at the Wythenshawe site, after he appointed himself as the case manager for the investigation.

This was despite him having little to no training or case management experience, in addition to not being an impartial observer.

Employment judge Marion Batten said the trust’s proposals for Dr Watts were “specifically designed to penalise [her] financially” and “secure her humiliation in front of colleagues”.

The trust said it had already “learned a number of lessons” from the incident but would review the tribunal’s findings for any additional points.

Recruitment’s repercussions

Challenges in recruitment are slowing trusts’ progress on a key mental health target, HSJ has been told, as our research revealed some leading acute hospitals are still missing key crisis support in accident and emergency departments.

One in three emergency departments are not yet meeting the “core 24” standard of mental health support in A&Es, which requires a minimum of 1.5 full-time equivalent consultants and 11 mental health practitioners.

The NHS long-term plan target is for 70 per cent of trusts to have this optimum standard by 2023-24 and this target appears to be on track on a national level, with significant progress made, despite the pandemic.

However, some major hospitals such as Cambridge University Hospitals FT and University College London FT are yet to achieve the full standard – and HSJ’s research has also pinpointed some regional gaps in the South West and Midlands. 

It means patients presenting to A&Es in mental health crises in these areas – which serve millions of people – do not yet have 24/7 access to a multidisciplinary team of mental health professionals.

Many trusts yet to achieve the full standard cited recruitment problems as major barriers to reaching the goal.