A former NHS boss and “whistleblower” at the hospital where Lucy Letby murdered seven babies was bullied out of her job, an employment tribunal has found.
Dr Susan Gilby became chief executive at the Countess of Chester Hospital in September 2018, two months after Letby was first arrested, the Liverpool tribunal was told.
Dr Gilby, a consultant anaesthetist, told the tribunal that despite navigating the Covid-19 pandemic and improving the running of the hospital, she encountered difficulties when Ian Haythornthwaite, a former BBC accountant, became chairman of its board in 2021.
She claimed she was “harassed and intimidated” by Mr Haythornthwaite, whom she accused of putting the financial security of the hospital before patient care.
She later “blew the whistle” about her concerns about him and was suspended before she eventually resigned from her job in 2022.
Now her claim of unfair dismissal has been upheld. Judge Dawn Shotter, who chaired the tribunal, ruled that Mr Haythornthwaite and three other senior figures at the hospital worked together to remove Dr Gilby from her post.
Dr Gilby is expected to be awarded more than 1 million in compensation.
She told the hearing that in 2022 Mr Haythornthwaite launched a “fierce verbal attack” upon her during which he “banged his hand on the table” to emphasise things he claimed were “wrong” with her, according to Mail Online.
She said his alleged behaviour was “bullying, pure and simple”, adding that the board was obsessed with...
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