A hospital consultant who raised safety concerns about a new procedure has been awarded 219,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.
Jasna Macanovic, a consultant nephrologist (meaning she worked with the kidneys), won a whistleblowing case against Portsmouth Hospitals University Trust in 2022 after an employment tribunal heard she was dismissed shortly after making a protected disclosure.
Macanovic expressed her concerns about a procedure known as buttonholing, which uses blunt needles to aid dialysis. She had learned that some patients had suffered complications as a result of the approach, and other colleagues were also sceptical of the procedure. Patients typically receive dialysis, which removes toxins from the kidneys, using two sharp needles.
She made a series of complaints internally at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Portsmouth and when these failed, she filed a report with the Care Quality Commission. The Trust commissioned its own review of the procedure and together with the CQC, decided it was safe to proceed. Macanovic subsequently reported the issue to the General Medical Council.
At the same time, the Trust began its own investigation into her behaviour, telling the tribunal that Macanovic had become “unmanageable” and that relations at work had become “poisoned”. In February 2018, it began a disciplinary investigation, followed by a hearing, and she was dismissed a few days later for “serious misconduct”.
She made an initial claim to the...
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