Cancer survivor sacked from GP practice over Covid fears `wins £15,000 payout

Dawn Haggerty staged a ‘forceful protest’ to her managers after she was told that graduate interns will begin ‘shadowing’ staff in case they catch Covid-19.

All she could think about was relapsing and becoming even more vulnerable to the virus as her job was to act as a ‘first port of call’ to patients contacting the surgery.

But instead of prioritising her serious health concerns, bosses at New Hall Surgery in Hull fired her for questioning their decisions.

Now, a tribunal court in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, has ruled that they treated her badly and awarded her nearly £15,500 in compensation.

Mrs Haggerty successfully underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy for throat cancer in 2016.

However, in 2020 she had undergone an X-ray after experiencing ‘swallowing problems’.

Several days after her medical appointment, the GP worker was told that the students will be helping out in the office, and she, alongside three colleagues, voiced their concerns.

The tribunal was told: ‘She feared the swallowing problems she had experienced in early October 2020 portended the return of cancer.

‘She plainly feared catching Covid. She considered herself to be at greater risk than others due to the cancer which impacts upon her respiratory function.’

Mrs Haggerty’s bosses first tried to assure her that the students would be careful, but later suspended her and her colleagues, with her facing a formal disciplinary hearing the following month.

Senior care navigator, Emma Nicholson – who had only recently joined the surgery herself – told the tribunal Mrs Haggerty had been ‘very aggressive’ and ‘intimidating’, and had acted as the ‘ringleader’ in her complaints.

Mrs Nicholson also said Mrs Haggerty told her: ‘I don’t care if management aren’t happy because I’m not happy.’

‘Mrs Haggerty eloquently described the invasive nature of the radiotherapy and chemotherapy that she had undergone in 2016.

‘Naturally, she was very concerned about the prospect of having to go through such invasive treatment again.

‘Making a forceful protest in those circumstances cannot, in our judgment, be properly categorised as any kind of misconduct – let alone serious misconduct such as to justify her dismissal.

‘Her dismissal was, in our judgment, disproportionate. The impact upon her was profound: she lost her job.

‘Therefore the Tribunal’s judgment is that [Mrs Haggerty] was unfavourably treated for something arising in consequence of her disability.’