An NHS trust is being taken to an employment tribunal by a senior member of staff who claims she was the victim of racial discrimination.
North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust also faces a claim of unfair dismissal from its former assistant director of nursing Dr Sarina Saiger.
Individual claims originally made by Dr Saiger against 14 of the trust’s directors and former directors have since been withdrawn. The trust is now the sole respondent.
The tribunal hearing at Quayside House in Newcastle heard that Dr Saiger worked for the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust – formerly the acute trust – from June 2005 until May this year.
During that time she claims she was the victim of racial discrimination, harassment, victimisation and eventually unfair dismissal.
The trust strongly denies all of the allegations and stresses that this case had not involved or affected patient care. “It has been an internal matter,” it added.
“North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS refutes every single claim in this action and will maintain that it has done nothing wrong. It takes very seriously the allegations that are being laid before it, including some serious and potentially defamatory allegations.”
The high-profile employment tribunal hearing could last for up to six weeks.
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