NHS nurse wrongly suspended after patient said she's having his baby wins payout
Nurse Jessica Thorpe was awarded tens of thousands of pounds after she was suspended, following false allegations that she had become pregnant by a male patient
An NHS nurse who was wrongly suspended after a patient claimed she was having his baby has won a massive payout.
Nurse Jessica Thorpe was suspended for 29 months after the male patient said she was pregnant with his baby, an employment tribunal previously heard. But during the suspension, the nurse began to build an Instagram following of some 60,000 followers after she started sharing images of food under the name "slice of Jess". But after enduring months of suspension, Ms Thorpe resigned in protest at the treatment she faced and accused the health service of not doing enough to tackle staff "gossip" about the fictitious relationship. The Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust she had worked for attempted to argue her "real reason" for quitting the role was so she could pursue an influencer career, where she had been earning £20,000 a year.
An employment judge concluded that while the timing of her resignation was an "oddity" but added if she decided to use her time to explore "the potential" of social media as a new income stream, then "so be it". Her unfair constructive dismissal claims were upheld and she has since been awarded £24,118 in compensation.
"It is after all an oddity of this case that after over two years of calling on the respondent to perform its side of the contract, [Ms Thorpe] resigned when in other contexts the breach might be considered as having been remedied," the judge said. "However, the tribunal must apply the applicable legal principles. There is no restriction on the innocent party to a repudiatory breach from seeking to earn money from other activities that are not expressly or impliedly prohibited by the contract of employment."
Ms Thorpe has shared her legal battle with her nearly 60,000 Instagram followers. In one post, the former nurse can be seen wearing her NHS uniform with the caption: "Five years ago this announcement was made. I was 26 and a nurse apprentice. Little did I know a few weeks from now a patient would make a false allegation against me and I'd be suspended from work for two-and-a-half years."
"Today I am 31 years old," she said in a new caption, complete with a new dress. "I cleared my name and won a legal battle against my NHS trust for the way they treated me. Next month is my final hearing to determine my compensation. Five years later. I will never be a nurse."
Ms Thorpe joined the NHS Trust in 2016 and had been working on a ward for men with mental health disorders in 2020, when the patient claimed to have been in an "inappropriate relationship" with the nurse and that she was pregnant with his child. She was suspended just days after the April 27 allegation was made.
A tribunal found the patient later died due to a rare reaction to his medication and a July 2021 disciplinary hearing went over several issues, including his death and that the allegation was not upheld due to the lack of evidence. Ms Thorpe was later told she would not return to work until the investigation into the patient's death and a separate investigation into accessing an NHS computer system without permission had been completed.
The judge later said this left Ms Thorpe in an "entirely unsatisfactory position," as reported by MailOnline. During the hearing that determined Ms Thorpe's compensation, the panel heard she had made £46,362 from her social media from November 2022 to April.
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