NHS nurse suspended over fake baby claim by patient wins payout
Jessica Thorpe was placed on suspension for 29 months after the shocking allegation was made by a male patient in her care.
An NHS nurse who was wrongly suspended after a patient falsely claimed she was pregnant with his child has won a £24,000 payout.
Jessica Thorpe, 31, was placed on suspension for 29 months after the shocking allegation was made by a male patient in her care. An employment tribunal later heard that the claim was entirely unfounded, but by the time she resigned in protest, her NHS career was already in tatters.
During her prolonged suspension, Jessica began posting food photos on Instagram under the name "Slice of Jess" — a move that saw her amass nearly 60,000 followers and a surprising new income stream.
She eventually quit her post with Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, accusing bosses of failing to tackle damaging workplace gossip about the alleged affair. The trust, however, tried to claim she had only left her job to pursue a lucrative influencer career — where she was reportedly earning £20,000 a year, reports the Mirror.
But a tribunal ruled her resignation was valid and upheld her claim for constructive unfair dismissal. Judge findings revealed the trust had left her in an 'entirely unsatisfactory position,' and she was later awarded £24,118 in compensation.
The judge remarked that even though the timing of her resignation was 'an oddity,' it was within her rights to explore alternative income during her suspension. 'There is no restriction on the innocent party to a repudiatory breach from seeking to earn money from other activities,' the ruling stated.
Jessica, who joined the NHS in 2016 and was working on a mental health ward, shared her emotional journey online with followers.
In one heartfelt post, she wrote: '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. I cleared my name and won a legal battle against my NHS trust for the way they treated me. Five years later. I will never be a nurse.'
Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today.
You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team.
All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in!
If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like.
To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
The patient who made the false claim sadly died from a rare reaction to medication, and an internal NHS investigation found no evidence to support the allegations against Jessica. She was later told she couldn't return to work until two probes — one into the patient's death and another over alleged improper computer use — had concluded.
In a statement, Lynne Shaw, Executive Director of Workforce & Organisational Development at the trust, said: 'The Trust is disappointed with the outcome of the tribunal. However, we respect the findings and will look at what lessons can be learned.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Guernsey cervical screening invites to change
Invitations for cervical screening will be sent out every five years instead of every three for women aged 25 to 49 in Guernsey if they have a negative Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is in line with NHS England, which is also introducing the change from 1 HPV infection can cause changes to cells in the cervix, and leads to almost all of the main types of cervical Public Health said it wanted to eliminate cervical cancer on the island by 2030, a decade ahead of NHS England's national target. Currently cervical screenings are offered to all women and people with a cervix aged 25 to the moment people are automatically invited every three years if aged 25 to 49 and every five years if aged 50 to 65. 'Preventable and curable' A recent study showed that screening every five years is as safe as doing it every three years, as the same number of cancers are found and fewer screening tests are needed."Cervical cancer is preventable and curable, and we now have the tools to make the disease a thing of the past," said Di Mathews, strategic screening lead."The reason we have decided to follow England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland with this change is because the new test used in cervical screening picks up problems earlier than the older screening test that was previously used by the programme. "Women and people with a cervix who test negative for HPV are very low risk and those who have a recent history of HPV will be invited more frequently."
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Council tax bills set to rise at fastest rate for two decades, economist warns
Paul Johnson said that local government in England did 'perhaps a little bit better than it might have expected' out of the Chancellor's statement on Wednesday, but the 'sting in the tail' is the assumption that 'council tax bills will rise by 5% a year' as part of the funding. The core spending power of councils is set to increase by 2.6% a year from next year, and 'if English councils do choose 5% increases – and most almost certainly will – council tax bills look set to rise at their fastest rate over any parliament since 2001-05', Mr Johnson said on Thursday. On Wednesday, Ms Reeves said that ministers will not be 'going above' the 5% annual increases in council tax. She told ITV: 'The previous government increased council tax by 5% a year, and we have stuck to that. We won't be going above that. 'That is the council tax policy that we inherited from the previous government, and that we will be continuing.' The biggest winner from Wednesday's statement was the NHS, which will see its budget rise by £29 billion per year in real terms. Ruth Curtice, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, has said that Britain is turning into a 'National Health State'. Overnight, the think tank said Ms Reeves' announcements had followed a recent trend that saw increases for the NHS come at the expense of other public services. Ms Curtice said: 'Health accounted for 90% of the extra public service spending, continuing a trend that is seeing the British state morph into a National Health State, with half of public service spending set to be on health by the end of the decade.' Defence was another of Wednesday's winners, Ms Curtice said, receiving a significant increase in capital spending while other departments saw an overall £3.6 billion real-terms cut in investment. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) made similar arguments about 'substantial' investment in the NHS and defence coming at the expense of other departments, although Mr Johnson warned on Wednesday the money may not be enough. In his snap reaction to the review, Mr Johnson said: 'Aiming to get back to meeting the NHS 18-week target for hospital waiting times within this Parliament is enormously ambitious – an NHS funding settlement below the long-run average might not measure up. 'And on defence, it's entirely possible that an increase in the Nato spending target will mean that maintaining defence spending at 2.6% of GDP no longer cuts the mustard.' Ms Curtice added that low and middle-income families had also done well out of the spending review 'after two rounds of painful tax rises and welfare cuts', with the poorest fifth of families benefiting from an average of £1,700 in extra spending on schools, hospitals and the police. She warned that, without economic growth, another round of tax rises was likely to come in the autumn as the Chancellor seeks to balance the books. She said: 'The extra money in this spending review has already been accounted for in the last forecast. 'But a weaker economic outlook and the unfunded changes to winter fuel payments mean the Chancellor will likely need to look again at tax rises in the autumn.' Speaking after delivering her spending review, Ms Reeves insisted she would not have to raise taxes to cover her spending review. She told GB News: 'Every penny of this is funded through the tax increases and the changes to the fiscal rules that we set out last autumn.' Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described rising health spending as a 'conundrum', with a similar approach having been taken 'again and again' as she spoke at a business conference in central London on Thursday morning. In reference to a pro-Brexit campaign stunt, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I mean, who remembers the side of a red bus that said 'we're going to give the NHS £350 million more a week'? 'Many people don't know that we did that. We did do that, and yet, still we're not seeing the returns. 'We've put more and more money in, and we're getting less and less out.' The Government have not explained how and why the NHS will be better as a result of its spending plans, the Tory leader added, and claimed the public know 'we need to start talking about productivity reforms, public sector reforms'.
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Council tax bills set to rise at fastest rate for two decades, economist warns
Paul Johnson said that local government in England did 'perhaps a little bit better than it might have expected' out of the Chancellor's statement on Wednesday, but the 'sting in the tail' is the assumption that 'council tax bills will rise by 5% a year' as part of the funding. The core spending power of councils is set to increase by 2.6% a year from next year, and 'if English councils do choose 5% increases – and most almost certainly will – council tax bills look set to rise at their fastest rate over any parliament since 2001-05', Mr Johnson said on Thursday. On Wednesday, Ms Reeves said that ministers will not be 'going above' the 5% annual increases in council tax. (PA Graphics) She told ITV: 'The previous government increased council tax by 5% a year, and we have stuck to that. We won't be going above that. 'That is the council tax policy that we inherited from the previous government, and that we will be continuing.' The biggest winner from Wednesday's statement was the NHS, which will see its budget rise by £29 billion per year in real terms. Ruth Curtice, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, has said that Britain is turning into a 'National Health State'. Overnight, the think tank said Ms Reeves' announcements had followed a recent trend that saw increases for the NHS come at the expense of other public services. Ms Curtice said: 'Health accounted for 90% of the extra public service spending, continuing a trend that is seeing the British state morph into a National Health State, with half of public service spending set to be on health by the end of the decade.' Defence was another of Wednesday's winners, Ms Curtice said, receiving a significant increase in capital spending while other departments saw an overall £3.6 billion real-terms cut in investment. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) made similar arguments about 'substantial' investment in the NHS and defence coming at the expense of other departments, although Mr Johnson warned on Wednesday the money may not be enough. In his snap reaction to the review, Mr Johnson said: 'Aiming to get back to meeting the NHS 18-week target for hospital waiting times within this Parliament is enormously ambitious – an NHS funding settlement below the long-run average might not measure up. 'And on defence, it's entirely possible that an increase in the Nato spending target will mean that maintaining defence spending at 2.6% of GDP no longer cuts the mustard.' Ms Curtice added that low and middle-income families had also done well out of the spending review 'after two rounds of painful tax rises and welfare cuts', with the poorest fifth of families benefiting from an average of £1,700 in extra spending on schools, hospitals and the police. She warned that, without economic growth, another round of tax rises was likely to come in the autumn as the Chancellor seeks to balance the books. She said: 'The extra money in this spending review has already been accounted for in the last forecast. 'But a weaker economic outlook and the unfunded changes to winter fuel payments mean the Chancellor will likely need to look again at tax rises in the autumn.' Speaking after delivering her spending review, Ms Reeves insisted she would not have to raise taxes to cover her spending review. She told GB News: 'Every penny of this is funded through the tax increases and the changes to the fiscal rules that we set out last autumn.' Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described rising health spending as a 'conundrum', with a similar approach having been taken 'again and again' as she spoke at a business conference in central London on Thursday morning. In reference to a pro-Brexit campaign stunt, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I mean, who remembers the side of a red bus that said 'we're going to give the NHS £350 million more a week'? 'Many people don't know that we did that. We did do that, and yet, still we're not seeing the returns. 'We've put more and more money in, and we're getting less and less out.' The Government have not explained how and why the NHS will be better as a result of its spending plans, the Tory leader added, and claimed the public know 'we need to start talking about productivity reforms, public sector reforms'.
