00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:05 You know, that's my career, everything I've ever worked for.
00:08 I feel like I'm the one that people are avoiding.
00:14 I'm the one that's excluded.
00:16 Feels like I'm the one that's done something wrong.
00:21 It shouldn't have to cost me my career,
00:23 but if that's what it costs, I'm going to have to deal with that.
00:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:37 In 2015, NHS nurse Michelle Russell
00:41 took her first steps to report claims of sexual assault
00:44 and harassment by a colleague to her employer.
00:47 Michelle thought her case would be investigated and dealt
00:49 with immediately.
00:51 However, eight years later, she's
00:52 still fighting for her voice to be heard by the UK's nursing
00:56 regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
00:58 I was working at a site that I didn't usually work at.
01:05 And I knew this particular man by sight.
01:10 I'd never had a conversation with him.
01:14 And I had to do a piece of project work, which
01:18 meant I had to spend a lot of time at this other site.
01:24 And very quickly, from never speaking to this man,
01:33 he seemed to be constantly around me.
01:39 He persisted.
01:40 And when I told my manager, I just
01:44 thought she'd deal with it.
01:46 I thought she'd speak to him and that she
01:48 would have a word with him.
01:51 And I really thought that that's what would happen.
01:54 But it clearly didn't happen.
01:56 And I became unwell.
02:01 After a year-long investigation,
02:03 the North East London Foundation Trust
02:05 dismissed her claims.
02:07 I've just wanted to do the right thing
02:11 and protect my patients and the public and my colleagues.
02:16 But what's happened is somehow I feel like I'm the one
02:21 that people are avoiding.
02:25 I'm the one that's excluded.
02:26 Feels like I'm the one that's done something wrong when
02:33 all I've done is raise my concerns.
02:36 I mean, I have been insistent.
02:39 And I have been persistent.
02:42 But that's because there's a public safety issue.
02:48 Michelle didn't want to give up.
02:49 And her perseverance saw a chance encounter
02:52 with the NHS's most senior nurse in 2017.
02:56 And I thought, I need to do something.
02:58 I can't go on like this.
03:02 And I got on a train.
03:04 I wrote a big banner saying I'm a nurse.
03:08 I've been sexually assaulted.
03:10 And I'm going to lose my job.
03:12 And I was just so upset.
03:15 And I'm going to lose my job.
03:17 And I got on a train.
03:18 And I went and stood outside the Houses of Parliament.
03:24 It was freezing.
03:26 It was a very cold, rainy day.
03:29 And then there was somebody that I
03:33 could see hanging around who wanted to speak to me
03:37 and came over and spoke to me.
03:39 And she said, do you know who I am?
03:41 And I said, no, I don't.
03:43 I'm sorry.
03:44 And she said, I'm Ruth May.
03:47 And at that point, I think Ruth was deputy chief nurse.
03:57 And she said to me, you can put your banner away.
04:02 This is who I am.
04:05 I want you to email me.
04:08 And I'll arrange for you to come up for a meeting, which
04:14 she did, she did.
04:16 And I went up.
04:17 And I had a meeting at Waterloo with Ruth.
04:21 And I explained what had happened to me
04:25 and how it had been handled by the trust.
04:29 And that same day, Ruth contacted the chief executive,
04:33 who at that point had just not responded to any communication
04:42 from me at all.
04:43 And Ruth emailed him and told him
04:50 that there needed to be an independent investigation
04:54 and that she was suggesting that he used two particular names
05:03 that she proposed to do the investigation.
05:08 And then that independent investigation happened.
05:12 This review, finished in 2018, found
05:15 Northeast London Foundation Trust's
05:16 original investigation was catastrophically flawed
05:19 and that the trust didn't even understand its own policy
05:22 on sexual harassment.
05:24 This report, seen by the independent,
05:27 also reveals the hospital was aware of other allegations
05:30 against the same nurse.
05:32 A dossier of documents obtained throughout her eight-year
05:35 ordeal revealed the NMC rejected the original referral made
05:39 by Michelle against her alleged perpetrator in 2016.
05:43 Following the July 2018 review, the regulator
05:46 reopened the case, however only heard it last year,
05:50 in July 2023.
05:52 An NMC fitness to practice panel found that three allegations
05:55 by Michelle could not be proved.
05:57 For the first allegation over touching,
05:59 panel found there was not enough evidence
06:01 to establish on balance of probabilities
06:03 that the incidents had occurred.
06:04 In the two other allegations of him poking out his tongue
06:07 and him pressing his groin against her back,
06:09 it said there was not enough evidence to prove the charges.
06:12 But another person's allegations of inappropriate comments
06:16 were upheld.
06:17 On the 7th of December, 2023, the male nurse
06:20 was cautioned by the panel.
06:22 Just a week later, the NMC reviewed its decision,
06:25 finding concerns over the panel's failure
06:27 to uphold Michelle's allegations.
06:29 In a statement to the independent,
06:31 NELF said it had accepted the findings of the investigations
06:33 in full and taken the issues raised by Michelle
06:36 extremely seriously, and said as a result,
06:39 it had put in place new sexual safety policies
06:42 and improved its oversight and training.
06:44 It said it had responded to all questions from the NMC
06:46 in a timely manner and claimed it had no formal complaints
06:50 from patients or family members over the alleged perpetrator.
06:53 The NMC said it had apologised directly to Miss Russell
06:56 that this case took too long.
06:58 They said they considered the evidence carefully
07:00 and decided there was no case to answer
07:02 and made that case at the hearing.
07:04 They acknowledged that the panel's finding
07:05 was very distressing for Miss Russell.
07:07 As a result, the NMC has referred itself
07:09 to its own regulator, the Professional Standards Authority,
07:13 on the basis that its decision was not sufficient
07:15 to protect the public.
07:17 I mean, it's nearly a decade of my life.
07:19 I've...
07:21 I mean, we all age.
07:23 But I really feel as if I've lost a whole chunk of my life.
07:29 Um...
07:31 I won't get that back.
07:33 It's absolutely obliterated my career.
07:39 Um...
07:42 Something that I loved was, you know,
07:46 all I'd ever wanted to be was a nurse.
07:49 I think there seems to be a method that,
07:55 having spoken to other NHS whistleblowers,
07:59 there seems to be a method that's rolled out
08:03 of dealing with people that raise concerns.
08:07 And it is incredibly damaging.
08:10 (Piano music)
08:13 (Music fades)
08:16 (gentle music)
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