Thursday 11 August 2022 01:52 PM Nurse sues Nuffield Health for racial victimisation, claiming she was treated ... trends now
A senior nurse is suing private healthcare company Nuffield Health for racial victimisation after claiming she was treated like a 'black slave' by her 'white goddess' manager.
Rosaline Caesar-Scammell, told an employment tribunal in Southampton she endured 21-years of racism from colleagues, which a friend said included comments about 'blacking up' and 'monkeys'.
The 'ostracised' 57-year-old is also suing the health firm for wrongful dismissal after she was fired for a message sent on her phone to a ward WhatsApp group.
The message, which she denies sending, bemoaned a lack of PPE equipment and complained of nurses and patients having Covid-19 towards the beginning of the pandemic.
Former Rotary Club president Miss Caesar-Scammell claims the investigation into the message was unfair, that her sacking was predetermined and that she faced racial discrimination during the process.
Rosaline Caesar-Scammell (pictured above) is suing Nuffield Health for 21 years of racial victimisation and wrongful dismissal, after she was fired in 2020
The senior ward sister, who was the only black nurse at a Nuffield hospital in Bournemouth, Dorset, alleged an 'aggressive' investigating manager told her: 'You type of people are all liars.'
Nuffield Health denies any wrongdoing and stands by its decision to sack the nurse for the 'inaccurate' message, which is said to have caused 'deep concern' amongst colleagues.
Miss Caesar-Scammell raised a grievance during the disciplinary process, alleging discrimination dating back to the start of her employment, but this was dismissed by the firm, along with her appeals against her sacking.
Rebecca Hudson, who chaired the disciplinary process, told the tribunal the nurse had referred to herself as a 'black slave' and to hospital outpatient manager Lorraine Hampton as a 'white goddess' in one meeting.
Ms Hudson said: 'Miss Caesar-Scammell had prepared something to say and called Ms Hampton a 'white high goddess' and referred to herself as a 'black slave'.'
Miss Caesar-Scammell, 57, claimed she was treated like a 'black slave' and referred to her manager as a 'white high goddess'
Dr Steven Bick, a GP and friend of the claimant from the Bournemouth Rotary Club, told the tribunal she had felt 'ostracised' by colleagues.
He wrote in a statement: 'During her time at the hospital, Miss Caesar-Scammell would, from time to time, be the subject of inappropriate comments.
'These comments ranged from mockery and name calling, comments about blacking up, comments about monkeys.
'She felt ostracised and ignored. To her, her workplace had become a daily battleground.'
The tribunal heard how Miss Caesar-Scammell is of Caribbean descent and originally qualified in the Royal Army Nursing Corps (RANC), while serving in the Royal Navy.
She began working for Nuffield Health in 1999 and worked her way up to a position of ward sister.
However, the nurse told the tribunal that she was racially abused during her 21 years at the hospital,
