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A senior NHS nurse was fired after warning the increased workload on her pressured staff had contributed to a patient’s death.

Linda Fairhall, 60, had an unblemished record of almost 40 years’ service when she turned whistleblower at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS trust.

After an employment tribunal upheld her claim of unfair dismissal, after a fight that took three years and £30,000 in legal costs, she said: “I was a victim of politics. I want to support others who speak out.”

A nurse since 1979, she became clinical care coordinator for the Hartlepool region in 2013, and was commended by the Care Quality Commission in 2015.

That year she raised concerns over a new requirement for district nurses to monitor patients’ prescriptions.

She said it meant a sudden increase of around 1,000 extra visits a month for her hard-pressed team of 50 nurses with no extra resources.

Over the next 10 months she reported 13 matters, alleging the health or safety of patients and staff was being or was likely to be put at risk.

After a patient died in 2016 she claimed it may have been prevented if her concerns had been addressed. She told the trust’s care group director Julie Parks she wished to start the formal whistle-blowing procedure. Soon after she was suspended over allegations of potential gross misconduct relating to her leadership, and then sacked.

The mum-of-two, from Billingham, Teesside, said: “My honesty and integrity are the two most important things to me... and they have questioned them. That is what I found so humiliating.”

Telling of the pressure on staff providing services to patients in Hartlepool, Co Durham, she said: “Austerity played a part. There was no money to invest. When you have 25% of your staff sick, training falls behind, it has a knock-on effect on everything.

“I could not have done any more to highlight the dangers.”

The tribunal found the trust’s probe into her alleged misconduct to be “inadequate and unreasonable”. Judge Gerald Johnson found in her favour and described her nursing record as “clean and unblemished”.

Dr Henrietta Hughes, the UK’s national NHS guardian, said: “Workers who speak up should be thanked for doing so and the organisation should demonstrate they are taking action to address the issues raised.”

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust said it will appeal the decision