This chapter is I feel one of the most important for you to read. It is not intended to scare or make you apprehensive about your chosen career, but rather to arm you with enough knowledge to guide you through what most people would describe as an extremely harrowing time. In this day and age that we live in it is a time of law suits, claims for compensation for injuries, claims for unfair dismissal, claims for this and claims for that. But as a nurse it is an unfortunate consequence of having the job, that often being on the front line means that you are exposed and in a very vulnerable position.
Imagine this. One day you wake up and relish in the fact that it is your day off from work. You may be taking the children on a day outing to the zoo. You may be going to buy some new clothes that youve been promising yourself. Or maybe youre going to just put your feet up and chill out in front of the television to your favorite movie. And then this happens.
The telephonerings. “Hello Jane speaking. “Hello Jane this is John Munroe from work (your ward manager). Im just phoning that there has been a serious allegation made by a work colleague about you. Because of this Jane you have been suspended from work on full pay and you will be invited to attend a hearing where the allegations will be put to you and you will be given the opportunity to defend yourself. This will be put in writing and sent to you through the post”. You put the phone down in disbelief. You feel sick. Your mind becomes a complete blank. And for the rest of that day all the plans for enjoyment have just flown straight out of the window.
Okay let me put some truths to you now. Allegations are on the increase in this country for all sorts of reasons. There are a lot of nurses leaving the profession after many years of practice leaving a severe shortage for all sorts of reasons. What may seem that it is you against the world are in fact you against one other person. There is however a lot of support you can get to get you through this arduous journey. Most people who you thought were your friends suddenly disappear to the four corners of the earth. This is because they are afraid of jeopardizing there jobs NOT a personal judgment on you. This is a time where your family becomes an invaluable resource of support and reassurance. But first things first pick up the phone and contact either your RCN or Unison Representative. (Hopefully you have been keeping up with your. Union payments). You are protected with up to 3 million pounds worth of damages. These people can stand up for you in the disciplinary hearing and will aggressively defend your case. They are skilled in all the arts of negotiation and legal matters and know more than anybody about your rights. So it is vitally important you contact them. They will not judge you or have any prejudices. And will be there throughout the course of things. They will ask to meet with you before the hearing to get as much background information as they can.
Before anything may happen there are several things for you to do. Firstly ensure that you are in union. These will be either the Royal College of Nursing or Unison. Secondly attend branch meetings if you can find the time and help with all their activities. Thirdly write down all useful contact numbers so that they are at hand if the untoward happens. The last thing you want to be doing is scrambling around looking for these numbers when your head is in turmoil.
When there is an issue there are lots of important things to know and do to protect yourself.
Never attend a meeting with managers unless you know what the purpose of the meeting is and who will be present. Never attend a meeting with managers on your own. Always take a union representative or experienced work colleague. They will help you in the sense of what is being said. Arrange to see your union representative as soon as you have had the allegation sent to you. You should also receive a copy of the organizations disciplinary process so that you will know what will happen.
If the suspension relates to a particular event record what you can remember of it as soon as possible. Its surprising how quickly you can forget things.
Make notes on everything that is being said at every contact with anyone so that you can reflect has been said later. You will be probably being feeling so stressed it will be difficult to absorb information. Better still record the meeting. As a matter of courtesy you will have to let the person conducting the meeting knows prior to the meeting as you may be refused permission. If your manager has nothing to hide they should agree.
You may need to send a copy of your notes to the manager to write and clarify any points that they may disagree with. Keep your notes in a file and start a diary so you can quickly see what has happened and when.
Use letters and e mails to communicate. People say things on the telephone which they may later deny or claim to have misunderstood.
Get someone to check all your documents notes of meetings letters and notes of investigations. You need to get them to check for clarity and carefulness of expression so that you dont damage your case.
When you send letters think who else should see what you are writing and send them a copy.
During meetings request regular breaks so that you can collect your thoughts.
Following the investigation if no disciplinary action is taken but there is to be retraining ask for a copy of the report. There may be errors that need correcting on which the retraining issues are based.
When the whole thing is over store your notes and letters and records and keep them. You may want to sue the organization in the future.
Ask to see your personal file to view the documents entered there.
One year later ask to see your personal file again to ensure all references have been removed. You have served your time.
The most important thing to do and this may sound trite is not to worry. Spend as much of the free time using it constructively. DONT WASTE IT BROODING. If it helps think of it as paid holiday. Remember that the decision for dismissal will ultimately not be yours. The only things you control are your emotions. Relax as much as possible. Eat as healthily as you can. Go for long aerobic walks in the countryside. Dont be alone for too long. Enjoy the extra time spent with your family. Dont consume too much alcohol. Know that you are much stronger than that.
One friend of mine had a serious allegation against him from another member of staff. He could have wasted his time off by wallowing in self pity. Instead he did something remarkable. He did what hed always promised himself to do. He converted his attic into a home cinema. A state of the art projector was bounced onto a 6ft screen. Surround sound speakers were fitted. And an exquisite leather reclining seat. Family and friends remarked that it was just being like at the pictures. My friend comforted himself by watching film such as its a Wonderful Life and Braveheart. He survived the allegation.
I ve read so many stories of how allegations destroynurses lives. They become severely depressed. Thoughts of hopelessness, desperation, alcohol/ drug addiction and moments of such low that thoughts of suicide even enter the head. It destroys relationships; it destroys careers and also your faith in your fellow human being. “Who can you trust after this?” what you have to do is not think of the future but of the day, the hour, the minute. To survive you have to concentrate on the NOW. And do anything that improves the quality of the now. ANYTHING. But how do you get those thoughts from your head. Replaying the allegation whatever it is. Over and over in your head it goes. Every five minutes of the day. One of the best techniques described to me is called disassociation. This is a psychological technique which asks you to step out of the thought image. Fade it to black and white. Shrink it to the size of a postage stamp and watch it blow away in the wind. Now replace it with a time or place where something really pleasurable happened in your life. A really good memory for you where you felt wanted loved or even relaxed and really good about yourself. If you do this (there are many extremely good self hypnosis/self help books on the market for this). Then I guarantee you will feel better more focused calm and relaxed and more in control of your thoughts. One other sound piece of advice is DO NOT GIVE IN. HANG IN THERE. You will survive.
One of the most important things you have to do in response to an allegation is to prepare a statement. Once again there is a host of websites available on the internet for doing this. They will show you what to include and what to leave out. It is important that you do this as early as possible so that you dont feel any extra pressure which you can well do without right now. Okay then lets recap on all the things you will need to do to survive.
Contact a union representative (RCN or Unison) in nursing. Prepare a statement of defense. (Visit website to show you how).
Try and enjoy the time off. Use the paid time constructively. Dont waste it bemoaning your misfortune. Remember you cant control the future but you can control how you spend your day.
Use psychological warfare on your negative thoughts. All the ones telling you that you are doomed and a bad person. This includes positive reinforcement i.e. loving yourself. And disassociation to replace the harmful thoughts with much more pleasurable ones. Another helpful way of looking at things is to see your managers dressed up as clowns making them less fearsome and more comical.
On the day of the hearing it is important that you continue to have control over your emotions. Relax as much as possible. Remember the final decision is not yours but someone elses, and they will have to take full responsibility for this. Whatever the outcome you will have the right to an appeal and this could go on for up to a year. (Although Im sure you will want it done ad dusted as soon as possible.)
If the allegations are upheld then you may lose your job, your pin number and even be threatened with legal action. The one thing that you should remember if the worst of the worst ensues is that you are not alone. You will always have the support of your family and friends. And you WILL have a life after nursing. There are thousands of people being put through these trials all the time and it is on the increase, you are not the only one. One of the most important factors of an allegation against a nurse is the stigma attached to being a caring person to a none caring person. You know yourself better than anyone. You came into nursing to care for people so fundamentally your heart is in the right place. One mistake does not make you a bad person. Though through this experience Im sure you will learn from it.
And if you do survive (which most people do as most allegations can never be 100% proved). I suggest you have a holiday, step back and let others set their alarm clocks for the morning shift. You deserve a huge pat on the back. Well done for surviving. If there are any emotional scars then this is natural. And whether you decide to continue working at the same place or somewhere else you can now consider yourself a much wiser person. Youve just gone through one of the worst scenarios for any nurse and survived. Be proud of this fact and dont forget to thank everyone that supported you. You will never forget their help and love.