Christian nurse wins tribunal case
In a landmark ruling, an employment tribunal declared Mary Onuoha's dismissal for wearing a cross had been both victimisation and harassment, and Croydon NHS Trust had breached her human rights and created a 'humiliating, hostile and threatening environment' for her to work in. Mary was removed from her role as an NHS theatre practitioner and demoted to various administrative roles before resigning after facing two years of hostility from her NHS bosses. She was told that wearing a cross necklace breached the Trust's dress code - even though plain rings, hijabs, turbans and religious bracelets were permitted. The NHS said the wearing of a necklace was an infection risk. The tribunal judge said, ‘it is clear to us that the infection risk of a necklace of the sort the claimant used to wear, when worn by a responsible clinician who complied with handwashing protocol, was very low’.
Christian bakers win at European court
Attempts to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in a case against a Belfast bakery have been rejected. Seven years ago, Christian-led Ashers Baking Company refused to write ‘support gay marriage’ on a cake. Gareth Lee sued Ashers, then lost his case at the UK Supreme Court. He took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that the UK had failed to protect his human rights. Before the Supreme Court ruling, a Belfast county court and an appeal court had both ruled that the bakery had discriminated against Lee on the grounds of sexual orientation.
PM under pressure
About thirty people including Boris Johnson attended a ‘bring-your-own-drink’ party in Downing Street’s garden during the first lockdown. The gathering - and others that had happened under Covid restrictions - are now subject to an independent enquiry by Sue Grey. Because of the way he handled recent events and evaded probing questions before admitting attending the drinks party, the PM has damaged public confidence in him. He now faces calls to resign from Labour and some senior Tories. Conservative MP William Wragg said there is a carelessness among people in government over standards and possibly more than that. The inquiry could make or break Johnson’s premiership as his government descends into open warfare as he defied Scottish and English Tory politicians. He survived probably the worst day in his political career without Cabinet resignations, a leadership challenge, or a confidence vote among MPs.
Struggling to treat patients safely
Patricia Marquis, of the Royal College of Nursing, said the NHS was clearly ‘struggling to treat patients safely’. NHS medical director Prof Stephen Powis said the Omicron variant was putting huge pressures on hospitals, not just because of the numbers of patients being admitted - about 2,000 a day on average - but also because of staff absences. But he added, ‘Despite this, once again, NHS staff pulled out all the stops to keep services going for patients’. Pray for the Government to find a way to meet the financial needs of the NHS so that the six million people on waiting lists for routine operations and care can have their procedures. In December nearly 27% of patients arriving at emergency departments waited over four hours. Demand for ambulances is high, with crews struggling to reach patients within the seven-minute target.
