Fired ‘blood phobia’ worker sues NHS for £140k
A HOSPITAL worker with a phobia of blood and needles is suing the NHS for £140,000 after being sacked.
Andrew Brangwyn, 65, could not face “handling patients” and was reportedly scared to enter wards.
The occupational therapist said that, despite complaining for years, NHS bosses did not do enough to help him cope with his fear of seeing patients having their dressings changed. He is claiming disability discrimination over his sacking, which came after he went on long-term sick leave in 2012.
Mr Brangwyn, from Coventry, worked for more than seven years teaching carpentry to recovering patients at the Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital, in Warwickshire.
He said bosses initially allowed him to stay away from wards. But his job description was then changed six times in two years and he was told he had to attend ward meetings.
Mr Brangwyn took South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust to an employment tribunal, complaining of disability discrimination.
The tribunal was told: “He had a phobia in respect of blood, injections and needles and, it later emerged, in handling patients.” His claim was rejected, but he has now been granted permission to fight on in the Court of Appeal.
Lady Justice Gloster said the trust had arguably failed to make reasonable adjustments to cater for his phobia, which reportedly only came to light when bosses told him he had to attend ward meetings.
No date has been set for the next hearing of the claim.