£233k victory | NHS trust's failure to adjust role forced disabled worker to resign

A disabled NHS employee was left with no option but to quit her job after being allocated a role she could not perform due to her health, a tribunal heard.

Mrs Kelly Ruddock (the claimant), a Senior Clinical Support Administrator at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (the respondent) succeeded with claims of discrimination and unfair dismissal against the trust, being awarded more than £233,000 in compensation as a result.

Ruddock, who suffers from multiple health conditions including PTSD, fibromyalgia and a spinal injury, had worked for the trust since 2017. Her job had previously allowed her to work from a non-ward-based office, partly due to trauma-related symptoms and concerns about physical safety on the ward.

But after a 2021 administrative restructure, the trust reallocated her to a “predominantly Ward based” role. Occupational Health later confirmed she was “unable to do so” and warned the work would lead to a “significant exacerbation of her symptoms”.