Nurse accuses colleague of exclusion during tea breaks, leading to a tribunal award after a long-standing dispute at St Helier Hospital.

A nurse has been awarded £41,000 following a tribunal decision after accusing a colleague of excluding her from a morning tea round, which she described as part of a wider pattern of bullying behaviour. Susan Hamilton, a former diabetes nurse at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, south London, claimed that dietician Abdool Nayeck displayed a dismissive attitude toward her following a disagreement over patient care in 2018.

According to Ms Hamilton, Nayeck began to ignore her during meetings and refused to make tea for her, while continuing to serve the rest of the team. She alleged that this treatment worsened after Nayeck bluntly told her, “I don’t like you,” which she said marked the beginning of the conflict between them.

Although hospital management intervened and encouraged the pair to engage in polite and civil communication, Ms Hamilton maintained that the situation did not improve. She claimed that Nayeck not only continued to exclude her from the tea rounds but also ignored the rest of the team at times. The dispute, she said, contributed to significant stress, leading her to leave her position in 2019. She later returned in 2021 and lodged a formal complaint against the hospital’s handling of the matter.

The tribunal ruled that Ms Hamilton’s grievances against the trust were justified, finding that they had failed to take sufficient action against Nayeck’s behaviour. The judge remarked that Ms Hamilton’s evidence showed the considerable emotional distress caused by the situation, which ultimately led to her resignation. The one claim of abuse against Nayeck, however, was dismissed.

Judge Kathryn Ramsden concluded that the trust’s lack of adequate action had contributed to Ms Hamilton’s illness, noting that she had once been a passionate and gifted nurse who was deeply distressed by the circumstances she found herself in.