Whistleblower awaits appeal

A nurse who was sacked after blowing the whistle on a special needs school's alleged "do not resuscitate" policy has taken her battle to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London.

Bernice 'Bunny' Pinnington had alerted the grandparents of a child at Ysgol Crug Glas special school in Swansea about an alleged resuscitation "delay" order concerning their five-year-old granddaughter in 1998.

It is claimed the notice stated Mrs Pinnington should not use any form of emergency intervention for a period of up to three minutes.

Bunny Pinnington at an earlier hearing in Cardiff

Mrs Pinnington objected to any delay in an emergency, saying it could prove fatal - she was later dismissed from her post.

Her application against Swansea Education Authority was struck out on a technicality - she had lodged her case before she was officially dismissed.

But the nurse from Gowerton, near Swansea, subsequently won the right to appeal against the technicality.

On Friday, Mr Patrick Green, for Mrs Pinnington, claimed Swansea Education Authority did not have the power to dismiss his client after a period of ill health in 1999.

People think 'if you blow the whistle, you will end up like Bunny'.

Bernice 'Bunny' Pinnington

Mrs Pinnington has maintained the real reason for her dismissal was the fact she informed the child's grandparents about the alleged resuscitation policy.

A Swansea council spokesman said the education department would issue a statement about the case on Monday.

Mrs Pinnington's employment representative Jenny Watson said: "You have an LEA that is extremely embarrassed by this and desperate to have it go away.

"Bunny has pushed the legal challenges in a way the authority never thought she would."

Meanwhile, the row between the child's grandparents and education chiefs has intensified, amid claims in an ombudsman's report that the girl had previously been resuscitated at the school - without the grandparents knowledge.

'Extremely draining'

In a letter to First Minister Rhodri Morgan, the grandparents stated: "The fact that we do not know about such events is clearly outrageous... someone must be held accountable."

The couple - who support Mrs Pinnington - have spent 10 months seeking a satisfactory response to the resuscitation claims.

The former carer hopes Friday's appeal hearing will be the beginning of the end of her ordeal.

"The experience has been extremely draining," she told BBC News Online.

"I do not think they have invented a word to describe what you go through with something like this.

'Years of hell'

"If you send your child to school, you would expect that the nurse would do her level best to ensure that the child came home in the same state."

She added: "They (Swansea council) have desperately wanted to shut me up.

"I have gone through seven years of hell, it is appalling.

"The next person down the road will have to do it all over again, unless you change the culture. It is dreadfully wrong.

"At the moment, people think 'if you blow the whistle, you will end up like Bunny'."