MG v North Devon NHS Primary Care Trust, Court of Appeal - Queen's Bench Division, April 28, 2006, [2006] EWHC 850 (QB)

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MG v North Devon NHS Primary Care Trust, Court of Appeal - Queen's Bench Division, April 28, 2006, [2006] EWHC 850 (QB)

Case No: HQ04X03774

Neutral Citation Number: [2006] EWHC 850 (QB)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: Fri 28th April 2006

Before :

THE HON MR JUSTICE HENRIQUES

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Between :

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Mr Charles Pugh & Miss Hannah Sampson

(instructed by Douglas Mann & Co) for the

Claimant

Mr Andrew Hogarth QC (instructed by Veitch Penny) for the Defendant

Hearing dates: 3 - 7 April 2006

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Judgment 17

The Hon Mr Justice Henriques:

THE CLAIM (IN SUMMARY FORM)

1. In August 1998 the Claimant MG commenced employment as a health visitor working part time for 30 hours per week for the Defendant.

2. In June 2001 she fell ill with depression due to pressure of work having repeatedly been obliged to cover for a colleague who went off work due to sickness at short notice.

3. On the 17th December 2001 she returned to work on a phased return to work programme and by the end of January 2002 she had returned to her normal duties albeit working reduced hours of 24 hours per week.

4. On the 11th of June 2002 the Claimant learned that her colleague Suzanna Carter was off sick with a long term illness involving a collapsed lung. The claimant telephoned for assistance with the workload and was asked to arrange cover herself. She was only able to obtain cover for one hour per week. She repeatedly contacted or tried to contact her managers. She was only able to arrange for one hour per week.

5. On the 27th of June 2002 she went off sick suffering a severe relapse of her depressive illness.

6. On the 12th of August 2002 the claimant returned to work on a further return to work programme which included an undertaking that she would not be expected to cover any additional caseload for the foreseeable future.

7. On the 1st of October 2002 a colleague Claimant's Cooper commenced maternity leave and was not replaced by the Defendant. The claimant was under pressure of coping with two workloads and on the 19th of February 2003 she went off sick never to return to work and her employment was terminated on the grounds of ill health on the 4th October 2003. Since the 10th January 2004 she has been in receipt of an ill health retirement pension. She claims damages against her employer for breach of its duty of care in failing to take reasonable steps to avoid exposing her to a health endangering workload.

APPLICATION TO AMEND

8. Mr Pugh applied at the outset of this hearing to amend the Particulars of Claim in two respects. Firstly to clarify by way of amendment the fact that in February 2003 the Claimant had a further relapse of depressive illness which constituted a psychiatric injury by reason of an unreasonably excessive workload from October 2002 onwards which naturally contributed to the February 2003 relapse.

9. The Defendant was notified of the proposed amendment on 23rd of February 2006. The letter before action dated 1...

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