Martyn Pitman pulls out of unfair dismissal case against HHFT

Following a party held by his former patients and colleagues, maternity consultant and obstetrician Martyn Pitman announced that he will not be pursuing his cases against Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) any further.

The Winchester consultant of 20 years, who believes he was fired by HHFT earlier this year for whistleblowing on concerns of patient and staff safety, has branded the employment tribunal system as “deeply flawed”.

The announcement follows a month on from the doctor’s tribunal loss, where his claims that he suffered a detriment due to exercising rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act were unanimously dismissed at Southampton Magistrates Court.

Martyn Pitman and Lynda Emptage, founder of the Friends of Martyn Pitman group (Image: Contributed)

READ MORE: Martyn Pitman: Final judgment on sacked doctor tribunal released

A separate claim of unfair dismissal was due to be addressed at a later hearing but will no longer go ahead.

Broadchurch actor Sarah Parish attended the “celebration of the superhero”, held for Martyn Pitman, at Winchester Rugby Club on Saturday, November 25.

The local actor presented £2,000, raised by members of the Friend of Martyn Pitman Facebook group for him and his wife to go on holiday.

Many families who’ve received care from Mr Pitman gathered to show their support, contributing to a photo wall, stalls and a raffle.

Ms Parish shared that the consultant saved her and her daughter’s life and without him there would be no Murray Parish Trust or the more than £7m the charity has raised for Southampton’s Children’s Hospital.

Sarah Parish gives her thanks to Mr Pitman (Image: Contributed)

After the party, Mr Pitman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I entered the employment tribunal full cognisant with the knowledge that there was a 97 per cent chance that the judgement would go against me.

“I knew, beyond any reasonable doubt, that I had been wronged, that numerous significant and negligent errors had been made in the handling of my case and that my legal position against HHFT was strong.

“Even retrospectively, I cannot see how the employment tribunal proceedings could feasibly have gone any better. Despite this, the final employment tribunal judgement sided against me.

“I have been irreparably damaged through what I have been forced to endure, in simply attempting to clear my name. I now need to get my life back, to force some form of closure and to revert to a normal existence and family life.

“I fully realise now that, given the process in which I had no real alternative but to follow and in which I have placed my faith, I have been fighting an essentially unwinnable battle. I have therefore decided not to pursue my cases against HHFT any further.”

“When I commenced down the traumatic path to my current position, I stated that I wished to clear my name, to provoke managerial accountability at HHFT and to force assurance that no other employees of HHFT would be treated in the same brutal and destructive manner that I had.

The party at Winchester Rugby Club (Image: Contributed)

“I now firmly believe that my ability to achieve the latter two of these objectives will be better achieved and far more likely to succeed by proceeding outside of the deeply flawed employment tribunal system.”

Mr Pitman, 57, will sit on a whistleblowing in healthcare panel within the House of Lords Committee Room on Wednesday, November 29.

The aim of the meeting is to “end the cycle of abuse experienced by whistleblowers”.

In a separate post, the obstetrician said: “Now that the legal shackles have been removed, the gloves are well and truly off. Believe me this is very, very far from over.”

HHFT said it is yet to hear from Mr Pitman's legal team.