My Resignation

I resigned for the sake of all children. See here the explanation in my letter of resignation (21st October 2021).

After raising my grievance about my grievance that my whistleblowing concern was dismissed, I had a first grievance meeting via Zoom on 23rd August 2021 with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of my employer, The Bobath Centre in Watford. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of The Bobath Centre was also part of this meeting.

Do have a look at the transcript of this grievance meeting on 23rd August 2021 (and others - three Zoom meetings were recorded by The Bobath Centre and subsequently transcribed - I am currently also trying to obtain the transcript to the appeal meeting under the Freedom of Information Act (2000)), I have highlighted the most relevant conversations to make it quicker to navigate. It is very enlightening how numerous issues that I have raised again and again were repeatedly ignored:

that Dame Stephanie Fraser was reading through my work emails without my permission, constituting repeated breach of confidentiality;

why were vaccines 'advertised' on Cerebral Palsy Scotland's website and social media platforms and not on The Bobath Centre's nor Cerebral Palsy Cymru's websites?;

is there a conflict of interest with regards to Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie's activity in the House of Lords and more specifically on the Covid-19 Committee of the House of Lords?

that my suspension and investigation of my professional conduct was connected with my whistleblowing and I very clearly suffered detriments as a result of my disclosure whilst I was supposed to be protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998, for a start there was a failure to act from the very beginning, by both Dame Stephanie Fraser, CEO, and by Mr Ian Johnstone, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Cerebral Palsy Scotland.

In the meantime I had contacted an employment lawyer for advice. Note: I have been working for this charity, Cerebral Palsy Scotland, for nearly 20 years and have an unblemished reputation. Jason from JF Legal Services, a disabled employment lawyer, specialising in discrimination as well as whistleblowing, was extremely helpful and patient. Have a look at the testimonials on his website which testify to his care, patience, empathy and other skills. I found Jason Frater through Steve Pollard's AwakenedPages (or here on Facebook). I have not pursued an employment tribunal despite having claimed constructive dismissal upon my resignation. As I was not a client Jason helped me regardless and as I wanted to express my gratitude he suggested I paid a donation on his behalf to Suffolk & Essex Small Animal Welfare (SEWAW). Thank you, Jason.

Three weeks into my suspension I received a letter from the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) who were instructed by Dame Stephanie Fraser to investigate my fitness to practise in terms of my professional conduct, and more specifically my communication. However in the meantime it states here in HCPC's communication that I was free to work..! So I contacted my employer and asked the obvious question: "So can I go into work tomorrow then?" You can guess the answer: "I would assume that since you have not received any communication from Cerebral Palsy Scotland, that you are not to go into work yet, but we will try and resolve the matter as soon as possible."

In the end, my concern was dismissed by my employer, the only thing they upheld was that they could have dealt with it more quickly! I also pointed out that my CEO was reading my emails and in breach of confidentiality. I said I was unhappy about her going through my emails: that I was happy for any of my therapy colleagues to go through my emails but not Stephanie as she is not a clinician and she is involved!
Here you can view the transcript of the second grievance meeting of 7th September 2021 for more details. Compare it with this written grievance outcome (22nd September 2021).. During both grievance meetings (see transcripts) you will notice how I repeatedly express my gratitude towards the CEO of The Bobath Centre for her human qualities of care and empathy. Unfortunately these human qualities seem to go out of the window when it comes to writing it down and the outcome..

Thus I appealed the written outcome of the grievance as I received it as a kick in the teeth: once again they failed to acknowledge why I raised this concern.. i.e. because I deeply care about the health and safety of children.
At the appeal meeting which was led by the CEO at The Bobath Centre, and attended also by one of the Board members (Trustees) of The Bobath Centre, I was accompanied by my colleague Petra, occupational therapist & Bobath tutor, who has been a major support throughout this challenging time from day one. I felt supported.
As expected however they once again dismissed my concern though did uphold that procedure had not been followed! During the appeal meeting [I regret that I did not ask for a transcript of this meeting before I resigned, because all three Zoom meetings were recorded - I am attempting to still obtain this transcript in retrospect with use of the Freedom of Information Act (2000)] I stressed once again that Stephanie was reading through my emails as she had now forwarded two emails herself to my home email from my work email account. To date my employer has ignored this matter..

The outcome of the appeal was not written by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of The Bobath Centre this time, as she was involved with and had written the grievance outcome, but most likely by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Bobath Centre herself. My concern was still dismissed, yet this time it was acknowledged as a matter of conscience. I believe the CEO (previously CEO of the Brazelton Centre) allowed some of her human qualities to shine through the cracks of the bureaucracy, political rigidity and business-like approach that unfortunately many charities appear to portray. I regard this as a small victory and there is hope still yet as we move towards an ever growing awareness of what we need as a global human race.

I resigned for the sake of all children. See here the explanation in my letter of resignation (21st October 2021).

This story involves a number of people trying to cover up and I was pushed out as the senior clinician of a small but national charity, raising a concern about children's safety (concerning Covid-19 vaccines).
You can find all relevant emails and the transcripts of the two grievance meetings in the submenu of Relevant Materials, as well as the concerning website material and relevant letters.

See here my video about my resignation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG7EcSnrCF0

My conscience is clear and I sleep soundly at night. My dream (as coincidentally I am listening to "Imagine" while I am writing this!) is for more and more children, women and men to achieve this...

love

free your movement
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Filip Vervaeke

optimising movement, resilience, creativity and health

My resignation