After winning a record £3.2m payout, Dr Rosalind Ranson relays how her boss tried to break her after she raised concerns about how Covid-19 was being handled. During the pandemic, she worked as a medical director on the Isle of Man, where she was humiliated for months, according to an employment tribunal. The tribunal judges were heavily critical of her former boss, Kathryn Magson, who now works in the NHS. Miss Magson strongly disputes the tribunal findings. Dr Ranson has given her first interview to BBC since the hearing.
Dr Ranson took the position of medical director on the Isle of Man during a period of relative calm, and it was not until the looming threat of Covid-19 emerged that she became embroiled in controversy. Dr Ranson and her clinical colleagues met earlier that month and decided that the borders of the Isle of Man needed to be closed. Despite her warning, action was not taken soon enough resulting in avoidable deaths from coronavirus, as action was not taken soon enough, says the British Medical Association (BMA).
Dr Ranson’s situation worsened when she was sidelined on major decisions, such as the plan to deliver vaccines in December 2020. The legal process required her to sign a document agreeing to the plan, but she refused as things were not in place for the vaccine to be safely delivered. Dr Ranson did eventually take over the planning of the vaccine rollout, but Miss Magson was furious. The humiliation continued when she was moved from her office in January 2021 and asked to use a smaller room, with a broken chair and no computer or telephone.
Dr Ranson sued the Isle of Man government for unfair dismissal, and after losing her role, she was awarded £3.19m, the single largest payout for a whistleblowing case for the British Medical Association. Dr Ranson, who had a successful career in the NHS in England before taking the Isle of Man role, says she does not feel able to work again after her experience. While Miss Magson continues her career, Dr Ranson is struggling to overcome what she has been through
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