Support MoD Whistleblower Doctor

Please support doctor sacked by text and email by Ministry of Defence after raising concerns about suspected criminal activity involving controlled drugs



PRESS COVERAGE

October 2016
Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/05/whistleblower-mod-ministry-of-defence-painkiller-claims-dr-stephen-frost
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3822218/Ministry-Defence-drops-legal-fight-against-doctor-sacked-text-holiday-blew-whistle-army-base-drugs-scam.html

October 2015
Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/15/supporters-of-mod-whistleblower-launch-crowd-funding-appeal
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3273477/Doctor-sacked-text-blowing-whistle-alleged-drugs-scam-British-Army-base-starts-crowd-funding-campaign-fight-claims-cover-up.html

January 2015
Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/30/whistleblower-doctor-sacked-text-mod-tribunal-stephen-frost-david-kelly
Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2933625/Experienced-doctor-sacked-text-holiday-month-blowing-whistle-suspected-army-base-drug-scam.html

OUR APPEAL

We, friends and family of Dr Stephen Frost, would be very grateful for any help which you feel able to offer which will assist and enable the pursuit of justice in Dr Frost’s public interest whistleblowing case against the Ministry of Defence.

Ways in which you can support:

1. By sharing this appeal with your family and friends, and on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites;

2. By writing to us at [email redacted];

3. By making a donation to the fighting fund.

Twitter: @FundFrost
Facebook : Fund Frost 

BACKGROUND

Dr Stephen Frost worked for the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) for almost twenty years. On 6 September 2013, he was sacked from his post at Weeton Army Barracks by text and email, with no warning, no reason given and no due process observed, while on a family holiday in North Wales. Three days later, on 9 September 2013, Dr Frost was banned by the MoD from working for the Military for whom he had worked as a civilian doctor since 1996, therefore depriving him of his livelihood. He has been certified sick with anxiety and depression, and therefore has been without income, ever since.

Three weeks prior to his summary termination, and one week before going on holiday, Dr Frost had raised concerns with MoD staff regarding potential criminal activity and breaches in health and safety regulations. Dr Frost had raised his concerns while cooperating in good faith with an internal investigation into an alleged serious dispensing error involving Morphine Sulphate Tablets (a Schedule 2 controlled drug) which had seemingly taken place two weeks before Dr Frost had arrived at the military medical centre in question. Dr Frost also recommended that a Police investigation be carried out for, quite apart from the potential criminal activity, as far as he could judge on the limited information available to him at the time there was no way to establish what had happened without Police involvement. Three weeks later, Dr Frost was summarily sacked before the internal investigation with which he had cooperated in good faith was complete (this was established later). To this day, no Police investigation has taken place into the seeming disappearance of a large quantity of dangerous controlled drugs, 2400 mg of tablets of Morphine Sulphate, with the result that the whereabouts of those drugs is still unknown. In addition, no MoD doctor or pharmacist has at any time sought Dr Frost’s views on the matter.

Dr Frost is a British-trained medical doctor and a Swedish-trained diagnostic radiologist. He has worked for the Military since 1996 at numerous military bases in the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany. Prior to that, he worked as a Specialist in Diagnostic Radiology at the University Hospitals of Lund and Uppsala in Sweden. Dr Frost is a very experienced doctor with an unblemished clinical record. He has worked at several high security UK military bases including RAF High Wycombe (Air Command) and HM Naval Base Clyde (the UK’s Trident nuclear submarine/missile base). Dr Frost took his job as a civilian doctor working for the Military very seriously; he found caring for sick and injured military personnel (both British and visiting foreign nationals) immensely rewarding and he made many friends at the various military bases at which he worked. 

The basis of Dr Frost’s legal claim against the MoD is that his concerns and recommendations resulted in his summary termination, and, later, in his being prevented from working again for the Military. As such, the claim is a whistleblowing claim to be heard at the Manchester Employment Tribunal.

Support from family and friends has enabled Dr Frost to fight his case so far. Attempts by the MoD to have Dr Frost’s claim struck out on technicalities were unsuccessful, and it was ordered by the Judge, at a preliminary hearing in January 2015, that the case be heard at a seven day full hearing of the Employment Tribunal in July 2015.

Commenting on the case, Shah Qureshi, Partner and Head of Employment Law at Bindmans LLP, said:

“Dr Frost believes he was summarily dismissed because he shone a spotlight on potential criminality at a military barracks. Other members of staff involved continue to work for the MOD while my client has lost his livelihood. To this day it is unclear as to whether the matter was ever referred to the police."

Shah Qureshi also expressed concern about the unsuccessful attempt to strike out the claim:
“It is of great concern that the Ministry of Defence tried to get this claim struck out on a technicality. It is of immense public importance that whistleblowers enjoy maximum protection before the law.”

Following the January 2015 preliminary hearing, the MoD’s continued refusal to provide crucial documents, including the relevant medical and pharmacy documents, to Dr Frost and his lawyers, eventually necessitated the postponement of the full hearing, which had been listed for July 2015, until January 2016. In addition, a further preliminary hearing was required in July 2015 to address the issue of the MoD’s failure to comply with the legal requirement that they disclose all relevant documents. The consequent delay and further stress have inevitably exacerbated Dr Frost’s ill health, which results partly from his having been unable to work and to earn income since 6 September 2013, and partly from his having been left with no alternative but to fight with limited resources a hugely costly (financially and emotionally) public interest whistleblowing case against the MoD. The MoD has access to unlimited public funds with which to fight him.

Dr Stephen Frost:
“This has been a very difficult and sometimes lonely battle. The consequences for me and my family have been catastrophic.
I have lost over three years of my life and I have been told that it may take some time for me to recover. I have learned of the importance to us all of whistleblowers and of laws being in place to protect adequately those whistleblowers.”

Helen Clifford of MW Solicitors:
“Whistleblowers are modern-day heroes and the law urgently needs to be changed to afford them adequate protection. Dr Frost raised genuine concerns about potential criminality following a very serious dispensing error on a military camp and he believes that he was dismissed for doing so.”

 
Please see the further coverage below, for more information:

February 2015, Bindmans LLP:
http://www.bindmans.com/news-and-events/news-article/ministry-of-defence-faces-whistleblowing-claim-from-doctor-sacked-by-text

February 2015, Cloisters Chambers:
http://www.cloisters.com/latest/whistle-blower-doctor-challenges-mod-over-sacking-by-text

February 2015, Solicitors Journal:
http://www.solicitorsjournal.com/news/employment/termination-employment/mod-faces-whistleblowing-claim-doctor-sacked-text

February 2015, Gordons LLP:
http://www.gordonsllp.com/2015/02/mod-faces-tribunal-challenge-from-whistleblower-doctor-sacked-by-text/

February 2015, Nationwide Employment Lawyers:
http://natemplaw.co.uk/portfolio/whistleblower-doctor-brings-mod-to-employment-tribunal/

February 2015, Institute of Employment Rights
http://www.ier.org.uk/news/mod-taken-tribunal-after-sacking-whistleblower