NHS pays out £1m to manager in race case

A former NHS manager has won £1m in compensation after a head nurse subjected him to such racial discrimination that he considered suicide after being dismissed unfairly.

Elliot Browne had worked in the health service for 34 years before being forced out of his job as divisional director at Central Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, due to what the Unite union described as "institutionalised racism".

An employment tribunal said Mr Browne had faced "persistent discrimination" in "an intimidating environment". The trust, which is appealing the decision, was found to have resorted to pressure tactics not used on any of his white colleagues. These included sending him personal messages saying his position had become "no longer tenable" after it slipped into financial deficit.

It was also ruled that the trust did not act seriously when Mr Browne complained – with Gill Heaton, the trust's chief executive, paying "little regard to the effect of her intimidatory comments upon the claimant who was clearly ill at the time and told her so".

A spokesperson for the trust said: "We strongly believe that discrimination did not feature in this individual's case."