Separately, Neale lost a claim for wrongful dismissal earlier this year after she walked out of her role as a clinical advisor for the private health provider Care UK in 2017, when it was running services for West Midlands ambulance service. In a statement supplied by CCHQ, Neale said: “The Nursing and Midwifery Council declared I was not able to keep my status as a midwife due to a change of role which meant I was no longer practicing the hours required to maintain the status. I am currently a registered nurse working in urgent care and A&E. The tribunal judge in the case, Christopher Gaskell, dismissed her evidence as both “inconsistent” and “disingenuous” and found she “cynically failed to cooperate with the investigation” into a grievance she made about her duties.

Separately following an injury which left me disabled, my role at work changed and the disability meant I was unable to continue. She also took a further 27 days off work after rupturing a hamstring in 2016. As she recovered she partially worked from home. Soon after returning to work she filed a grievance claiming her duties amounted to the more senior role of clinical quality improvement leader. Judge Gaskell said it was “plain nonsense” for Neale to suggest that her treatment was related to her disability. He said Care UK had “good reason” to require her to work in its offices and had in place specialist equipment and reasonable adjustment to allow her to do this.