A SENIOR nurse suspended after organising union activities has been hit with three fresh charges for talking to the Press and her colleagues about her disciplinary investigation.

Community psychiatric nurse Karen Reissmann was suspended last month, after 25 years' service, for allegedly damaging the reputation of Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust.

The suspension came on the day she received a letter confirming her promotion to senior psychiatric nurse.

At a meeting bosses made three more allegations - that she has spoken about her suspension to colleagues and in the media, denied the allegations were true and misled the public over the union stance on her position.

Protests

Ms Reissmann, a Unison steward, has organised protests against changes at the trust. Her colleagues are outraged by her suspension and planning a ballot for strike action. The trust has hired a consultant to investigate the allegations against Ms Reissmann.

They have refused to say how much they are paying Martin Brown of Mental Health Strategies to carry out the review but they say he will provide extra independence.

Ms Reissmann said: "To be suspended and not be able to tell anybody, let alone what for, is not a reasonable thing to expect." Unison's Marie Lloyd said: "An attack on one of our union activists for campaigning against health cuts is an attack against all of us."

A trust spokesman said: "We want to ensure that this is a transparent process."

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