Carol Sandland sues Canberra Health Services for unfair dismissal

"I'm one of these people," Carol Sandland told the Fair Work Commission on Tuesday.

"I'm always getting into trouble with it. I never read contracts or documents. I just sign them. I've learned my lesson here."

Ms Sandland is suing Canberra Health Services, claiming the ACT government organisation unfairly dismissed her from her job at the Dhulwa secure mental health unit, in Symonston, earlier this year.

Katie Weir, counsel for Canberra Health Services, told the hearing Ms Sandland's employment had been terminated over emails the endorsed enrolled nurse had sent.

Ms Weir said some went to Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation officials, while Ms Sandland had also sent material from her work email address to her personal accounts.

The commission heard the emails to the nurses' union included patients' names, details about their medication and plans for a person to be admitted to Dhulwa, among other confidential information.

Ms Sandland, who had 45 years of experience in nursing, told the commission she had worked at a similar facility in Sydney before moving to Canberra when Dhulwa opened in 2016.

Asked whether she would have been careful to familiarise herself with the requirements of her new job, Ms Sandland said she was already familiar with forensic mental health work because of her past role.

"I just don't read documents," she said, admitting she had signed an acknowledgement of her obligations without checking what it said.

"I didn't read it, so I'm not sure what you want me to say."

Ms Sandland later said Canberra Health Services, which runs Dhulwa, had "hundreds" of policies that were regularly updated.

"So unless I'm directed to look at it for a particular reason, I wouldn't have looked at them," she said.

While she had not read what she admitted were "very important" policies, Ms Sandland told the commission she was aware nurses had confidentiality duties in relation to patient information.

Dhulwa has been plagued by trouble in recent times, with the nurses' union claiming last year there had been more than 100 assaults on staff at the facility during a six-month period.

One nurse likened working there to being "sent into the killing fields".

The claims prompted the territory government to launch an inquiry, which delivered a scathing report.

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While the inquiry found claims of violence were "inflated", it described "poor standards of care delivery".

On Tuesday, Ms Sandland referred to this inquiry and said Dhulwa was "not a safe workplace".

She also described being distrustful of Canberra Health Services, saying she felt like the organisation was trying to "trick" her.

The questions asked of Ms Sandlands generally focused on whether the emails in question contained confidential information, rather than her reasons for sending them.

However, she indicated she had compiled at least some of the material for the nurses' union and WorkSafe ACT because she believed it was relevant to safety issues at Dhulwa.

The commission heard she had recently completed written statements, one of which said it was "common practice" for Dhulwa nurses to send material to their personal email addresses.

Permission was given to do so, Ms Sandland is said to have claimed in the statement, in circumstances where nurses had to catch up on reading at home because they did not have time to do it at work.

The hearing, before commissioner Sarah McKinnon, is due to continue on Wednesday.

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