Although Doyle at first denied to the tribunal he knew Hall before this, it emerged during the tribunal that he had previously had a number of mentoring meetings with the GP.
The GMC investigation was not taken forward. However, the NHS launched an investigation into Redvers, bringing in an external investigator.
The tribunal heard she was called to what she described as a “brutal” four-hour interrogation.
“It was oppressive, very upsetting. I didn’t feel I had the chance at all to explain what had happened,” she said. “I broke down at one point”.
She said she was off sick for several months as a result and received treatment for trauma.
Other colleagues who were interviewed as part of the investigation into Redvers also complained about the process and the NHS upheld most of their complaints.
The investigation concluded the CEO and trust should apologise to Redvers.
It also warned that Redvers’ treatment would have a “broader negative impact” on the willingness of staff to raise concerns.
In 2023, a year after the grievance outcome, when a trans campaigner suggested in an NHS meeting that she was transphobic, Redvers told the tribunal she felt the NHS did not do enough to support her. She felt she had no choice but to leave her job as a safeguarding GP.
“I just felt there’s no way I could carry on working in this organisation,” she told the BBC.
At about that time, a group of parents, school governors and social workers began raising concerns about WellBn and Hall.
The co-founder of campaign group PSHE Brighton, Rachel Cashman, said: “It is a travesty that Sarah Redvers was punished for doing her job safeguarding and expecting the best standards of care for gender distressed children.”
Redvers is now waiting for the outcome of her employment tribunal. She may not get the judgment for several months.
She described what has happened as “personally and professionally difficult” and said the NHS “needs to remember that patients come first” and it should “listen to staff who raise legitimate concerns.”
In a statement NHS Surrey and Sussex said: “We engaged professionally and supportively with the Employment Tribunal. We recognise that some employment processes should have been handled differently and have apologised whilst Dr Redvers was employed with us, before, and during the hearings. We await the findings of the tribunal to make any further comment.”
NHS England said: “When concerns about prescribing practices by an individual GP were escalated to NHS England national directors in 2023, they met directly with an affected family and asked regional professional standards leads to undertake formal investigations.
“Wider concerns were subsequently identified, and the WellBN practice was asked to stop providing a specialised prescribing service. Further new information led to NHS England and NHS Sussex initiating an independent patient safety investigation in 2025.”
Dr Sam Hall and WellBN have been contacted for comment.
In response to the investigation report in June, WellBN said it recognised “the seriousness and sensitivity of the matters raised” and that its priority remained providing “compassionate, safe and effective care for all patients”.
