A senior midwife claimed she was forced to resign from a Sussex hospital because she was bullied, harassed and intimidated by her boss.

Ruth Johnston, 61, from Lewes, told a Brighton employment tribunal her life was made a misery after she was promoted six years ago to the post of midwifery manager at the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath.

Mrs Johnston, a nurse since 1956, is claiming compensation for constructive dismissal from Mid Sussex NHS Trust. The trust denies treating her unfairly.

She accused her former boss, Sandra Tranter, head of the women's and children's directorate, of constantly carping and criticising her.

She said: "She ground me down so much, I felt I could not cope with her anymore. I was unhappy and I was having panic attacks.

"The trust's attitude was that I was the one at fault and she was never reprimanded. It was impossible for me to continue working for the trust and I reluctantly resigned."

The problems between the two women came to a head in 1995, after midwives at the hospital complained about low morale and claimed patients' lives were at risk because of staff shortages.

Protest The midwives made their protest to the hospital's chief executive without Mrs Johnston's knowledge. Mrs Tranter then decided Mrs Johnston's job should change and she was moved out of her office.

Mrs Johnson said the changes were just a knee-jerk reaction to the midwives' protest and made part of her job impossible to carry out.

She was over-worked, she claimed, and not given sufficient training or support from her managers. A memo, cutting back on her responsibilities, made her feel distressed and embarrassed in front of colleagues.

Mrs Johnston told the hearing: "I became a glorified ward clerk. The changes simply did not make sense."

In February 1998, she became increasingly worried about providing safe care for the patients because of staff shortages and her request for extra midwives was agreed by the director of finance.

She was thrilled with the decision but she accused Mrs Tranter of expressing amazement and asking Mrs Johnson what favours she had done for him to agree to her request.

When the trust decided to move her to the job of a community midwife, she felt it was a demotion and was signed off sick with stress in November 1998.

She invoked the trust's grievance procedure but was unhappy with the outcome. She resigned in February this year.

The hearing was adjourned until December 11.