A doctor broke down in tears as she told today (TU
A doctor broke down in tears as she told today (TUES) how her dreams of being a GP were ruined by a ‘bullying’ teacher.
Nargis Sheikh, 56, said she was so embarrassed about the doctor’s report on her work that she did not mention it on job applications.
The mother-of-four told the General Medical Council: ‘I was really harassed and bullied and in a way discriminated.
‘He was making me out as if I knew nothing.
‘
Dr Sheikh is now accused of serious professional misconduct for hiding the reasons why she was sacked from her training post in Stalbridge, Dorset in November 2000.
Trainer Dr Geoffrey Sparrow had criticised her for her incompetence and lack of medical knowledge.
The Dean of GP education in Wessex then advised her to give up on GP training and stick to working in psychiatry and paediatrics.
But she did not reveal the concerns in applications for training posts in Middlesex, the West Midlands, Wales, Kent, Surrey and Sussex in August 2001.
Dr Sheikh told the committee she would have talked about them if she was granted an interview.
She said: ‘I thought it was advice, not a disqualification.
‘Looking back I should have disclosed this but at the time I thought it was very unfair for them to say this.
‘I was so shocked and numb with the whole thing, it was an embarrassing thing and I thought I could discuss it at interview.
‘
The doctor was refused further training posts in all three areas.
Dr Simon Smail of the Wales Deanery based in Heath Park, Cardiff, told how Sheikh was not even shortlisted for a place.
But he added: ‘It was not a competent application because it was clear she had already been offered a six month extension.
‘We told her it would be best considered by the Deanery who offered her training in the first place.
‘
Dr Sheikh later took up a job at the Hertfordshire Learning Disability Unit in Watford in April 2002 but left within two weeks.
It is claimed she sent in an old reference from her boss without being given permission.
She last worked as a locum psychiatrist for the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust in December 2002.
The doctor, of [36] Whippendell Road, Watford, Hertfordshire, denies her actions were dishonest, unprofessional or deliberately misleading and that they amounted to serious professional misconduct.
The hearing continues.
ends
mmmm
