Peter Dickinson

SHE REPORTED NHS FRAUD Sharmila Chowdhury @sharmilaxx exposed two consultant radiologists at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust billing the NHS for sessions while working privately. The Trust sacked her after counter-allegations from a man who later sent an email ending with ... 0800-F***-YOU-B**** ... and was given a Top Mentor award that same year. Then @ITV sent undercover cameras into the hospital and caught the same consultants taking cash from private patients for ultrasound scans inside an NHS building. Sharmila had worked in the @NHS for 30 years without a single disciplinary mark. She reported the fraud to her line manager, the Medical Director, HR, Counter Fraud and the Chief Executive, then took the evidence as far as Number 10 and the Treasury. Instead of protecting the whistleblower, the Trust sacked her on fabricated counter-allegations. Sharmila fought back and won at tribunal. She won her appeal. The judge asked the Trust to reinstate her, but the Trust refused. She was then blacklisted across the NHS. One job offer was withdrawn as soon as the employer discovered who she was, and her legal costs reached around £130,000. Then came the personal cost. Sharmila developed breast cancer and lung cancer. Her doctors linked her illnesses to the prolonged stress she endured during years of fighting the case. The consultants kept their jobs. George Osborne, Andrew Lansley and David Cameron all declined to intervene because the case was treated as an employment matter. Think about what happened here. Sharmila exposed fraud involving NHS money, lost her job, won at tribunal, won her appeal, was refused reinstatement, spent around £130,000 fighting back and became seriously ill. The consultants she reported kept working. Read Sharmila Chowdhury’s full case at sharmilachowdhury_com Sources include Health Select Committee written evidence, @DailyMail, @Independent, @BBCNews, @Channel4, @guardian, @thetimes, @DailyMirror and @Channel4News