BELARUSIAN NHS DOCTOR LOSES UNFAIR DISMISSAL CASE OVER COMMUNICATION SKILLS

A Belarusian doctor has lost her £100,000 unfair dismissal claim against the NHS after an employment tribunal found she was sacked because she "failed to meet the standard required." Dr Maryna Anatolyeva had been placed at St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as a doctor in training between August 2018 and August 2022. She was on a postgraduate training programme in anaesthetics supported by NHS England. The tribunal rejected her claim that her dismissal was unlawful.

Dr Anatolyeva told an earlier tribunal hearing in Manchester that she found "small talk" difficult and "could not understand the British fascination with the weather," attributing the difference to her upbringing in Belarus. She also alleged that a female manager told her a consultant role was not "suitable" for her because she was a single mother. Dr Anatolyeva had argued she was treated less favourably than other trainees on grounds of race, as a Russian-speaking person from Belarus, and on grounds of neurodiversity. Both discrimination claims were dismissed by the tribunal at an early stage.

Multiple experienced consultants at the trust told a subsequent tribunal hearing that Dr Anatolyeva's communication, leadership, and teamworking skills did not meet the standard expected. St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust became part of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2023. The employment tribunal ultimately ruled that the dismissal was fair and threw out all of Dr Anatolyeva's claims.