A heart specialist sacked by a Hospital Trust in 2010 has told an employment tribunal that he was dismissed after a “witch hunt” was carried out against him.
Dr Raj Mattu was fired by University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in 2010, but the case relates back to incidents that commenced in 2001.
In 2001, he “went public” with his experiences of overcrowding in NHS hospitals, publishing details of an experience he had in 1999 where he claimed that five patients had been allocated to four bed-bays in an NHS hospital, leading to hospital staff being unable to use vital equipment to save the life of a patient.
A review in 2004 however cleared the NHS Hospital Trust of any wrongdoing relating to the overcrowding.
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In February 2002, Dr Raj Mattu was suspended by the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust on allegations that he had been bullying and harassing other staff members; however he was cleared of these allegations in July 2007 and returned to work, only to be dismissed again in 2010.
Dr Mattu told the Birmingham Employment Tribunal that he believed the Trust had instructed the Head of Security at the hospital to spy on him in order to gain information on potential misconduct or incompetence.
The Court then heard from Dr Mattu that he believed the reason he was dismissed was because he had blown the whistle in 2001. He added that the Trust’s “unlawful actions” had damaged his health, professional reputation and his livelihood.
He is claiming unfair dismissal, and racial and disability discrimination, all of which the Trust denies.
In response to the claims, the Hospital Trust stated that the reason for Dr Mattu’s dismissal was down to his poor relationship with other hospital staff, claiming that more than 40 colleagues at the hospital in Coventry had fallen out with him prior to his dismissal.
The Tribunal is expected to last until August.
