Radiologist sacked after ‘raising racism and safety fears’

A TOP radiologist claims he was unfairly dismissed after exposing racism and concerns about patient safety.

Dr Naveen Bhatt was sacked for gross misconduct after allegedly being abusive towards a colleague and “weaponising” an NHS system for reporting safety incidents to criticise co-workers in the Avon Breast Screening Unit.

His lawyer, Stephen Butler, told an employment tribunal those colleagues filed a grievance against the consultant radiologist because he raised concerns they had endangered patients.

Dr Bhatt, who is of Indian origin, also claimed he had been treated differently because of his race.

Representing the “multicultural” University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Trust, Eleena Misra denied that healthcare professionals would have objected to him raising patient safety concerns and said he was dismissed after an “irretrievable” breakdown of relationships.

The trust recognised 12 of his 15 disclosures as protected under whistle-blowing legislation.

Mr Butler told a tribunal hearing on October 28 which Dr Bhatt did not attend: “Anything he said in relation to the racism allegation was rejected on the basis he didn’t have any evidence. What evidence could he had? He couldn’t wave a piece of paper saying ‘we’re treating you differently because of your race’.”

NHS records show Dr Bhatt was employed by the Weston Area Health Trust, which merged with the University Hospital Bristol Trust in April 2020 to form the UHBW Trust.

Ms Misra said the trust is multicultural and there are many other employees of Indian origin.

She said Dr Bhatt was unable to expand on his claims he had been subjected to racism and the information he gave was “incoherent and sketchy at best”.

Judge Andrew Midgley told the tribunal he would be reserving the judgment and it would be handed down in writing as soon as possible.