Polish heart doctor is first taken to tribunal for his poor English
A POLISH doctor yesterday became the first medic from within the European union to face a disciplinary tribunal because of his poor English.
Dr Tomasz Fryzlewicz, 56, had worked in the NHS for eight years before being asked to sit the new English language test – which he then failed three times.
He now faces sanctions after the tribunal ruled that his poor communication skills could harm patients.
The heart specialist arrived in the uK in 2006 and worked as a locum in several hospitals despite senior colleagues worrying that he could not understand instructions.
But it was not until last year that the General Medical Council was granted powers to order doctors from within the Eu to sit an English exam.
The policy change came after German locum Daniel ubani gave a patient a lethal dose of morphine in 2008 in part due to his poor English.
Dr Fryzlewicz was asked to sit the International English Language Testing System after fears he could not speak English well enough to practise medicine safely in the uK. The tribunal in Manchester heard how he was ‘unwilling or unable’ to improve his English despite ‘serious wide-ranging concerns’ about his grasp of the language for a number of years.
yet despite three attempts over five months, he failed to achieve the minimum score of 7.5 – and even scored his lowest result in the final resit. During this time, he was fired from two hospitals due to concerns about his language skills.
He was also offered a post in cardiology at John radcliffe Hospital in Oxford – but the offer fell through after he sent various emails in broken English. In one, he wrote of sending ‘a massage’ and added: ‘I still don’t get answer and nobody contact with me.’
At the fitness to practise hearing in Manchester, Dr Fryzlewicz, from Plymouth, became the first medic in the uK to be disciplined since the GMC was granted the power to make doctors sit an English exam.
Previously, only doctors from outside the Eu could be tested.
The tribunal heard that Dr Fryzlewicz was employed as a locum registrar at the Princess Alexandra Hos- pital in Harlow, Essex, in June last year but was fired six weeks later. He was subsequently given a job at university College London Hospital last September but was axed after only three weeks.
Dr Jeremy Sayer, a cardiology consultant at the Princess Alexan- dra, found that Dr Fryzlewicz could be ‘difficult to understand’.
‘I sometimes would have to ask him to go back over things to make sure that I had understood what he was saying,’ said Dr Sayer.
‘We were having to spend too much time making sure that our communications with Dr Fryzlewicz were understood.’
Dr Simon Woldman, a senior cardiologist at university College Hospital, described Dr Fryzlewicz’s comprehension of English as ‘sub-optimal’.
‘I was never really sure that he had understood the instructions he was being given,’ he said.
The doctor denied wrongdoing, claiming his English tests results were ‘not accurate’ and had been ‘manipulated’ by the GMC.
In broken English he said: ‘Maybe sometimes I speak Polish because it is a great pleasure for me – but every day I read newspapers and books and every day to my home the Wall Street Journal comes and every day I read that so it means I can have contact with the English language.’
The panel found Dr Fryzlewicz’s fitness to practise impaired by reason of not having the necessary knowledge of English. Chairman Dr Harvey Marcovitch said: ‘Although there has been no evidence of actual harm to patients ... your problems in communication give rise to a potential for harm.’
Dr Fryzlewicz is currently not licensed to practise in the uK because he does not meet the English language requirements. The GMC panel will announce the sanctions it is imposing on him today.
‘Difficult to understand’