An Indian-origin woman was sacked from her job as a speech and language therapist in UK after admitting she couldn't understand her colleagues. Sai Keerthana Sriperambuduru joined the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in October 2023, claiming on her application that English was her native language.
As per a Daily Mail report, she added that she was therefore not required to prove her proficiency in speaking the language. However, within weeks of beginning her role as a Band 5 paediatric speech and language therapist (SALT), colleagues quickly discovered that she appeared unable to communicate with them or the patients.
Consequently, she was called into a review meeting on November 7, 2023 and admitted that Telugu was her native language rather than English. During her second review meeting in December of the same year, she said she was taking regular English lessons outside of work but was struggling with transcribing conversations due to children or parents speaking quickly. She was facing difficulties in understanding patients' speech, including pronunciation, sentence structure and grammar.
After eight months of probation, in June 2024, she was sacked on the grounds of capability, stating that the trust "cannot sustain the levels of support without further compromising patient care and the existing team."
Sriperambuduru appealed on the trust's decision and told a Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) hearing that her education was taught in English and it could therefore be considered her first language. However, the panel disagreed and said she intended to deceive the Trust in order to gain employment and was removed from the register.
In the application role, candidates are asked about their English proficiency. "Is English your first language? You should only indicate that English is your first language if it is the main or only language you use on a day-to-day basis," it states.
"Having studied English or undertaken education or training at an institution where the medium of instruction is English does not necessarily mean that English is your first language."
However, Sriperambuduru claimed that she "genuinely believed that English could reasonably be considered my first language in the context of my education and professional practice."
In a written submission to the panel, she said she did not understand that the HCPC definition required English to be the primary language used in all day-to-day life circumstances as understood in the regulatory context. Later in November 2024, she also confirmed to HCPC that she had not taken the IELTS exam before entering the UK.
Moreover, as per her line manager, Sriperambuduru requested to use a chat-box facility which allowed interviewers to type questions to her instead of conversing face-to-face. She described this as 'very unusual' as Ms Sriperambuduru lived in the UK at the time. The panel considered this as an attempt to conceal her lack of proficiency and indicated her dishonesty.
