NHS apologises after hospital doctor took own life

The doctor in charge of medical training for NHS England has apologised unreservedly to the family of a medic who took her own life.

Dr Vaish Kumar, a junior doctor, left a suicide note blaming her death entirely on the hospital where she worked, her family revealed last year.

Dr Kumar, 35, was wrongly told she needed to do a further six months of training before starting a new role.

It meant she was forced to stay at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) in Birmingham, where she had been belittled by colleagues, an inquest heard.

In a letter to Dr Kumar's family, seen by the BBC, NHS bosses admitted she did not need to do the extra training.

Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce and training education officer for England, told the family in the letter: "I wish to unreservedly apologise for these mistakes and for the impact they would have had.

"As an organisation we are determined to learn... not only across the Midlands but across England as a whole."

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Source: BBC News, 13 February 2024