Speech and language therapist of Indian origin dismissed in UK: Lost job due to not understanding English, accused of giving wrong information in the form

Sai Keerthana Sriperumbuduru, an Indian-origin speech and language therapist in the UK, was fired from her job for not understanding English properly and giving wrong information in the application. The reason was that she was not able to understand what the patients and colleagues were saying properly. This matter may have happened in June 2024, but its information has now come to light. Rakitna joined York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in October 2023. Shortly after joining, her colleagues realized that she was not able to understand the English of patients and staff properly. Despite being a speech therapist, he had problems in pronunciation, grammar and understanding conversations. His services were ultimately terminated in June 2024. The claim of English as first language turned out to be wrong. In the application, Keertana had declared English as her first language, but later admitted in the review meeting that her mother tongue is Telugu. Later in December, she revealed that she was taking classes to improve her English along with her job. Another important thing that came to light in this matter was that in the job application he had declared English as his ‘first language’. Whereas according to the rules of form, the ‘first language’ is considered to be the one which the person uses the most in everyday life. Merely studying through English medium does not make it a first language. Kirtana wanted to avoid face-to-face conversation. Kirtana’s manager also told that during the interview, she had requested to ask questions through the chat box, that is, she wanted to avoid face-to-face conversation. This was considered unusual, especially as she was living in the UK at the time. A hospital trust spokesperson confirmed that Sai Keerthana was on assignment from October 2023 to June 2024 and her services were terminated in June. Keerthana challenged this decision and said that her education was in English, so it should be considered her first language. But the panel did not accept this argument. The panel said that he gave false information to get the job and it was an attempt to cheat. After this he was removed from the register. What the Tribunal said: The application form clearly states “Is English your first language?” The answer to this question should be ‘yes’ only if English is your main everyday language. Simply studying in English does not make it considered a first language. According to the Daily Mail report, Sai Keerthana said that he genuinely believed that English could be considered his first language in the context of his education and professional work. He told the panel in writing that he did not know that under UK rules “first language” means the main language used in everyday life. After the hearing the panel said this was an attempt to hide his lack of English ability and was considered dishonest.



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