An NHS doctor who suffered a “horrific” sexual assault by a fellow medic has described how the investigation was plagued with “mistake after mistake” with her sex life called into question when she made a complaint.
Elizabeth*, who worked as a surgeon at Royal Stoke University Hospital, was assaulted at work – with a colleague grabbing her and forcibly kissing her face and neck as he blocked her from leaving the room.
It has emerged that the senior doctor who targeted her was subsequently arrested for sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 16. He was allowed full access to the hospital and worked with colleagues on research for a month before being suspended.
Speaking to The Independent in her first media interview, Elizabeth, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said the hospital’s investigation into her sexual assault in June 2020 was “heavily misogynistic” and failed to take the incident seriously.
She believes her colleague would have raped her if she hadn’t managed to push him off her, she added.
Despite complaining straightaway, it took ten months for the hospital to find there was a case to answer but as the other doctor had left the trust there was nothing they could do. Elizabeth then took her case to an employment tribunal which found last month that she had been unlawfully discriminated against on the grounds of her sex.
Elizabeth said the assault occurred after a senior doctor asked for an urgent conversation about work at the end of her shift. Inside his office, it quickly emerged the conversation was “just a pretence for getting me into the room”.
She described how he pulled her in for a hug as she tried to leave, making her “feel very uncomfortable”.
“He then pushed me down into the chair and said I seemed really anxious and he started massaging my back,” she added. “I stood up again and I was like, right. I need to go now.”
He then refused to let her go, beginning to kiss her and saying ‘I want a kiss’ while she tried to move her face away from him, she recounted.
“He wouldn’t let go of me,” Elizabeth added. “His hands were around me. Eventually, I managed to push him off. I’ve got no idea where I found the strength from. I ran out of the office. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t got out of that room. I worry that he would have raped me.”
She said she was “brimming with tears” in the toilet after the incident and endured flashbacks about the ordeal in the following days. “I’d close my eyes and I’d feel his breath on my face,” she added.
Elizabeth, who left hospital in August 2020, said she now lives a reclusive life and still suffers flashbacks and nightmares about the incident, as she explained she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.
The employment tribunal’s findings found the hospital’s investigator, Dr Ingi Elsayed, repeatedly asked colleagues “intrusive” questions about Elizabeth’s relationship history as well as probing about rumours linked to her.
The tribunal’s judgment, seen by The Independent, states “a culture of gossip within the trust seems to have prevailed” before later noting “scrutiny of the personal relationships of the claimant who was the victim of an unwanted sexual assault was a serious further act of discrimination”.
The document later adds: “We have made findings of fact that the working environment at the respondent in the clinical setting was not one which set clear boundaries and inappropriate behaviour was allowed to continue left unchecked.”
It also states: “The claimant’s account of the encounter has not been challenged by the respondent.”
Elizabeth said she reported the assault but her manager had “no clue” about how to handle the situation or understanding of the relevant policies, suggesting the pair take part in mediation.
She then reported the incident to a colleague in HR whom, it later transpired, took no notes during the call and failed to do anything to progress the case. On top of this, the NHS trust’s policy to deal with sexual assault in their internal company resources online took her to an error page.
