Was doctor suspended for complaining about PPE on BBC? Fact Check

Messages online claim that an NHS doctor who spoke out on the BBC about the lack of PPE (personal protective equipment) amid the COVID-19 pandemic was subsequently suspended for their remarks.

UNPROVEN

Examples of this claim as it appeared on social media are below.

Tonight, an NHS Doctor who spoke out about lack of PPE on the BBC has been suspended. Make sure everyone knows.

The NHS Doctor who spoke out about lack of PPE on the BBC has been suspended.
Make sure everyone knows.

However, in all iterations of the message we have seen online, the doctor who was allegedly suspended for talking out on the BBC about a lack of PPE is not identified, nor are any sources provided to back up those claims.

As far as we can determine, this message first appeared on Twitter on April 30th, by Twitter account @toryfibs, and soon copied by another account, @CorbynistaTeen. However both accounts soon removed the tweet, but not before it made its way across Twitter and Facebook, accumulating many thousands of shares.

It is possible that the message was a convoluted and inaccurate telling of this story in the London Economist, published April 28th, two days before the above message first appeared on Twitter. However this story in the London Economist told the story of a hospital cleaner who claimed he was facing disciplinary action for requesting PPE. His version of events is contradicted by his employer, who – according to the London Economist article – assert disciplinary proceedings against him relate to “violent behaviour”.

After the dispute which ensued, he has now been told by employer ISS that he has been suspended with a final warning for “gross misconduct” and disciplinary proceedings against him for “violent behaviour,” which he denies.

Either way, this story doesn’t match up to the message above, since the hospital cleaner was not a doctor, not working for the NHS (he was a private contractor) and he did not speak out about PPE on the BBC or – from what we can determine – any other media outlet.

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Going back further, we find the story of GP Catherine Beanland, who was – according to news reports – barred from working at a community hospital in Ludlow in March 2020 for criticizing its slow response and lack of PPE. However, again, this story doesn’t match the message above, since Dr. Beanland wasn’t suspended (rather barred from providing patient care at a particular hospital) and, according to the report, she was barred because she was “frightening patients” with her PPE (the incident happened in March, before front line staff were advised to wear PPE.) And finally, she did not discuss a lack of PPE on the BBC.

We cannot find any sources that claim an NHS doctor was suspended because they spoke on the BBC regarding a lack of PPE amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the messages asserting this to be true fail to identify the doctor, nor provide any evidence that a NHS doctor was suspended for such actions, we rank this claim unproven.