Sacked doctor's fight continues

Dr Feyi Awotona has takes her case back to a tribunal

A doctor who won her fight to prove she was unfairly sacked from a Tyneside hospital is still fighting for her job back six years on.

Consultant obstetrician Feyi Awotona, 49, was sacked from South Tyneside District Hospital in 1998.

But even though an industrial tribunal ruled her sacking was unfair 17 months ago, South Tyneside Health Care Trust (STHCT) refused to take her back.

Now Dr Awotona, of Gosforth, has taken the case back to a Newcastle tribunal.

The case re-opened on Wednesday, but was adjourned within minutes when both parties were sent away to try to thrash out an agreement.

Dr Awotona was due to return to work last year, but trust managers said they could not allow this as other senior doctors at the hospital had threatened to resign.

Raised concerns

They then decided to accept the tribunal's decision to allow her back.

But the latest dispute is over where Dr Awotona should carry out refresher training after having been off work for so long.

The trust also faces a legal bill, estimated to be about £1m, and will also have to pay Dr Awotona compensation.

Dr Awotona, from Gosforth, Newcastle, was sacked for "gross personal misconduct" by the trust.

But she claimed she lost her job because she raised concerns about levels of care at South Tyneside District Hospital in 1998.

An industrial tribunal in April last year, found she had been dismissed because she had been collecting evidence against her bosses for a racial discrimination claim.