Three dieticians have been dismissed from NHS roles after investigations revealed deliberate deception and alarming incompetence, with one using AI to cheat in interviews and another lacking basic medical knowledge. The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service found all three guilty of gross misconduct, removing them from the professional register.
Ifenyinwa Chizube Ndulue-Nonso was hired as a dietician at Manchester Royal Infirmary in 2024 after moving from Nigeria to the UK. She claimed to have experience working with various health problems, nutrition-related diseases, eating disorders, and cancer patients. Ndulue-Nonso applied for a Band 6 Rotational Dietician role in August or September 2023 and was the only person interviewed, scoring 28 out of 45 points in her interview, which was assessed as having suitable skills and knowledge. She began work on February 19, 2024.
Within days of starting, colleagues discovered Ndulue-Nonso had worrying gaps in knowledge and inconsistencies in her application. She struggled to calculate BMI and had only a basic understanding of human anatomy, mixing up the small and large intestines. Ndulue-Nonso could not identify a feeding tube. She also believed radiology was used to treat heart failure. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust launched an investigation and suspended Ndulue-Nonso within weeks. She was found guilty of gross misconduct, dismissed, and her appeal failed. The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service panel found Ndulue-Nonso deliberately lied on her application and interview and was not qualified for her role, stating her dishonesty was premeditated and deliberate, putting patients at risk to benefit personally. The panel said she had much to gain personally from securing UK employment, including the right to reside with her family. No one was harmed because supervisors did not allow Ndulue-Nonso to be patient-facing.
In a separate case, Aiwanehi Aigbokhaevbo was struck off the UK register after using ChatGPT to give answers during a remote NHS job interview while in Nigeria. She used AI to provide real-time answers during a video interview for an oncology dietician role at Royal Surrey County Hospital in March 2024. Aigbokhaevbo asked interviewers to repeat questions, repeated them back slowly to buy time, and then gave fluent, textbook-like answers. Interview panel members suspected cheating, put questions into ChatGPT, and noted significant similarities to Aigbokhaevbo's answers. She also used AI to complete a case study after the interview.
Sai Keerthana Sriperambuduru joined York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in October 2023, claiming English was her first language on her application form. Within weeks, colleagues discovered Sriperambuduru appeared unable to communicate with patients or colleagues. She admitted in a review meeting on November 7 that Telugu was her native language, not English, and was sacked eight months after being hired. The HCPTS panel found Sriperambuduru intended to deceive the Trust to gain employment and removed her from the register. Sriperambuduru requested to use a chat-box facility during her interview, which her line manager described as very unusual.
These cases raise systemic questions about NHS hiring safeguards. It remains unclear how many other candidates from Nigeria or elsewhere have been caught using AI or similar deceptive practices in NHS job interviews, and what measures are being taken to address this. The exact references and background checks conducted on Ndulue-Nonso, and why they initially appeared satisfactory, have not been disclosed. The current status or response from Aigbokhaevbo and Sriperambuduru regarding the tribunal findings and their removal from the register is unknown. How widespread the issue of professionals misrepresenting qualifications or using deception to gain NHS employment is, and what systemic changes are being considered to prevent future cases, remains to be seen.