Female prison psychiatrist who faked four character references to get a job is struck off after attacking lawyer prosecuting her at her medical tribunal claiming he used 'discriminatory' language

A female prison psychiatrist who faked four character references in a bid to get a job has been struck off - after she accused the lawyer prosecuting her of being 'discriminatory'.

Consultant doctor Natalia Wilson, 53, turned on David Birrell and suggested he was being sexist towards women after he politely asked her to stop interrupting him during proceedings.

In a bizarre legal rant, Wilson claimed the experienced barrister 'shouted at her in front of everybody' and said he had used 'discriminatory and abusive language' towards her.

She then called for Mr Birrell, who has been presenting cases for the General Medical Council for a decade, to be replaced by another lawyer, said he had an undiagnosed mental health condition and posed a 'high risk to female litigants.'

She further alleged the GMC itself had broken the law '50 times' during its investigation into her and suggested Mr Birrell see a psychiatrist saying he had 'persecutory delusions' about her.

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester, Wilson, from Drayton, Oxfordshire was ordered to be erased from the medical register after she was found guilty of professional misconduct. 

She denied faking the references and had earlier unsuccessfully applied for the entire hearing to be held in private.

The panel said Mr Birrell, a bi-lingual keen marathon runner who is married to a hospital doctor, had 'not done anything to warrant a complaint.'

Earlier the hearing was told Wilson, who qualified in medicine in Russia and worked at HMP The Mount in Herts and HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, was applying for jobs with the East London NHS Foundation Trust and The Interact Medical locum Agency in 2022.

She set up bogus email addresses to falsify character references purporting to be from four fellow consultant psychiatrists she had briefly met during her career.

Fraud officials at the NHS trust began investigating the authenticity of Wilson's CV and noted one of the referees quoted had their forename and surname the wrong way round. 

Another reference was signed off with just the doctor's surname and not their title.

One of the consultants named only as Dr A said: 'I did not write or send this reference and I do not recall being asked by a Dr Natalia Wilson to provide a reference for her.

'I cannot remember whether or not I have worked with the Dr Natalia Wilson in question here as I have worked with quite a few people called 'Natalia' over my many years of working and I cannot recall their full names.'

Another consultant Dr C said: 'I have never been approached by a Dr Natalia Wilson to be asked to act as her referee or provide a reference for her, never agreed to provide a reference for Dr Wilson and have never provided such a reference.'

A third psychiatrist known as Dr D said: 'The writing on the form is not my handwriting. I have never been asked by Dr Wilson to provide a reference for her. I do not know who she is. As far as I know, I have never worked with Dr Wilson anywhere.

'The signature is absolutely not my signature. I find it very unsettling that a doctor could set up a fake email address, a fake mobile number, and give a fake reference...'

In his submissions, Mr Birrell said: 'This was an extremely serious case of dishonesty. 

'There were four false references provided to two employers and the dishonesty was sustained for about seven weeks, though it might be said it was sustained for two years because, Dr Wilson continues to lie.

'The dishonesty was calculated as Dr Wilson set up the email addresses herself and they looked official and she was careful to use doctors with whom she had some tenuous connection as referees.

'The dishonesty could have endangered patient safety and have had adverse consequences for colleagues. Dr D was worried that the false reference would make her employer think she was 'moonlighting'.'

He added: 'There was a total lack of insight in this case. Dr Wilson denied any wrongdoing and that her contention that referees were colluding to get her into trouble is ludicrous. 

'She is beyond remediation. The public would be horrified to discover that a doctor had been forging references to get jobs to treat patients.'

Wilson, who appeared unrepresented, claimed she was a 'whistleblower' and that the witnesses had been 'scared, intimidated and influenced' by the NHS Trust.

She said: 'The GMC has breached the law more than fifty times during the course of its investigation. The GMC barrister is not well because he continues to use phrases which are used by patients with paranoid schizophrenia. 

'For the sake of the public, Mr Birrell should go and see a private psychiatrist and have medication because his condition is getting worse.

'I am innocent and the GMC has an absolutely wild fantasy because of counsel's mental illness. Mr Birrell is wrong to submit my actions had the potential to endanger patient safety.'

Wilson said there was a term in war known as the 'doctrine of clean hands' and claimed the GMC should have 'clean hands' themselves.

She said she had graduated from Oxford Psychiatry deanery, had British Citizenship for 19 years plus 'British rights which she plans to exercise' adding: 'I'm know what I am talking about.'

She went on: 'I did not make any mistakes was was never a risk to patients. A previous appraisal described me as a sincere doctor - I am more sincere than Mr Birrell. 

'He presents a high risk to the public, especially to vulnerable and protected groups like female litigants in person.'

MPTS chairman Mr Stephen Gowland said: 'Dr Wilson created false email addresses and gave names of clinicians whom she had not approached for a reference but with whom she had had some contact in the past. 

'From these email addresses she provided fake references purporting to be from those clinicians.. Her dishonesty was premediated, sophisticated and sustained.

'There has been no insight shown in respect to the gravity of the findings made and she has used her submissions to direct criticism at GMC counsel rather than addressing the pertinent issues which the Tribunal must consider.'

Mr Gowland added: 'When Dr Wilson said Mr Birrell had shouted at her, it was put on record that the Tribunal had not heard such language from Mr Birrell. 

'It considered that Mr Birrell simply asked in a polite way not to be interrupted by Dr Wilson. At no time did Mr Birrell shout at Dr Wilson. The Tribunal did not see or hear anything to warrant a complaint.'