NHS Dietitian Faces Extended Suspension Over Unorthodox Patient Recommendations
A National Health Service dietitian has been suspended for an additional six months following a tribunal review of her unconventional medical advice, which included prescribing yoga for a 91-year-old Parkinson's sufferer, extolling the health benefits of listening to Classic FM radio, and instructing patients to chew each mouthful of food precisely 32 times.
Questionable Practices Uncovered During Locum Tenure
Aparna Srivastava served as a locum dietitian for just four months at an NHS healthcare practice in Hull, East Yorkshire, before her bizarre communications with colleagues raised serious concerns about her professional competence. The Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) panel heard that Ms Srivastava's recommendations frequently lacked appropriate clinical justification and ventured into territory well beyond standard dietary guidance.
During her brief tenure with the East Riding Community Dietitian team at City Health Care Partnership, which concluded in February 2018, Ms Srivastava advised Patient A to consume apple cider vinegar, but only specific brands Bragg or Aspall, without providing medical reasoning for this brand specificity. She further instructed this patient to drink eight glasses of tepid water daily and meticulously chew each mouthful of food 32 times before swallowing.
Alternative Therapies and Musical Prescriptions
The tribunal revealed particularly concerning advice given to a 91-year-old cancer patient, whom Ms Srivastava directed to practice Sahaja Yoga, a meditation technique founded in 1970 aimed at achieving "thoughtless awareness and self-realisation by awakening inner Kundalini energy." She suggested the elderly patient could undertake this yoga form with family assistance and technology rather than attending instructor-led classes, though her clinical notes contained no justification for this recommendation.
Additional unconventional advice to this patient included consuming root vegetables, drinking lemon ginger juice with Manuka honey and black pepper in hot water each morning, daily kefir consumption, and using grated rind of unwaxed lemons to counteract bad tastes in the mouth.
In another instance, Ms Srivastava recommended a patient "drink warm water on rising, and before meals" and "listen to Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia flute music." She explained to the panel that she prescribed both Chaurasia's music and Classic FM to different patients as stress-reduction techniques, suggesting Classic FM be listened to "first thing at night and last thing in the evening."
Dangerous Misinformation About Cancer Treatment
The most alarming revelations emerged from emails Ms Srivastava sent to a colleague, known as Colleague C, in which she claimed that "cancer does not spread without sugar and will die on its own without sugar." She further asserted that taking a whole lime in warm water is "1,000 times more effective than chemotherapy" and that consuming three spoonfuls of organic or virgin coconut oil each morning "will keep cancer at bay."
When confronted about these statements, Ms Srivastava claimed she was merely highlighting bad cancer treatment advice she had received from a third party, but this explanation was rejected by both her colleague and the practice. Colleague C testified that she understood the WhatsApp message as advocacy for following these nutritional approaches to cancer treatment rather than as a warning about misinformation.
Additional Professional Lapses and Tribunal Findings
The HCPTS panel identified multiple other professional shortcomings during Ms Srivastava's brief NHS employment. She recommended pearl barley, which contains gluten, to a patient suffering from coeliac disease—a serious autoimmune condition where gluten consumption damages the small intestine's lining. She also suggested fizzy drinks to patients with digestive conditions unsuitable for processing carbonated beverages.
The tribunal panel determined that recommending Classic FM without clinical explanation "did fall below the standards but it was not so serious as to constitute misconduct because, not least, it carried no clear risk of patient harm." However, they found the statutory ground of lack of competence substantiated, noting this represented "another example of the Registrant providing nonstandard advice, with no explanation or clinical reasoning around it."
Disciplinary History and Current Status
Following initial concerns about her fitness to handle patients, the HCPTS initially imposed a two-year conditions of practice order focused on further training and supervision. When that order elapsed, Ms Srivastava received a six-month suspension, which has now been extended by an additional six months while her professional position undergoes further review.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about alternative medical advice being improperly integrated into standard NHS practice without appropriate clinical justification or evidence-based reasoning. The extended suspension allows for continued assessment of whether Ms Srivastava can meet the required professional standards for NHS dietitians moving forward.
