The former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro has broken her silence to criticise the Football Association over its investigation into remarks allegedly made by the side’s manager, Jose Mourinho, on the touchline late in a match against Swansea City in August.

Carneiro, who formally left the Premier League club last week, insisted the governing body had made no effort to contact her for a statement over the incident, and revealed they had also failed to seek her out after she was the subject of sexist abuse during a fixture at West Ham United last season. She suggested those incidents, coupled with the lack of support she had received from the game’s authorities, were indicative of how hard life was for women involved in football.

“I was surprised to learn that the FA was allegedly investigating the incident of 8 August via the press,” she said in a statement. “I was at no stage requested by the FA to make a statement. I wonder whether this might be the only formal investigation in this country where the evidence of the individuals involved in the incident was not considered relevant. Choosing to ignore some of the evidence will surely influence the outcome of the findings”.

She continued: “Last season I had a similar experience at a game at West Ham FC, where I was subject to verbal abuse. Following complaints by the public, the FA produced a communication to the press saying there had been no sexist chanting during this game. At no time was I approached for a statement despite the fact that vile unacceptable, sexually explicit abuse was clearly heard. It is incidents such as these and the lack of support from the football authorities that make it so difficult for women in the game”.

FA chairman Greg Dyke: José Mourinho should apologise to Eva Carneiro Read more

During the incident in August, Mourinho had been infuriated that Carneiro and the physio Jon Fearn had entered the field of play, having been waved on by the referee, to treat Eden Hazard in stoppage time as his 10 men sought to close out a 2-2 draw. Mourinho reacted furiously.

A complaint subsequently submitted by a third party to the FA centred upon whether he used the phrase filha da puta, with filha being the feminine and singular in the Portuguese, as opposed to the masculine filho.

After bringing in an expert in Portuguese linguistics, the FA said it was satisfied on Wednesday that the language used by the manager was not discriminatory under its rules. The governing body has suggested Carneiro was not called as a witness as she had not submitted the complaint herself – the same was true of the alleged chanting at West Ham – but, in the aftermath of the game against Swansea, the FA said their regulatory team did contact her lawyers to ask if she wished to provide any evidence.

An FA spokesman said: “We have never received any information or complaint from Dr Carneiro. Including in written correspondence with her lawyers, it has been made explicitly clear that if Dr Carneiro had evidence to provide or wished to make a complaint she was more than welcome to do so. That route remains open.”

Both Carneiro and Fern were told immediately after the Swansea match that they could no longer attend training sessions, games or enter the team hotel with Mourinho publicly critical of both. That decision effectively constituted a demotion.

While Fearn remains an employee at Chelsea, Carneiro, who had taken to social media to thank people for their support, left the club’s staff last week and remains in dialogue with her own legal team over the nature of her departure.

Heather Rabbatts, an independent board member and the head of the FA’s inclusion advisory board, criticised the governing body on Thursday for failing to interview Carneiro in person.

“A highly respected medic, a woman at the top of her profession in football, has been mistreated, undermined, verbally abused and yet no one apart from Dr Carneiro has faced significant consequences,” Rabbatts said. “In addition, the demotion of Dr Carneiro and her subsequent departure from Chelsea FC raises important issues which the club, the FA, the Premier League, the PFA and the LMA need to address.”

Carneiro expressed her thanks to Rabbatts for speaking out. “I admire what Heather Rabbatts has done and thank her and friends and colleagues who have supported me at this very difficult time,” she said.

The FA’s chairman, Greg Dyke, had voiced his own concern over the issue in a letter sent to council members after Wednesday’s FA board meeting, suggesting Mourinho had been guilty of “failure of his personal judgement,” despite the body’s disciplinary process having cleared him of wrongdoing.

“There have been some well-documented issues of late around equality and inclusion in the game, an issue where it is vital we continue to show clear leadership,” Dyke’s letter read. “I felt the handling of the case of the Chelsea doctor, Eva Carneiro, was a good example of this. We supported Heather Rabbatts’ strong statement on the matter earlier in the month.

“Personally I don’t think Mr Mourinho comes well out of the whole saga – he clearly made a mistake in the heat of a game, and should have said so and apologised. Instead he has said very little and Miss Carneiro has lost her job. Our regulatory team have investigated this and whilst Mr Mourinho has breached no rules it was clearly a failure of his personal judgement and public behaviour. This should be seen as such by the game.”

Mourinho, who has consistently denied using discriminatory language against Carneiro, declined to comment on the issue when it was put to him at his pre-match press conference on Friday. “For the past two months I didn’t open my mouth, and I’m going to keep it like this,” he said. “One day I will speak, but I will choose the day.”