A SCIENTIST who was suspended from the Royal Bournemouth Hospital for “serious and wide-ranging” incompetence has been struck off following a hearing by the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).

Biomedical scientist Raoul Ebau worked at the Department of Immunology and Pathology at RBH processing blood and faecal samples from January to April 2015.

He was removed from the HCPC register following a substantive review of a suspension order originally imposed on February 3 2017.

A panel heard that Mr Ebau was originally suspended for a period of twelve months on the grounds of misconduct and a lack of competence whilst employed with the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

The panel further heard that Mr Ebau’s failings included inappropriately preparing samples for an anti-nuclear antibody run which resulted in around 17 samples having erroneous results.

Panel Chair Ian Comfort said: “Mr Ebau’s lack of competence was serious and wide ranging. He has demonstrated consistently that he has no insight into the level of his failings. He has not learnt from his errors or otherwise taken steps to improve his performance.”

Mr Ebau was neither present nor represented at the hearing.

In April 2015 Mr Ebau was subject to an internal investigation and was suspended by RBH.

A witness said when challenged about errors Mr Ebau was unapologetic and said “he was new and these things happen.”

It was also said that he “could never be relied upon to complete tasks without making errors.”

Mr Ebau qualified in Italy in 2004 and worked as a medical laboratory assistant in the UK before getting the job at RBH.

At the time of Mr Ebau’s suspension, Karen Allman, director of human resources at RBH, said: “We would also like to reassure patients that samples are checked by at least two members of staff to ensure they are accurate.”