AN ENGINEER working at Basingstoke hospital has been told he displayed a “lack of competence” which delayed the opening of a new health unit.

Dudu Miah has been struck off by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) last week over his conduct while tasked with delivering a radiotherapy service, including a linear accelerator (LINAC) in the new radiotherapy department of the hospital’s Cancer Services Unit.

Mr Miah was working as a clinical scientist for the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) between November 4, 2013 and June 25, 2014.

However, there were allegations made against Mr Miah that he had failed in his responsibility to commission all equipment to deliver the service.

During a hearing of the conduct and competence committee for the HCPTS, the panel heard how Mr Miah had fallen short on several aspects of his responsibility to carry out the service.

The report from the hearing stated Mr Miah did not follow good practice by not ensuring that ‘end-to-end’ testing of processes was undertaken and provided assurances to the trust’s cancer services clinical director and operations director that work had been completed when it was not the case.

The report read: “The radiotherapy service was not ready for treating patients. Therefore, by inference, there were delays in starting up the service against the trust’s overarching Radiotherapy Project Plan.”

The panel heard evidence from witnesses about their “shock” that the LINAC service was not ready in time to “go live” on April 25, 2014 and that Mr Miah “acted dishonestly” in saying the work had been completed.

The report added: “As radiotherapy medical physics and clinical engineering lead on this project, the registrant had a clear duty to keep his managers informed of his and his team’s progress.

“He had opportunities to do so through formal project progress meetings and informal discussions with his immediate line manager. The registrant clearly failed to take these opportunities and so allowed his managers to continue to believe that the “go live” date was achievable.”

In passing the decision that Mr Miah to be struck off from the medical register, the panel added: “These are serious failures to act professionally and to protect service users and put their interests first.”

A spokesperson for the HHFT said: "Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust acted swiftly to ensure patient safety as soon as the issues surrounding the work of Mr Miah became clear.

"The opening of the radiotherapy unit was delayed and no patients were treated until all of the required checks and training had been undertaken. Mr Miah has not been employed by Hampshire Hospitals since the time of this incident.”

Chair of the HCPTS panel added: "“Mr Miah failed to carry out his responsibilities in the setting up and commissioning of the Trust’s new radiotherapy facility and dishonestly assured his managers that the commissioning tasks were being completed and the agreed timeline would be met.

"These are serious failures to act professionally and to protect service users and put their interests first.”