A DOCTOR who juggled two jobs at hospitals more than 300 miles apart has been suspended for six months.

Father-of-six Dr Nour Ahmed-Ebiarry, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the former Queen's Park Hospital, was told by a General Medical Council that he had been 'dishonest' and had 'seriously undermined the trust the public have in the profession'.

The GMC hearing has prev-iously been told that Dr Ebiarry worked at the former Blackburn hospital between January 1 and October 22, 2005.

But on September 1, 2005, he started an identical second full-time post at St Mary's Hospital in London - 300 miles away.

The hearing was told how, after taking up his new position, he took large periods of sickness and holiday leave to work at the London hospital.

But after hearing that Dr Ebiarry had been 'consumed' in a number of disputes with management at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, the panel decided not to strike him off the register.

The doctor was at the centre of a race relations storm in 2002 which saw top bosses admit that the trust had been guilty of institutional racism'.

However a number of trust managers had been cleared of racism, following a number of claims made by Dr Ebiarry and fellow consultant Salim Naja.

In his defence, after the panel ruled his fitness to practice had been impaired, Junaid Qureshi, chairman of the Ethnic Minority Development Association, said he thought that Dr Ebiarry's judgement had been 'clouded' by his grievances against the hospital.

Panel chairman Paddy Conway said: "It is clear that from September 1, 2005 you were employed by both the East Lancashire Hospitals Trust and St Mary's NHS Trust in full time permanent positions.

"The geographic distance and timing of contractual obliga-tions made this an impossible situation for you, even if it had been agreed by either trust (which it was not and could not be).

"You thereby breached your contractual obligations in a number of instances."

The panel determined that while there was no direct evidence of harm to patients, the situation would have caused extra strain on colleagues, and potential risk to those he was responsible for treating.

Following the GMC ruling, the consultant will undergo a review, towards the end of his six-month suspension.