A DEAL has been struck between an eye specialist who claimed racial discrimination and his former bosses at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Dr Sharif Ragheb had claimed at a Manchester employment tribunal he was told colleagues ‘didn’t want his department to be run by an Arab’.

The former locum consultant ophthalmologist also alleged he had felt ‘embarrassed and humiliated, when he was given a termination letter from the trust’s human resources department shortly before he was due to perform surgery.

But half way through the tribunal hearing the doctor’s claims for racial discrimination, unfair dismissal, breach of contract and detrimental treatment after making disclosures, have been dropped.

The Employment Tribunal Service said the hearing was due to go ahead his week, but both parties had agreed terms with ACAS, the conciliation service.

Another claim made by Dr Ragheb, from Wilsden, near Bingley, West Yorkshire, was that he had been targeted by hospital bosses after raising concerns regarding plagarism.

The specialist, who carried out clinics at the Royal Blackburn, Burnley General and former Rossendale hospitals, had completed an article for a journal but then discovered that a colleague had also tried to secure publication for the same work.

But hospital chiefs told the tribunal panel that the trust had already begun a recruit process for two permanent consultant ophthalmologists, before Mr Ragheb had raised any concerns.

David Smithson, human resources head at the hospital trust, said the terms of the agreement were confidential to both parties.