Doctor accused of harassment can work again

A doctor who was suspended after sending hundreds of personal messages to a married colleague has been told she can return to the profession.

Rebecca Alia Lobo was handed a six-month suspension by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service last August after being accused of harassing a consultant.

Ipswich-based medic Lobo, who worked at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, was said to have sent hundreds of text messages to him.

A panel determined her conduct amounted to harassment before suspending her, but, following a review, a tribunal hearing ruled she was once again fit to practise.

"Dr Rebecca Alia Lobo's fitness to practise is not impaired, therefore there's currently no restrictions on her registration," a spokesperson said.

The panel previously heard how Lobo had sent him more than 275 WhatsApp messages about personal matters and her private life and tried to gift him a leather bag and her childhood doll.

She also accessed his medical records, and those of his wife, who was also a doctor and who she would often stare at, the report said.

Lobo, who no longer works for the trust, also sent him photos, initiated shift swaps so they could work together, offered to work shifts without payment and followed him around the department, the tribunal was told.

She would also reportedly visit wards where he was working, even when she was not required to do so, and repeatedly requested work meetings with him.

Lobo admitted all of the allegations levelled against her.

After serving her suspension, a tribunal hearing on Friday concluded: "Dr Lobo's fitness to practise is no longer impaired".

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