A hospital worker is facing an inquiry into claims he rigged up a webcam in a bedroom used by nurses and doctors on call during the night.

Biomedical scientist David Gibbs, who worked at Weston General Hospital, is also alleged to have downloaded porn onto computers owned by his employers, Weston Area Health Trust.

Gibbs, who worked in one of the 327-bed hospital's laboratories, is alleged to have downloaded the pornography during a six-month period and stored it on one of the hospital's laptops and on CD-Roms belonging to the trust.

He also faces claims that he loaded unauthorised software on to a hospital computer.

Gibbs now faces a fitness to practise hearing and could be suspended or struck off if the Health Professions Council's conduct and competence committee finds against him.

He has been called to face a hearing in London next week.

WAHT said yesterday that its policy prevented it from confirming whether or not Gibbs still worked at the hospital in Grange Road, which employs 1,800 people.

The trust declined a request by the Post to speak to Gibbs, whose current whereabouts have not been revealed, to allow him to comment on the allegations facing him and also refused to state whether he had been subject to any disciplinary proceedings within the hospital.

Biomedical scientists carry out a range of laboratory tests to assist doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. They are governed by the HPC, which was set up to protect the public with a similar role to that carried out by the General Medical Council for doctors and the Nursing and Midwifery Council for nursing staff. The HPC will consider whether Gibbs should remain on their register as a result of his actions.

The allegations against the biomedical scientist date back to 2007. They state that on October 7 he connected a webcam to a PC owned by WAHT in an on-call staff bedroom.

On October 1, 3 and 7 he is said to have loaded unauthorised software onto a trust computer.

On September 15 and 30 he is alleged to have downloaded and stored pornographic images onto a WAHT laptop.

Between February and July 2007 it is alleged that Gibbs downloaded pornographic images onto a CD-Rom disc owned by the trust.

The HPC regards all of the matters as misconduct allegations and said that, if proved, Gibbs' fitness to practise would be impaired as a result.

Gibbs could face a caution, suspension, or could even be struck off if the hearing panel deems the case serious enough.

A spokeswoman for the HPC said: "All hearings are treated the same and come before the panel to respond to the allegation."