A SCOTS carer has been struck off after pushing an elderly resident with dementia to the floor and telling her colleagues to “just leave him there”.
Jacqueline Taylor, who worked at Lunan Court Care Home in Arbroath, Angus, was removed from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) yesterday.
Taylor was found to have pulled the gentleman’s fingers back in order to take a cup of tea from him.
When leaving the room she then “forcefully” pushed the resident on the back, saying “just get him out of here”.
The man then fell to the floor after “hitting his left side against the partition door”.
Whilst he was on the floor Taylor then told her colleagues to “just leave him there”.
The SSSC found that Taylor also told another vulnerable female resident that “she should just die”.
The Scottish care regulator issued a removal order for Taylor yesterday after finding her fitness to practice impaired.
The statement read: “Social services workers are expected not to abuse or harm people who use services or put people at unnecessary risk.
“You pulled a resident’s fingers back, carried out an act of physical violence by
deliberately pushing the resident forward, shout ‘get him out of here’ and forcefully push the resident forward, causing him to fall.
“While the resident was on the floor you said to colleagues to just leave him there which demonstrated a lack of empathy.
“The resident was entitled to place his trust in you to care for him and act in his best interests.
“Your actions abused this trust and harmed the resident.
“This behaviour raises concerns over your values and is attitudinal in nature.
“It falls far short of the standards expected from you as a registered worker in a caring profession.
“You commented, in front of a resident and colleagues, that the resident should just die.
“This is inappropriate, disrespectful and placed a resident at risk of emotional harm.
“Such behaviour is at odds with the values expected from social services members.”
The panel stated that Taylor had no previous history of misconduct and that she provided positive character references.
Speaking today, Taylor said: “I asked to be removed as I no longer wanted to work within the care industry as I personally did not get looked after from the private company I worked for.”
Taylor also made claims about HC1, the care company who employed her at Lunan Court Care Home and runs over 130 care homes across the UK.
She said: “I contracted Coronavirus in May 2020 whilst helping out at Home Farm Care Home, Skye.
“The area manager could have prevented the deaths of these people.
“There were holes in the window sills, broken windows, the staff were using air freshener to clean the home in the middle of a pandemic.
“Disgusting.”
A spokesperson for Lunan Court said: “The safety, health and wellbeing of our residents are our top priorities.
“HC-One has a zero-tolerance approach to the type of behaviour that has occurred and fully support the decision of the Scottish Social Care Services.
“We will always take action against anyone who falls short of the values and high standards we expect and Residents rightly deserve.
“When HC-One Colleagues raised their concerns about the individual immediately after this incident, we took swift action to suspend them, inform them they should not, and could not return to the home, and contacted the SSSC to file a formal complaint.
“Our colleagues followed all necessary procedures, including notifying the relevant authorities as soon as we were aware of their behaviour, and acted in accordance with the adult support protection training that is a fundamental part of HC-One’s rigorous training programme.
“We can confirm that, prior to working in the home, this individual passed all pre-employment checks, including an enhanced PVG check.”
