A SCOTS support worker has been issued with a warning after grabbing a care user by the neck and hair before pushing them into a room.
James O’Reilly was also found to have sworn towards the same care user in their presence at a care facility in Perth.
O’Reilly, who is employed as a senior support worker by Advanced Specialist Care – part of Balhousie Care Group – was found to have resorted to “physical intervention” with the care user on or around 19 October 2020.
The care worker from Perth verbally abused the person, stating “No (redacted) isn’t f***ing getting away with that”.
He then resorted to physical abuse by grabbing them by the neck and hair before pushing them into their room.
Following an investigation by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), O’Reilly was issued with a warning on his registration for three years.
The SSSC said: “You failed to attempt or apply any non-physical de-escalation techniques. Your actions had the potential to cause physical and emotional harm to AA.
“As a result of your actions, AA may feel unable to trust social service workers in the future, which would place them at further risk.
“Your behavior raises concerns regarding your underlying values as your failure to provide the required care to a service user signifies a disregard for their wellbeing.
“The SSSC are not sufficiently assured that your behavior will not be repeated due to the serious nature of the behavior.
“A failure to make a finding of impairment to your fitness to practice would undermine the public’s confidence and trust in the social services profession and jeopardise the integrity of the register.”
The panel stated that O’Reilly had a lengthy period of good practice in the care industry and showed remorse for his actions.
He also apologised for the incident in question.
On making their decision, the SSSC concluded: “We decided the appropriate sanction is to place a warning on your registration for a period of 36 months.”
A spokesperson for Balhousie Care Group said today: “We hold our staff to high standards and are committed to providing a safe, protective and trustworthy environment for our service users. We have zero tolerance for any behaviour which abuses that trust and protection.
“Management is satisfied that it acted quickly and appropriately to notify the appropriate regulators and deal with the incident in terms of disciplinary action and support.
“This included moving the employee to a different service unit, relieving him of certain responsibilities, and rigorous additional training.”
