Nurse is given work ban

Care home resident left to sit in own filth for hours

A NURSE who left a care home resident to sit in their own filth for five hours has been banned from working in the sector.

Euphemia Stewart left the elderly person, who has not been identified, sitting with an unchanged incontinence pad from 7.45am1pm on or about May 15 2017.

Despite this, Stewart falsely recorded the resident as having twice been examined.

And having been told by a colleague that the pad was heavy with urine at 3pm, Ms Stewart reportedly indicated her refusal to log this, lest it implicate her in failing to look after the resident.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) found there was evidence to find Stewart had acted dishonestly during her shift at Harestane Care Home in Douglas.

Her conduct, the watchdog said, left the resident “heavily incontinent” and undignified.

An independent panel convened by the SSSC elected to strike the worker off.

In a report released following the decision, the watchdog said: “Your actions resulted in a resident being heavily incontinent with urine.

“Such behaviour is of a serious nature and falls far below the standards of conduct expected of social service workers.

“Falsifying care records is something that the public would rightly view with concern.

“The public rely on social service workers to be honest when recording care, even when this does not portray them in the best light.

“A failure to complete charts accurately and honestly could have potentially serious consequences for service users.

“The SSSC has concerns about you working with vulnerable service users were you to repeat this behaviour.”

Stewart, who was reported as not engaging with the investigation, reportedly did not show any insight or regret over her conduct. She no longer works in the care sector.

Priority Care, the firm that operates Harestane Care Home, declined to comment.

Harestane Care Home.