Glasgow Times

OAP ABUSE CARER STRUCK OFF

Dementia ‘champion’ in foul-mouthed rant at pensioner

- By HANNAH RODGER

ANURSING home’s ‘dementia champion’ has been sacked after abusing a vulnerable man.

The foul-mouthed carer shouted in the dementia sufferer’s face and called him “a paedo”.

A NURSING home’s ‘dementia champion’ has been sacked after abusing a vulnerable man with the degenerati­ve condition.

Marie McLaughlin referred to the elderly resident as an “old c**t” and “a paedo” while working at Whitecraig­s Nursing Home in Thornlieba­nk.

The foul-mouthed carer shouted in the dementia sufferer’s face in front of other residents and staff, and said to a colleague “he can f**k off, I’m not doing his room today”.

On another occasion she said he “liked little girls” as well as telling a colleague that “he will be going upstairs soon enough and we won’t have to deal with him”.

Ms McLaughlin, who was a domestic at the home in Glasgow, stopped working at the facility following the incidents in June, last year.

She had been employed by Mericourt Limited at the facility on Stewarton Road since December 2013, before being dismissed on June 24, last year.

The Scottish Social Services Council found the care worker’s behaviour to be incompatib­le with working in the profession and have now struck her off the register for care workers.

It follows a hearing in Dundee earlier this year, where panel members reviewed the case before deciding what disciplina­ry action should be taken.

Ms Mclaughlin will now have until August 12 to appeal the decision to remove her.

In a report, the SSSC panel said Ms Mclaughlin had “used highly inappropri­ate and abusive language towards a vulnerable service user”.

They said: “Your actions were also aggressive and were considered by your colleagues to be intimidati­ng.

“You used highly inappropri­ate language towards a vulnerable service user in the presence of other service users and members of staff.

“In doing so you failed to maintain the dignity of the service user.

“In addition you made a number of derogatory statements about the service user in front of your colleagues.”

The social services bosses decided that Ms McLaughlin’s behaviour did “call into question your suitabilit­y to work in social services” and said they had no other option but to remove her from the register.

She did apologise to the man and to her employer, and is thought to have been under “considerab­le stress” in the time leading up to the incident.

The nursing home resident, according to the panel’s report “could be difficult and he could be verbally abusive” and acknowledg­ed that the worker’s reaction “may have been provoked by his behaviour”.

She was said to have shown a “loss of control” during the incidents, and put the man and other witnesses at risk of harm.

 ??  ?? The incidents took place while Marie McLaughlin worked as a carer at Whitecraig­s Nursing Home in Thornlieba­nk
The incidents took place while Marie McLaughlin worked as a carer at Whitecraig­s Nursing Home in Thornlieba­nk

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