Care worker struck off for cruel OAP abuse

Woman caused distress to Paisley home’s residents

A Paisley care home assistant has been struck-off after shouting at a blind OAP: “Do you want to end up in hospital?”

Gillian Smyth manhandled the dementia sufferer into a chair, causing her to stumble after bawling at her to sit down.

The resident – referred to only as ‘AA’ – was left distressed by the way she was treated.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) hammered Smyth for the breach and slew of other failures from her time working at Braemount Care Home in Paisley.

Its findings were revealed in a public report, which laid bare a catalogue of “serious” abuse towards vulnerable pensioners.

It said: “In acting as you did towards AA, you failed to: treat her as an individual; respect and promote her individual wishes; support her right to control her life and make choices about the services she receives; respect and maintain her dignity; communicate with her in an appropriate way; and recognise and use responsibly the power that came from your work with her.

“You also abused and neglected AA, caused distress to her and created unnecessary risk of physical and emotional harm to her.”

Smyth was ruled to have orchestrated a campaign of abuse against elderly women and a man over a five-year period.

She was also found to have raised her voice to another lady resident and told her: “if you keep pressing the buzzer, I will take it off you.”

Smyth also refused to answer calls for help from the woman – referred to as ‘BB’ – simply telling her “no”.

An older man was repeatedly denied help to reach going to the bathroom.

The resident – referred to as ‘CC’ during the hearing – was told: “You don’t need the toilet.”

The breaches in care date over five years from 2010 at the centre on Donaldswood Road, Paisley.

Smyth claimed the failings were “mild in severity”, but the disciplinary panel insists this would “concern members of the public”.

It maintains there would be a “high risk of repetition” due to the “lack of insight or explanation” provided by the former worker and this would raise public protection concerns.

The report added: “The facts found proved involved physical abuse, which was fundamentally incompatible with registration.

“Your behaviour fell well below the standards expected. “You had abused your position of trust. “In relation to BB and CC, they were placed at acute risk of harm and that you failed to provide an acceptable level of care.

“Aspects of your behaviour were abusive.”

The ruling was made following a fourday hearing in Dundee earlier this month.

Meanwhile, a carer at a Barrhead centre has also been rapped by the SSSC.

Margaret Taylor refused to take a pensioner to the toilet for 40 minutes despite repeated pleas at Parkhouse Manor Care Home.

She was also heard saying “that man is doing my nut in” while in the same room as the resident during the row last November 13.

A disciplinary found her guilty of a “misuse of power” and placed a warning on her registration for six months.

It stated: “Failing to take a resident to the toilet despite him having asked repeatedly to go to the toilet amounts to a failure in the duty of care you owed to him, and did or was likely to have put the resident at unnecessary risk of harm.

“You failed to treat this resident with dignity and respect.

“Making a derogatory comment about how a resident was making you feel, in the presence of that resident, amounts to a breach of the trust and confidence placed in you by social service users.”

Taylor has also been ordered to write a reflective account on how her behaviour could impact on those living and working in the home.