CALLOUS CARER WOULDN’T TAKE OAP TO TOILET
Chris Taylor
A carer has been struck off after refusing to take an OAP to the loo and ranting at another for having an accident.
Janette Rankin told one woman to wait because she was ready to clock off and fumed: “I finish in five minutes.”
She manhandled one, scolded another and held a soiled pad up to her face at Hunterhill Care Home.
Rankin was banned from working in the industry by the Scottish Social Services Council for a slew of failures.
A disciplinary panel report states: “Social service workers are trusted to care for the most vulnerable members of society and to protect them from harm.
“By roughly throwing a resident’s legs into bed, telling a resident to stop laughing while showing them a pad they had defecated in and ma k i n g comments about residents in an abrupt and snappy manner in their presence, this behaviour was abusive.
“It breaches the trust and confidence placed in you by people who use services, their carers and families and the wider public and places users of services at risk of harm.
“You have not provided the SSSC with
an assurance that this behaviour would not be repeated.”
Rankin was a night shift worker when she turned on residents and staff at the centre in Blackford Road, Paisley.
She was rapped after she ordered one woman to wait for the toilet until she finished her shift.
The worker took her to the bathroom but then “roughly” threw her legs up on a bed before leaving.
She snapped at a colleague after taking another lady to the loo just weeks later.
Rankin told the worker: “Why is she just sitting there?
“She knows what she is doing, she knows she is doing that.”
A day later she turned her ire on another elderly woman.
She raised her voice after the woman did not make it to the bathroom in time.
Rankin held up a soiled incontinence pad and hit out: “She did this on purpose.”
She added: “She knows fine well what she’s doing.
“I had only just put her into bed and she buzzed again, I found her sitting on the edge of the bed cover.”
The former carer was also punished for swearing at a colleague.
All of the failures were committed between January and March last year.
The report added: “Asking a resident if they can wait until your shift finishes when they have requested assistance to the bathroom constitutes a failure to provide an acceptable level of care.
“It is a failure to act in the best interests of the resident and a failure to ensure their welfare is protected and enhanced.
“By swearing at one of your colleagues, this behaviour constituted a failure to treat colleagues with dignity and respect.
“These allegations are serious and violate fundamental values of the profession.
“You have demonstrated no insight.
“If this behaviour were to be repeated, it would place vulnerable people at risk of harm.
“This therefore raises a public protection issue.”
Hunterhill Care Home was saved from closure four years ago. Council chiefs had announced plans to shut the centre amid claims it was not filled to capacity.
Families forced a U-turn after collecting almost 10,000 signatures against the proposals during a campaign backed by the Paisley Daily Express.
They warned elderly relatives would be harmed by being forced to move to alternative centres.
Renfrewshire Council insists it dealt swiftly with Rankin when the care breaches came to light.
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership said: “The safety and wellbeing of all residents in our care is paramount and the quality of our staff at Hunterhill Care Home is acknowledged to be of a high standard.
“As soon as we became aware of allegations against a night social care worker at the home, an internal investigation was launched.
“The worker resigned before a disciplinary hearing could take place and the Scottish Social Services Council was immediately notified and began its own investigation.
“We fully support its decision. The incident does not reflect the overall positive experience of residents at Hunterhill or the high standards of care provided.”