No crime checks on care staff
The former manager of a Perthshire care home has received a warning after she let four people work with vulnerable residents without checking if they were criminals first.
Morag Pattinson, who was up until recently employed as a senior manager at Ashdene Court care home in Crieff, failed to ensure four new starts had no convictions which would make them unsuitable to work with residents before they started shifts, a disciplinary panel found during a hearing.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) panel also found Pattinson failed to collect any written references for three of the same cohort and let a fifth new member of staff start work at the Ferntower Road assisted living facility with just one reference when two were required.
It said in a notice of decision which has just been published online Pattinson did all of the above between around August 2015 and December 2016 and that while her negligence had not caused any actual harm, she had put residents “at an increased risk of harm”.
The SSSC has since placed a warning on her social work registration that will stay there for two years after hearing there were “mitigating circumstances” in the case.
The notice of decsion stated: “By allowing a number of members of staff to start work without [Protecting Vulnerable Groups] scheme records being obtained and without written references being obtained, you failed to act in accordance with your employer’s safe recruitment procedures.
“This behaviour is unquestionably serious. You were employed in a position of authority and had a responsibility to ensure that staff members being recruited to roles working with vulnerable people had undergone the required pre-employment checks.
“You failed to do this, meaning that individuals were working directly with vulnerable people when no PVG scheme record or references had been obtained.
“This is behaviour that amounts to a failure to provide an acceptable level of care. The failings were repeated, in that a number of members of staff were allowed to start work without proper pre-employment checks being completed.”
The owners of Ashdene Court said in a statement: “We regard safe recruitment practices as a vital way of safeguarding our client’s welfare.
“Any deviation from these safe practices is not permitted or tolerated within the organisation.
“We can confirm that Morag Pattinson is no longer employed with us and that current managers adhere to our policies in respect of safe recruitment.”
This behaviour is unquestionably serious