Care home worker who force fed pensioner struck off

A CARE home worker has been struck off for assaulting an 81-year-old man and shoving food in his face that she had picked up from the floor.

The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) said that Mary Nicholson is not fit to be a care worker and that she will be struck off the register.

Nicholson was working at Craigend Gardens care home in Ruchazie, Glasgow, on February 14, 2016, when she assaulted the pensioner.

She picked up food from the floor and forcibly pushed it into the man’s mouth ‘against his will’.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court on January 5 this year, Nicholson

‘Future risk of harm’

was convicted of assault over the incident, despite denying that it had taken place.

An SSSC panel hearing on June 5 and 6 was damning about Nicholson’s behaviour and the risk she could pose to elderly residents.

It decided that her fitness to practise ‘is presently impaired’.

The panel added: ‘Your constant denial of the allegation, including after conviction was such... that the panel could have no confidence that your conduct would not be repeated.

‘In the light of the serious nature of your conviction and the absence of insight on your part, there was a future risk of harm to service users.’

Craigend Gardens declined to comment.