Carer reprimanded over ‘derogatory’ Whatsapp messages

A Perthshire care worker has been reprimanded over a series of “derogatory” Whatsapp messages.

Jessica Moore was caught chatting about her clients and their families on the smartphone app, describing one service user as “like a puffer fish that’s been sitting in front of the fire for too long”.

At the time, she was working as a social care officer in Auchterarder for Avenue Care Services.

An 18-month warning has been placed on Ms Moore’s registration, following a Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) misconduct hearing.

The industry regulator ruled her fitness to practise had been impaired.

Ms Moore had used Whatsapp in August 2018 to speak about a service user, named as AA. Ms Moore said she had taken AA’s jacket to use as a hammock in the garden and asked her Whatsapp group: “Everyone have a guess at what AA weighs”.

Around the same time, she described another service user who had a skin condition as a “dalmation” and said:

“She was knee deep in cream cakes”.

In relation to another service user, she wrote: “Lying in that arm chair with her legs wide open acting like she’s the... princess of Ascaban. Her kids launching poppers at me right by feet to scare me while I’m trying to make the dinner. Fools.”

In its ruling, an SSSC spokesperson said: “Service users, and the public, have the right to expect that service users will be cared for and protected from harm by social service workers in whom they place their trust and confidence.

“Making derogatory comments about service users calls into question your suitability to be employed in a caring role, and your ability to properly care for those service users you were making derogatory comments about.”

Avenue Care Services managing director Francis Davidson confirmed Ms Moore was no longer at the company.

“This is not the quality of staff we would expect to work for us,” she said.