Social worker disclosed ‘details’
ASOCIAL worker has been suspended for a year after disclosing confidential – and inaccurate – information about a couple who are grandparents.
Lucy Bagnall, a former employee of Bridgend council who has been working for a social work agency in south Wales, has had her registration withdrawn by Social Care Wales after posting a number of messages on Facebook that breached the couple’s confidentiality.
The couple were not her clients but have had contact with children’s services because they have been involved in a child custody dispute.
In a letter to the complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, a Social Care Wales official confirmed that Ms Bagnall had been made subject to an interim suspension order for 12 months after failing to turn up at a hearing earlier this month.
Social Care Wales – the regulatory body for social workers – had been provided with messages written by the then-council social worker on Facebook Messenger to a third party in which she castigated the grandparents and made inaccurate allegations about them. The body was also made aware of a message sent by Ms Bagnall to a witness in which she asked him to contact her urgently as she was facing a fitness to practise hearing.
In a decision notice sent to the complainants, Social Care Wales stated: “We consider that, in the absence of an interim order, there is a real risk of significant harm to the health, safety and wellbeing of vulnerable individuals using services as a consequence of what, in our judgement, appears to be a serious failure to adhere to the professional parameters of her role.”
The grandmother who made the complaint said: “We were very upset when we found out what had been written about us on Facebook.
“It was an incredibly unprofessional thing to do. It not only breached our confidentiality, but involved hurtful allegations that just weren’t true.”
Ms Bagnall did not respond to a detailed message we left for her. The order suspending her is due to be reviewed after six months.