Care boss suspended after husband jailed
Failed to protect staff
A former care home manager was suspended from nursing after her husband was jailed for sexually assaulting staff.
Mairi Riley was told by the Nursing and Midwifery Council that she made “significant failures” when it came to protecting vulnerable residents and colleagues.
Riley’s husband James was jailed for 20 months in 2016 for assaulting staff by groping them, kissing and simulating sex with the women at the Westbank Nursing Home in Titchfield Road, Troon.
He was also placed on the sex offenders register.
Riley, of Plateau Drive, Troon, denied all the charges but a jury found him guilty of nine counts of sexual assault over the course of five years.
Ayr Sheriff Court heard that one woman took to drink and another ended up seeing a psychologist because of his actions.
After her husband’s offences came to light Mairi Riley was dismissed from Westbank Nursing Home but she was still able to work in the nursing profession.
How e v e r, s h e f a c e d misconduct charges at a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing in Edinburgh last week.
Among the allegations were claims she failed to protect patients and staff, breached confidentiality and failed to act in relation to resident and staff mistreatment.
Most of the four- day hearing was conducted in private.
It was said that Mrs Riley had not sought a managerial position since her dismissal in 2015 and had voluntarily decided not to seek a managerial position in future.
Mrs Riley’s representative Emma Crilley said it would be a “loss to the nursing profession” to have a nurse of Riley’s calibre unable to work in a staff nurse role.
Bu t t h e c o m m i t t e e concluded that Riley’s actions “fell significantly short” of the standards expected of a registered nurse and that the charges were serious and involved a significant failure to protect vulnerable residents and colleagues.
Their written judgement read: “The panel considered you were an experienced nurse in a position of authority who failed to act when you witnessed serious incidents relating to both residents and staff mistreatment.
“Fur t h e r, you had a responsibility for the wellbeing of the staff you managed and breaching their confidentiality, in the panel’s view, was serious.
“The panel found that your actions did fall seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse and amounted to misconduct.”
Riley was found to have failed to take appropriate disciplinary action in relation to one charge, resulting in a resident in her care being put at risk of harm.
She was also found to have failed to discharge her duties as manager of the home.
She had not shown an understanding of the impact of her actions on her colleagues or the reputation of the nursing profession as a whole.
The report went on: “Your inaction allowed the evolution of a culture in the home which exposed residents to abusive language and you failed to safeguard the wellbeing of staff.
“You were an experienced nurse in a position of authority who failed to act when you witnessed serious incidents relating to both residents and staff mistreatment.
“Fur t h e r, you had a responsibility for the wellbeing of the staff you managed, yet you breached a colleague’s confidentiality.”
The judgement concluded: “The panel determined that a suspension order for a period of eight months was appropriate in this case to mark the seriousness of the misconduct.”
Riley has 28 days to appeal the decision.
You failed to act when you witnessed serious incidents relating to both residents and staff