Secure unit doc probed over hotel booze night with boy
Health tribunal hearing over trip with youngster
A psychologist at a secure unit for youngsters faces career ruin after claims she took a boy on an overnight hotel trip and supplied him with alcohol.
Dr Gina Fearn is accused of misconduct and breaching professional boundaries after sharing a hotel room with the unnamed boy from St Mary’s Kenmure centre in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, while she was working there last year.
She is also accused of buying or supplying alcohol for the boy.
Fearn, 33, originally from Perth, was suspended in October last year and later left her post.
St Mary’s provide secure residential care and education for children aged 11 to 18 who have signi f icant social , emotional and behavioural needs.
Youngsters from all over Scotland are referred from cour ts and by Children’s Hearings.
Fearn will t omor row face a hearing by the Health a nd Ca r e Professions Tribunal Service to answer claims she took the boy on the unsanctioned trip on or around March 31 last year.
The service are part of the Health and Care Professions Council, who regulate professionals including psychologist practitioners and were set up to protect the public.
If a registrant does not meet standards, they can take action, which might include stopping them from practising.
Fearn, who gained her doctorate in psychology less than three years ago, is also accused of being under the influence of alcohol while she was with the boy.
The conduct and competence committee will also rule on allegations that on unknown dates between August 2015 and April 2016, Fearn invited or allowed the boy to stay at her home and those of her family members.
The case against her alleges that she agreed with her line manager that she would support the unnamed boy, known as “Service User A”, for a transition period until the end of August 2015 – but continued to see him after that.
She is also accused of failing to tell the boy’s social work team that she was taking him on the trip and that she“misled the social work team” to let them believe that her employers were aware of her continued involvement with the boy. Fearn is alleged to have been “dishonest” about her behaviour and it is claimed this constitutes misconduct and impairs her fitness to practise.
It’ s understood St Mary’s suspended Fear na ft era tip- off that she was having contact with the boy, believed to have been 16 or older, outside the unit.
She was then suspended by her regulatory body and she left the 24-bed unit, run by Christian charity the Cora Foundation, last year.
A spokesman for St Mary’s said: “We alerted the HCPC when we were made aware of the issue and cooperated fully with them. Dr Fearn left the employment of St Mary’s in autumn last year.”
When the Sunday Mail contacted Fearn, who will be represented by a barrister at the hearing – scheduled to run until May 31 – she said: “I can’t make any comment.”
She is accused of misleading his social workers