EXCLUSIVE: Care worker who found man who had choked to death at Kinross-shire care home hits out at ‘terrible’ staffing levels

A worker who found a man choked to death at a Kinross-shire care home has hit out at “terrible” staffing levels.

The man died after choking on toast in October 2022 while in the care of the An Cala service in Kinnesswod, run by Hillcrest Futures.

His care plan said he should have been supervised while he ate.

Two workers were on duty at the time of the incident – one of them, Angel Papierowska, was cleared of contributing to his death.

Her colleague, Patrice Stirling, also faced a misconduct probe by watchdog the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) but this was later dropped.

Worker hits out at staffing levels at Kinross-shire care service

Patrice found the man – who ate in a separate room from other residents – dead when she went to check on him.

Speaking to The Courier for the first time about the incident, Patrice said: “The staffing levels were terrible.

“(The home) relied on agency staff and some of the time they never appeared.

“If someone called in sick it was left to us to find cover, not the manager.”

The SSSC found there would normally be three workers on shift but there were only two on the day in question – which, along with a lack of management presence, made it harder for the staff to supervise the man while he ate.

The watchdog also found agency workers would often not turn up, and said it should have been down to bosses to secure cover – not staff.

Carer recalls ‘traumatic’ moment man died

Recalling the night the man died, Patrice said: “It was very traumatic.

“After that, I went off on sick leave as I wasn’t sleeping due to the trauma.

“I was made to feel like I caused the death.”

Patrice says she felt she had little support following the incident.

She says service users at An Cala “deserve much better” and believes the service should have faced more scrutiny from care authorities following the man’s death.

Responding to Patrice’s comments, John Booth – director of Hillcrest Futures – said: “The wellbeing of the people we support and our staff remains our highest priority.

“We fully appreciate that the incident in 2022 was extremely traumatic for all concerned.

“Hillcrest Futures puts the wellbeing of the people we support and our staff at the forefront of everything we do.

“All staff have readily available access to a full spectrum of wellbeing support and resources, including trauma support for such incidents from our dedicated health and safety team and external organisations.”

Mr Booth says following the incident, Hillcrest Futures worked with bodies including the Care Inspectorate, the SSSC, Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership and Police Scotland to investigate the incident.

Hillcrest Futures Perthshire service graded ‘good’ after inspection

He added: “Each of these organisations conducted their independent reviews, and we remain committed to transparency and best practice in all aspects of our service.

“Our Perthshire service had an unannounced inspection from the Care Inspectorate In January of this year and the services were graded 4 (good) across all themes.

“Inspectors also highlighted the strong teamwork and good management support within the service.

“We are proud of our team and the quality of care we provide.

“While we acknowledge that former staff members may have their own perspectives, we stand by our commitment to delivering high-quality, compassionate support in a caring and  professional environment

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “We were appropriately notified of the incident which took place in 2022 and the recent death of a tenant.

“We continue to support and monitor the service.”