A Fife care home worker has been struck off after “borrowing” money from a resident.
Brenda Gilliland took the £90 while working for Abbotsford Care – which runs multiple homes in Fife.
A report from watchdog the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) said the resident, who was living at one of the firm’s two East Wemyss homes at the time, faced “financial harm”.
The SSSC – which is headquartered in Dundee – also said Gilliland had “failed to repay the full amount borrowed”.
The watchdog added: “Borrowing money from a vulnerable service user constitutes financial abuse of a service user, a breach of professional boundaries, and an abuse of your position.
“Your behaviour falls below the standards expected and calls into question your suitability to work in social services as it shows you are willing to place service users at risk of harm.
“We have taken account of the limited insight you demonstrated to your previous employer and we have no information about your recent practise.
“For those reasons we concluded there is a risk of repetition.”
Carer removed from register
The SSSC report added that Gilliland, who no longer works for the care group, had “damaged the reputation of the profession”.
It also noted that Gilliland did not co-operate with the SSSC during the investigation.
However, the report said she had a clean employment record and had made no attempt to “conceal” her behaviour.
A spokesperson for Abbotsford Care refused to confirm which of its two East Wemyss homes the incident happened at.
But a spokesperson said: “I can confirm that Abbotsford care did take all necessary actions and did report former employee Brenda Gilliland to the appropriate authorities as soon as the misappropriation of a resident’s funds was identified.”
The Courier contacted Gilliland for comment.
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