A Fife support worker has been struck off after pushing a care home resident in the back, causing them to fall over.
Julie Ewing, from the Levenmouth area, was accused of telling a resident “Move….you’re hurting my back”, or words to that effect, before pushing the elderly man in the back at Abbotsford Care’s Bayview home in Methil on June 16 2016.
Ms Ewing also failed to complete any incident report form or record in the resident’s notes that he had fallen.
She was also accused of pushing the resident in the back on or around June 14 and state “move”, or words to that effect, and also shouting at another resident “Oh for God’s sake, my back’s hurting”, or words to that effect, on a date in or around early June 2016.
Ms Ewing, who had worked at Bayview since 2004, has now been removed from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) register after it ruled she was no longer fit to practice.
A report into the case has concluded Ms Ewing’s actions had caused “emotional, psychological and/or physical harm” to service users and suggested the behaviour appears to be “deliberate and attitudinal”, making it difficult to remedy.
The report states: “If this behaviour were to be repeated in the future, this would place users of services at risk of emotional, psychological and physical harm.
“No insight or remorse has been shown and no remediation has taken place since these incidents. In light of this, there is a high risk that this behaviour could be repeated in the future.”
It added the behaviour could be classed as “verbally abusive and physically violent”, “fundamentally incompatible” with registration and suggests she is not fit to be a member of the profession.
“The SSSC considers that a removal order is the most appropriate sanction as it is both necessary and justified in the public interest and to maintain the continuing trust and confidence in the social service profession and the SSSC as the regulator of the profession,” the SSSC ruled.
The report confirmed there was no evidence of prior poor history on behalf of Ms Ewing and that she had co-operated fully with the SSSC investigation, but it added that the fact her actions represented an “abuse of trust” and there had been a “concealment of wrongdoing” had caused concern.
