An Aberfeldy carer who made “angry” comments about shoving service users and giving them cold showers has been given a warning.
Rachel Allan – who was employed by Stuart Wright Care Ltd at the time – made the comments to a service user’s relative, referred to in the report as AA.
The carer also told AA she could push a service user’s toothbrush around their mouth “really hard” or “push and shove” them if she wanted to.
Aberfeldy carer said ‘you can put on the cold shower by mistake’
According to a report by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), Allan said to AA: “When somebody p****s a carer off, a carer can do a lot more to that person like push and shove them about” or words to that effect.
The comments were made in an angry manner while Allan was working between Christmas Day and Hogmanay, the report said.
She also said: “You can put the cold shower on by mistake, oops a daisy” or words to that effect.
The SSSC labelled Allan’s actions as “serious” and “below the professional standard expected”.
The report states: “You have made inappropriate comments to AA which would suggest and imply that you would cause serious harm to a service user if you so wished to do so, due to your position as a social service worker and their vulnerability.
“Abusive behaviour in any form is a breach of the trust and confidence service users place on social service workers.
Comments implied carer would cause ‘serious harm to a service user’
“Your comments could indicate an underlying values and attitude concern, which would mean that your behaviour is harder to remedy.
“However, there is no evidence to suggest that you did mistreat or cause any harm to service users in your care.”
According to the watchdog, Allan cooperated fully with the investigation and has shown remorse and insight into why her behaviour is wrong.
The carer has now been given a 12-month warning, effective from September 14.
Stuart Wright Care did not respond to a request for comment.
Conversation