An Ayrshire support worker placed two patients at risk of harm when she signed off on care work that had not been carried out.
Kelly Neil’s behaviour was deemed “dishonest” by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) after she prepopulated patient log entries for work that had not been done.
The allegations date back to December 2015 when Neil was employed as a personal carer by East Ayrshire health and social care partnership in Cumnock.
Neil signed an MAR (medical administration record), to indicate she had administered evening medication to a patient – when this was not the case – causing the patient to miss their dosage.
She was also found to have prepopulated an entry for a bedtime visit to the same patient, and sign off on a hoist check log, when this wasn’t done.
In an incident with another patient, Neil failed to report that she had carried out an earlier bedtime visit, resulting in that patient receiving two bedtime visits.
And on another occasion, Neil prepopulated an entry for a bedtime visit to a patient in their personal carer visit log, stating she had repositioned them at 7.45pm – when this wasn’t the case.
The SSSC told Neil: “By your actions, you did act dishonestly in that you sought to mislead your employer by indicating you had undertaken work which you had not.”
The SSSC report goes on: “Social service workers are expected to be reliable and dependable. Social service workers are also expected to be truthful, open, honest and trustworthy.
“You (Neil) prepopulated entries in the communication diaries of service users relating to bedtime visits which you did not attend.
“This meant that carers who did attend were unable to administer medication to the service users, as it was unclear if this had already been done.
“You incorrectly completed a MAR chart for a service user which resulted in them not being given their evening medication.
“You also prepopulated entries in a hoist check and personal carer log as well as in a personal carer log and communication sheet. Your behaviour in doing so placed two service users at risk of harm.
“Your behaviour was dishonest and you failed to meet expected standards of practice.”
The SSSC said it was concerned that Neil did not appear to have taken any steps to “remediate her behaviour”; she didn’t show “sufficient insight” as to how she should have behaved differently; did not show “reflection, understanding or empathy” and she was “not completely open and honest” with her employer at the time of the incident.
It did acknowledge Neil had a previous “good history” with no prior concerns; “no further similar concerns” about her were raised with the SSSC and the incident appeared to have been “isolated.”
As a result, the carer was sanctioned by the social services watchdog which placed a warning on her registration for a period of 12 months.
The warning came into force on Wednesday, August 3.
A statement from East Ayrshire Council said: "East Ayrshire Council does not comment on individual cases to protect a person’s right to privacy.
"The council is aware of this historic incident and worked closely with Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), as a regulatory body, in sharing information in line with regulatory transparency and public protection."
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