An Ayrshire support worker in a care at home service has been reprimanded after restraining a vulnerable patient – and failing to inform his family about the incident.
Ronald Bell, from Ayr, later recorded that the vulnerable man’s family had been informed about what happened when that was not the case.
Details this week emerged from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), the industry watchdog, who found Bell guilty of misconduct and attached conditions to his registration.
The identity of the patient, who displayed signs of “aggressive behaviour”, has not been disclosed and the man was referred to as ‘AA’.
In its findings, the SSSC said: “We decided there is evidence that on or around July 20, 2020, while supporting service user AA, who was showing signs of aggressive behaviour, you (Bell) did act in a manner contrary to his positive and proactive support plan and crisis intervention support plan.”
The SSSC said Bell “restrained” AA, although he wasn’t trained to do so, and “failed” to inform AA’s family about the incident.
The watchdog also claimed Bell recorded in the incident form that his family had been informed when that was “inaccurate.”
The report goes on: “You (Bell) were not trained in restraint and this action placed AA at risk of physical and emotional harm.”
Bell’s behaviour was “serious” and placed the patient at “unnecessary risk of harm”, according to the SSSC.
Bell was told: “You failed to inform the service user’s family about the incident and recorded that you had informed them.
“Your actions meant the family and staff coming on shift did not have the correct information to be able to support the service user.
“This could cause the family to lose trust in the care that is being provided to their relative.
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“This behaviour is serious and placed a service user at unnecessary risk of harm.”
According to the SSSC findings, Bell acknowledged that he "did not handle the situation well” and revealed that it had been a “long time” since he had been in that kind of crisis situation.
However, the SSSC said this raised concerns about Bell’s ability to “respond appropriately” in the future.
The SSSC said: “You apologised to your employer and provided some insight, however, you have failed to engage with the SSSC investigation.
“The SSSC cannot be assured that this behaviour will not be repeated so there is an ongoing risk of harm to service users.”
The body did note, however, that Bell had been employed in the role for more than a year with “no previous reported concerns” and that it was an “isolated incident” rather than a pattern of behaviour with Bell reporting his actions to his colleagues and manager immediately afterwards.
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