An East Lothian carer who left a vulnerable resident for hours after they soiled themselves and 'gagged' them after being spat at has received a 24-month warning on their registration.
Alexandrina Preston, while under the employment of Sisters of Charity of St Paul The Apostle, was working for St Anne's Care Home in Musselburgh when the incidents occurred over two years ago. She also, on several occasions, failed to wear correct PPE while in the presence of others.
Preston was reportedly spat on by one of the residents while working as a care at home worker during the height of the pandemic but then said "F*** this, I'm gagging her, she's not spitting at me." Following this, Preston put a towel over the service user's mouth.
The Scottish Social Services Council issued a two-year warning to be placed on Preston's registration due to her conduct.
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The hearing also noted that Preston left the same service user without personal care for hours despite being aware that she had soiled herself. Preston also held up a separate patient up by the neck and said "your pants are wet," causing the person emotional distress.
The SSSC also said that around March 2021, Preston left an area where Covid-19 patients were, without wearing full PPE and enter a hallway while carrying a used toilet pot. She also exited the sluice area carrying clean toilet pots without wearing full PPE.
The council added that Preston's fitness to practice is impaired as: "Social service worker should treat vulnerable residents with respect and keep them safe from harm. Your behaviour towards vulnerable residents was very serious and caused distress to them. You also put them at risk of physical and emotional harm.
"Failing to wear PPE during and after providing care to residents with COVID-19 put colleagues, vulnerable service users, their families and yourself at risk of harm when you didn’t need to. Even though resident AA was displaying challenging behaviour and spitting at you, this does not excuse what you did.
"You were in a difficult position, but you should have dealt with the behaviour in amore appropriate manner and you should not have held a towel over AA’s mouth. We need to find your fitness to practise impaired because of how serious this behaviour is and to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We need to find your fitness to practise impaired so that the public can have confidence in the SSSC as an effective regulator."
Factors that the council considered as going against Preston include the fact that her actions were very serious and caused emotional harm to two separate residents. Both patients were also placed at risk of physical and emotional harm, as well as the incidents occurring whilst in the home of those involved.
Factors considered in Preston's favour include the fact that she has apologised and shown remorse for her actions, as well as having a good long-running history of working within the care sector that spanned 16 years. They also accepted that part of Preston's behaviour was in retaliation to being spat at, during the height of the pandemic.
Sisters of Charity of St Paul The Apostle have been approached for comment.
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