A West Lothian support worker has received a warning for putting one of her charges at “risk of emotional and physical harm”.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) found Samantha Mutter’s fitness to practise was impaired and imposed a warning that will stay on her registration for three years, along with conditions.
The watchdog found that sometime between November 19, 2021 and January 19, 2022, whilst employed as a support worker in relation to an unknown female who was a user of services at risk of sexual exploitation, Mutter failed to record details of a conversation she overheard between the female and her friend which was sexually explicit in nature regarding a man who the female and her friend knew.
Livingston worker Mutter failed to inform a manager of the conversation until January 2022.
The SSSC decided her fitness to practise was impaired because social service workers must be reliable and dependable and they must take necessary steps to reduce the risks of people who use services harming themselves and they must not neglect them.
The council also said that workers must keep to their employer’s health and safety policies and meet relevant standards of practice and work in a lawful, safe and effective way. They must maintain clear, accurate and up-to-date records in line with procedures relating to their work.
The female under Mutter’s care - referred to in the report as AA - was assessed as a person who is vulnerable to sexual exploitation by others.
The SSSC report said: “By failing to immediately alert your manager to the conversation between AA and a female friend, about a male familiar to them both, where explicit sexual content was evident, you placed AA at risk of emotional and physical harm.
“Your failure to record or report the sexually explicit conversation between AA and her female friend meant that the Adult Protection Committee had no knowledge of this. Therefore, AA’s circumstances could not accurately be considered by the Adult Protection Committee dealing with her case.
“By failing to accurately record the online discussion you overheard, colleagues involved with AA, with a duty to keep her safe, were not alerted to this recent potential for sexual encounters likely to be emotionally and physically damaging to her, nor could her risk assessment be updated.
“Members of the public aware of the full facts would have expected a social service worker to have alerted line management in order that the actions necessary to protect AA could be considered to reduce the risks she might face from sexual exploitation when her conduct placed her at increased risk of harm.
“The public would expect the regulator to take action to protect vulnerable members of society, to preserve the collective reputation of the profession and to uphold public trust and confidence.
“After referring to our Decisions Guidance, we decided the appropriate sanction is to place a warning on your registration for a period of three years and the condition set out.”
The conditions means Mutter will haver to provide the SSSC with evidence that she has undertaken training which must cover effective reporting and recording, safe caring, making better decisions, Adult Support and Protection including her employer’s ASP guidance and professional conduct and communication.”
The council said working in her favour was the facts Mutter had previous good history with the SSSC, had cooperated with the SSSC investigation and that it was an isolated incident.
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