Care worker struck off for telling a resident to 'Hurry up and die'

A care assistant has been struck off for subjecting care home residents to verbal abuse that included the insult ‘Hurry up and die’.

At a hearing on 12 September, Barry Wilton faced 17 charges by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and was found to have behaved ‘in a verbally abusive and disrespectful manner” towards residents at Balhousie St Ronan’s Care Home between November and December 2014.

Bomb threat

After joining the care home located in Dundee on 5 May 2014, Barry Wilton began hurling insults and threats at the people in his care telling one resident: “Wish there was a bomb under that chair”.

Mr Wilton threatened the resident with a kettle telling her: “I’ll drop this on your bloody head”.

Many of the residents at the 66-bed care home are aged over 65, frail and have conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease or have had heart problems or strokes.

’Wee bitch’

But the care worker’s insults to the residents included: “Wee bitch”, “shut up” and the words “f**king sit your arse down”.

In response to residents’ shocked expressions he would say: “Don’t you dare give me a dirty look”.

At the SSSC hearing on 12 September, Barry Wilton was struck off from the ‘Register for Support Workers in a Care Home Service for Adults’ maintained by the council.

'Abused trust'

Addressing Barry Wilton, the conduct subcommittee of the SSSC stated in its decision: 'In acting as you did at each part of the Charge, you abused service users in your care. You abused the trust of your employer, service users and the wider public.

'You had not shown any insight into or regret for your failings and the potentially serious consequences of your actions.

'The misconduct found was deliberate, involving numerous incidents of verbal abuse and disrespectful behaviour towards vulnerable service users.'

The care worker also refused to take a resident to the toilet when she needed it, giving the reason “she can do it herself”.

In its findings, the SSSC stated: 'Your behaviour posed a risk of potentially significant harm to service users in your care.

'The Sub-committee could not be satisfied that your character and circumstances were such that there was no risk to the public, including in particular service users.

'There was no evidence of any insight or regret into your failings, or of a willingness to change your behaviour.'

Following allegations of misconduct, Barry Wilton was suspended from duty on 22 December 2014 by Balhousie Care Group, which runs the home. He later resigned before a disciplinary hearing with his employer took place on 19 January 2015.

'Abuse reported by staff'

A spokeswoman for the Balhousie care group said: “At the time of the incident, Barry Wilton’s actions were reported by staff to Balhousie Care Group’s management team, who subsequently alerted all appropriate authorities of these allegations of misconduct.

“Balhousie Care Group take a zero tolerance approach to abusive behaviour and our team takes every effort to deliver good quality care to all residents entrusted to us.

“We are pleased to hear that the Scottish Social Services Council has reached this decision, underpinning our actions, and those of our team, to ensure that all our residents live in a safe environment with a focus on respect, dignity and comfort.”

To read the outcome of the SSSC’s conduct sub-committee visit: www.sssc.uk.com/about-the-sssc/multimedia-library/publications?task=document.viewdoc&id=2970