An Aberdeen carer who failed to check on a man who later had a seizure has been struck off.
Carol Cormack has been removed from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) register after an investigation into her conduct at Raeden Court Care Home in Midstocket.
Raeden Court is operated by Blackwood Homes and Care and is described as a “housing complex designed to provide accommodation for disabled people within an integrated community setting.”
According to an SSSC report, Ms Cormack failed to carry out a visual check as required on the man in her care on October 26 2022.
She then falsely recorded in the ‘Daily Support Checks’ sheet at 8am that she had checked on him, and that he was not agitated or confused and was in the dining room.
The man, referred to as AA in the report, was later found having a seizure on the bathroom floor.
A panel concluded that Ms Cormack’s fitness to practice was impaired and she had “acted dishonestly” and placed two people at risk.
The report stated: “You were required to observe whether AA was agitated or confused as part of the checks.
“This was in place so that seizures could be averted in some circumstances with medication.
“It is not known whether this seizure could have been averted by a proper check.
Carer falsified daily checks at Raeden Court Care Home
“However, your failure to complete the checks as required meant immediate assistance was not sought for AA, and staff did not have accurate information as to how long the seizure had been going on for.
“A prolonged seizure could have resulted in severe harm to AA.
“AA required to be admitted to hospital following the seizure for observation but did not suffer any lasting harm.”
A second incident from July 2 2021 was also included in the report.
Ms Cormack used a bed hoist single-handedly to get a female tenant into bed when it should have been operated with two people.
The report stated: “Your behaviour is serious and completely incompatible with the
standards expected of social care workers.
“It raises significant concerns about your values and attitude towards the caring responsibilities you had in your role.”
Ms Cormack, who no longer works in the industry, “expressed remorse” when confronted about her behaviour, but was reprimanded for her “lack of cooperation” with the SSSC probe.
Carol Cormack was “swiftly” dismissed by Blackwood
Doug Moyes, director of customer service at Blackwood Housing and Care, said: “We welcome the findings of the SSSC which, in keeping with our own disciplinary procedures, has recognised that this was an act of gross negligence on the part of a single employee.
“We take employee misconduct extremely seriously and when the incident occurred two years ago, we moved swiftly to dismissal once we had established the chain of events.
“We also immediately alerted all relevant authorities and informed all parties, as per our duty of candour.
“The safety and welfare of our customers remains our absolute priority and regularly review our practices to identify areas of improvement and prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Conversation