An Inverness support worker has been issued a warning after an unsupervised service user attacked a minor.
Honesty Mutumbami allowed the service user she was responsible for to go to the toilet by themselves, contrary to their “Individual Risk Assessment.”
The service user then assaulted a child.
She was working as a support worker in a housing support service in Inverness at the time. The incident took place on February 2.
Ruling this impaired her fitness to practice, the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) place a warning on Honesty Mutumbami’s registration.
The warning will be in place for two years.
The SSSC report read: “Failing to follow AA’s strict risk assessment for when they were out in the community, [information redacted], placed the general public and the service user at risk of serious harm.
“The service user was temporarily out of your sight and, in that time, was able to assault a minor, causing emotional harm to them and also risking serious physical and psychological harm.”
Inverness support worker ‘expressed sincere regret and remorse’
While the SSSC’s report emphasized the seriousness of the error, it did note several mitigating factors.
These included the fact Honesty Mutumbami was new to the profession and had a good work history.
The Inverness support worker also cooperated fully with the investigation.
Plus, her employer was “extremely supportive of your general abilities and aptitude to work in care,” SSSC wrote.
The report concluded: “The impact of your conduct was extremely serious. Your behaviour does however appear to be a momentary lapse in judgement rather than a wilful disregard for the protocol.
“You have taken full responsibility for what happened, expressed deep regret and remorse, and have shown extremely good insight into your failing.
“Accordingly, we consider the risk of repetition to be low, and there are no ongoing public protection issues that need to be addressed.”
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