A health worker has been struck off after violently attacking the deputy manager of a troubled Highland care home.
Jay Gumban put his hands round the throat of his former boss, pulled her hair and pushed her to the ground before trying to kick her.
Colleagues at the Kingsmills Nursing Home in Inverness had to intervene as he repeatedly tried to confront the woman.
And yesterday the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) yesterday said Gumban would be immediately removed from the register for practitioners in a care home service for adults.
The incident, which took place in a dining room in the brighterkind-operated care home on February 11 last year, was the latest in a string of problems at the facility.
In November the Press and Journal revealed that two workers at the home were found to have acted in a “highly inappropriate” way towards 94-year-old dementia sufferer Doreen MacIntyre.
The pair were suspended after the incident in 2013 and later quit their jobs.
A police investigation found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing but a 16-hour secret tape recording made by the victim’s daughter, Blan Bremner, exposed them.
The SSSC ruled yesterday that after Gumban had forced his depute manager to the ground, he tried to return on three occasions to confront her, forcing four other colleagues to intervene, restrain him and surround her.
Gumban, of 121 Old Edinburgh Road, Inverness was also found to have behaved in an “inappropriate manner” by pushing a colleague in an attempt to kick the depute manager, shouting at his colleagues and ignoring their requests to leave the room.
The SSSC report says: “Your actions placed your colleagues at risk of physical and emotional harm and could have been witnessed by service users.
“Such behaviour represents a loss of self control and would likely have caused fear, distress and shock to your colleagues.
“Your actions breached the trust and confidence placed in you by service users and your employer and constituted behaviour which is incompatible with a person registered with the council.
“The council is concerned that should this behaviour be repeated, members of the public, including service users, may be harmed.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the care home said: “This was a frightening incident for our staff.
“This sort of thing is not acceptable anywhere and particularly not in a care home where there is a small, close-knit team of colleagues caring for elderly people who depend on them.
“This was an isolated incident and Mr Gumban apologised and resigned the following day.
“The company notified the authorities, leading to the Scottish Social Services Council hearing.
“We expect all employees to treat the people in their care and their colleagues with consideration, dignity and respect.”
In December, Blan Bremner said she burst into tears and was left “physically sick” after listening to her tape recording.
Her mother’s pleas for help were ignored for long periods, and two employees were found to have given a slow round of applause to the pensioner after she had asked for “a hand”.
There were also conversations of a “sexual nature” in front of the elderly resident.