A senior Highland care home worker who was accused of describing a resident as being “here to die anyway” last night spoke of his relief after he was cleared of any misconduct.
John Charters faced 14 charges over an eight-month period as deputy manager at Grandview House Care Home in Grantown-on-Spey.
He has been through a two-year battle after he was told he could no longer work in the care home in July 2014, and was then put through a hearing that, with adjournments and delays, lasted more than four months.
But last night, the former care worker who is now working in a supermarket was looking to the future after the Nursing and Midwifery Council cleared him to work again.
The NMC found 10 of the charges not proven, mainly due to inconsistencies in evidence given by staff and the absence of written records from the time of the alleged incidents.
Of the four charges against Mr Charters which were proven, none were deemed by the panel to amount to misconduct.
The panel also heard evidence from the home’s proprietor that staff did not like working with Mr Charters as a result of targets he had to meet to raise standards at the home. It was noted by the panel that in some instances this may have led to “embellished accounts”.
Tensions came to a head when concerns about his practice were raised at a staff meeting in July 2014, and Mr Charters was informed of the allegations the next day and given a week’s notice to leave.
Last night the Nairn man told the Press and Journal: “I am certainly relieved about the outcome of the hearing”.
During last week’s hearing in Edinburgh Mr Charters acknowledged there had been failings in his style of management and accepted being strict over care records, suggesting this made him “unpopular with care staff”.
He said that he was told by the manager to improve the bedtime routine and decided to implement a new regime, which involved dictating to care staff who should go to bed, but they were “resistant to change”.
The report added: “You felt that the care assistants didn’t like change and conspired to get rid of you. It was your view that they viewed the staff meeting on July 16, 2014, as an opportunity to get rid of you.”
It had previously been alleged that when Mr Charters was asked by a colleague if a palliative care resident could have pain relief, he replied that they were “here to die anyway”.
The panel found that the colleague did not record the incident when it occurred, and believed Mr Charters’ version that he had extensive training in palliative care and would never say such a thing.
It was also alleged that when a resident told him she did not have dementia, Mr Charters responded, “You obviously do if you can’t remember your husband is dead”. A lack of written complaint led the panel to accepting Mr Charters’ denial of the allegation.
He was also accused of grabbing a resident’s arms and kicking her legs from underneath her, but again the panel found that the evidence provided by a colleague was “not wholly reliable”.
It was proven that Mr Charters said to a resident “I’ll be your Samson, if you’ll be my Delilah” while inserting a suppository. But the panel heard evidence that the resident had initiated the conversation and that Mr Charters’ response was aimed at putting the resident at ease, and was “not inappropriate or derogatory”.
It was also proved that Mr Charters had placed his arms under a resident’s armpits and dragged her up from the floor to the bed. However, the panel heard evidence from a colleague that he had done so to put the resident in a safer, seated position, and that it was an isolated incident and did not amount to misconduct.