A disgraced Moray care worker who maintains she did not abuse two pensioners will fight to continue working with older people.
Aneta Fortuniak was convicted of assaulting two patients at Spynie Care Home, near Elgin, but insists she is innocent.
She was found guilty of deliberately hurting 90-year-old Robert Scott and Aileen Grant, 83, while she was supposed to be taking care of them.
Despite damning eyewitness reports from her colleagues, Fortuniak insists she followed the correct procedures and did not intentionally harm anyone.
And now next week, the 43-year-old will aim to convince the SSSC that she is fit to continue as a carer.
But the governing body’s conduct sub-committee has informed her she could be struck off from its register.
A notice on the watchdog’s website states: “The conduct sub-committee will consider whether the charge is proven and, if proven, whether the charge constitutes misconduct and whether the worker has breached the SSSC code of practice for social service workers.”
During her trial at Elgin Sheriff Court in the summer, it emerged Fortuniak had subjected Mrs Grant to a harrowing ordeal.
Carer Karen Mitchell said the pensioner was “brutally pulled and yanked” on the bed, as Fortuniak attempted to change the sheets on August 6 last year.
Fortuniak, of Elgin, held her hand over Mrs Grant’s mouth for “minutes” to stop her making a noise.
Miss Mitchell said: “There was a lot of shouting when she had her hand on Mrs Grant’s mouth.
I said ‘let go, that’s enough’, but she said ‘no, she can breathe through her nose’.
“Mrs Grant was stressed. She was hitting out and trying to shake her hold and squealing through Aneta’s hand.”
Staff nurse Sarah Mair later found bruises on Mrs Grant’s body, which were reported to management.
Just three days later, another of Fortuniak’s colleagues raised other concerns about her treatment of Mr Scott.
Care worker Linda Clark said she heard “two slaps” coming from Mr Scott’s room on August 9.
Fortuniak was suspended from the home, and has since been dismissed.
The first-time offender repeatedly denied that she had assaulted the residents, and insisted she followed the correct procedures.
But she was convicted of assaulting the pair, and was ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work.
Fortuniak will go before the SSSC next Friday.
Earlier this week, the SSSC struck off Moray nursery worker Jenna Paterson after she admitted to assaulting a baby while changing the infant’s nappy.