Edinburgh carer 'clocked off shift early' while looking after vulnerable resident

An Edinburgh carer has been given a warning after they reportedly failed to offer appropriate support to a resident and clocked off early.

Mary Ampofo saw a 24-month warning imposed on her record due to a number of actions allegedly carried out while working as a support worker at Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Following incidents on or around May and July 2022, the Scottish Social Services Council conducted a review into Ampofo's actions and described the behaviour as "abusing power" and "calls into question" her suitability for registration.

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According to the review, the support worker caused "physical and psychological harm" to resident AA after closing them in their room and failed to respond when she vocalised needing support.

On July 12 2022, the support worker allegedly left her shift early at 8.45pm without any authorisation - despite being set to finish at 10pm, leaving the team short staffed.

Conducting their review into the behaviour, the SSSC chose not to strike the carer from the register, and instead imposed the official warning.

The review reads: "Social service workers should not abuse, neglect or harm people who use services. You closed AA in her room when she was unable to open the door for herself and failed to respond when she vocalised that she needed support.

"Your actions placed AA at risk of physical and psychological harm through being unable to get out of her room and not receiving support when she required it.

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"Social service workers should communicate in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way. You laughed when BB made a joke at the expense of AA and failed to appropriately support AA when she was distressed.

"This placed AA at risk of emotional harm. You also left your shift early without providing a handover to other staff or making it clear that you were leaving. Without this handover, the staff coming on shift may not have had vital information about the supported individuals necessary for their shift.

"You left your shift early and submitted a timesheet claiming you were there until your scheduled finishing time. It is a fundamental tenet of the profession that social service workers are honest and trustworthy.

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"Your behaviour breached this and calls into question your suitability for registration."

A spokesperson for Leonard Cheshire said: “This incident occurred during the former staff member’s six-month probationary period and was fully investigated. The support worker was suspended then subsequently dismissed, having not met the standards expected of our employees.

"The local authority and care inspectorate were notified immediately. We will always take every possible step to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people we support.”