Care home manager removed from Register over failings at two Pembrokeshire services

An adult care home manager has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers in Wales after a hearing found her fitness to practise is currently impaired because of her misconduct.

Rachel Hooton was accused of multiple failings at the two care homes she managed in Pembrokeshire, both of which have subsequently closed.

The Social Care Wales hearing was told that Ms Hooton failed to manage the care homes with sufficient skill, competence and care, and that she failed to make sure the homes had an adequate staff to resident ratio.

Ms Hooton also failed to make sure that staff had the specialist training they needed to care for the residents’ needs, failed to ensure there was suitable managerial cover in one of the homes when a member of staff went on long-term leave, and failed to make sure that residents at the homes had access to activities.

Additionally, when the care homes were inspected in May 2016, the inspector found them to be in a poor physical condition.

Ms Hooton was not present at the two-day hearing at the Beggars Reach Hotel in Burton, Pembrokeshire, last week nor did she co-operate with the investigation.

Having heard all the evidence, the committee found that Ms Hooton’s fitness to practise was impaired because of her misconduct.

Explaining its decision, the committee said: “We have concluded that the facts we found proved do not amount to an isolated error.

“This is because there were a number of breaches of the regulations… These were persistent and continuous breaches, both of the regulations and the Code of Professional Practice for Social Care, which we also consider to represent breaches of fundamental tenets of the profession.

“We consider it no exaggeration to say that, in our judgement, [Ms Hooton] breached the trust of the people for whose care she bore ultimate responsibility.

“These were vulnerable individuals who relied upon good quality care to meet their needs and maintain their well-being. [Ms Hooton] wholly failed, in our judgement, to provide this.”

The committee therefore decided to remove Ms Hooton from the Register, saying: “We find that only a Removal Order will be adequate in this case because of the breach of trust that we have found to be present, which carried a risk of harm to the health, safety and well-being of vulnerable people.”

Read the full hearing outcome.