Suspended Care Workers’ Disgust After Abuse Hearing

Two care workers with decades of service between them have vowed never to work in the profession again – after being prosecuted over a throwaway remark about a disabled resident in a residential home.

Caroline Walton admitted swearing about a 28-year-old man at the Highland Council-run supported accommodation in Cradlehall Park in Inverness. Similar allegations against her colleague, Ann Richardson, were dropped during the same hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court.

The hearing came more than two years after the pair were both suspended from their jobs by the council.

Speaking outside the court, Mrs Walton, 51, said her guilt was the equivalent of “swearing in the tearoom”.

Sheriff Derek Pyle, who gave Mrs Walton an absolute discharge, said: “The bottom line is there are many things that people say that do not end up in criminal prosecutions, and thank goodness for that.”

Both women could now face a Highland Council disciplinary hearing but they have pledged never to go back to work in the care sector.

Mrs Walton, of 8 Leanach Court, Westhill, Inverness, said she hoped that the local authority would investigate practices at the home to save other employees from “working in such a nest of vipers”.

She said: “It is regrettable that so much damage has been caused and so much taxpayers’ money and court time wasted due to this situation, which has been continuing since March 2006.

“But, as this was a result of being teamed up with unprofessional colleagues, I am afraid it was out of my control.”

Mrs Richardson, 51, of 11 St Margaret Road, Inverness, who has 14 years in care work, said the experience had been a nightmare.

Mrs Walton admitted breaking the peace by shouting and swearing and speaking in an inappropriate manner about two residents on various occasions between December 2005 and March 2006.

Her not guilty plea to a second charge of assaulting a male resident on March 1 was accepted by the Crown.

Fiscal depute Karen Stewart told the court that other members of staff became concerned in December 2005 about comments Mrs Walton made about a 28-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, who lived in supported accommodation in Cradlehall Park.

They alleged that she swore and made several derogatory comments about the man and woman.

Matters came to a head in March 2006 when a member of staff witnessed physical contact between Mrs Walton and the man, which the employee regarded as “rough” and inappropriate.

Solicitor Iain Innes said that Mrs Walton, a married mother of four, had an unblemished record throughout her career but the lack of a senior social worker at Cradlehall had led to divisions among staff.

A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “The people concerned are still suspended and are subject to formal disciplinary procedures.”

A spokesman for the Care Commission said he was unable to comment.