Caerphilly social worker gets official reprimand

A SOCIAL worker who was employed by Caerphilly council was found guilty of misconduct at a hearing last week.

Gloria Elizabeth Lewis was given an official reprimand, an admonishment, by the Care Council Conduct Committee after admitting five of six charges of misconduct.

The committee, which met in Cardiff, found her guilty of all six charges and ordered the admonishment on Friday.

Ms Lewis was not present at the hearing.

The charges included failing to complete an assessment and care plan, failing to communicate in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way and making inaccurate, incomplete and incorrect notes with regard to a service user.

The Conduct Committee decided that Lewis had breached five sections of the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers.

These sections relate to the requirements to protect the rights and promote the interests of service users, to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers, to promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible from danger and harm, to uphold public trust and confidence in social care services, and to be accountable for the quality of work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving knowledge and skills.

Ms Lewis will still be able to work as a social worker but the admonishment will remain on the Care Council’s records for the next 18 months.

The Conduct Committee said: “The charges and misconduct which have been found proven are significant and need to be marked in a way which will bring to the attention of others that there have been concerns about the Registrant’s practice and evidence suggests that the Registrant was practising within an environment where there were considerable deficiencies.”

A Caerphilly council spokeswoman said: “We are aware of the recent Care Council for Wales hearing and the subsequent sanctions imposed upon the individual.

“We took an immediate approach to addressing the issues and dealt with the matter in line with our procedures, which included refering the details to the Care Council for Wales.”