A Lanarkshire carer has received a warning after asking a female colleague to 'wash him' and made a number of 'harassing' and 'sexist' remarks to staff members.
Stephen Ralfs was working at a care home service for adults in Lanark when the incidents took place between June and October 2021.
This included asking a colleague who was washing a care home resident's genitals if he could “have the same” when she was finished.
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In August 2021, Mr Ralfs also said women "must be led by their ovaries" and "that female colleagues might as well have just thrown their knickers" at a manager who he described as a "blue-eyed boy and could do no wrong".
He later asked a colleague "on numerous occasions" if she wanted to "clean and change [his] pad" in October 2021. Mr Ralfs then said to her: “I’m away to the toilet, do you want me to send you a photo?”
Also that month, he asked a resident if he would “like to sh** in the bin".
Mr Ralfs was furthermore found to have mentioned pornography to a colleague and said "well I am okay as I can have a w*** anytime I want, at home or work".
In a decision by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), Mr Ralfs' behaviour was described as "harassing" and "showed a sexist attitude towards women". He has had a warning placed on his registration for 24 months.
The report reads: "The SSSC social service workers are expected to treat colleagues and service users with respect. Your comments to a number of female colleagues was harassing behaviour and showed a sexist attitude towards women.
"Your behaviour risked causing emotional harm to those colleagues, bringing your suitability to work in social services into question
"Social service workers are expected to respect and maintain the dignity of service users in what is their home. Your comment in the presence of AA shows a lack of respect and regard for him and his personal care needs. Your comment to BB could be regarded as dehumanising. Both comments display a lack of regard for the service users’ emotional welfare and they raise concerns about your attitude to vulnerability.
"There is a pattern of behaviour over a few months, raising concerns that the conduct may be values based. There appear to have been staff tensions in this particular workplace, and you have a period of work before this – as well as since – with no such concerns being raised. Nevertheless, we did not consider there were any exceptional circumstances at this workplace to mitigate your behaviour. Your conduct was offensive, degrading and risked emotional harm to others.
"You have not shown any meaningful insight, remorse or reflection. We consider that, together with the pattern of the behaviour, this indicates a risk of it being repeated. If it was, there would be a risk to public protection in terms of the emotional wellbeing of colleagues and service users, although we do not consider it to be one that is particularly marked."
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