A care home worker from Midlothian has been given a warning on their notice for 18 months after leaving a resident sitting on the toilet for five hours.
Stephen Wilson, a social care worker in Gorebridge, is judged to have failed to carry out his duty and seek help after the patient was left stranded on the toilet.
READ MORE: Edinburgh flat has bedroom, lounge and kitchen in SAME ROOM for £1,200 per month
The Scottish Social Services Council declared that on or around 28 April 2019, Wilson failed to seek advice from either the duty manager on call, the rapid response falls team, the district nurse team and when the ambulance did not arrive within the hour, NHS24.
The panel said that Wilson's fitness to practise has been impaired as he put other people at unnecessary risk and failed to take advice in relation to a resident over a period of four to five hours when he and colleagues were unable to remove the man from the toilet.
They said: "As a consequence, you placed him at risk of physical and emotional harm. Taking advice could have led to the resident’s situation while he waited on the ambulance being improved. As it was, he was left in a position which put him at severe risk of physical and emotional harm. Failing to take advice in this situation was a breach of the trust placed in you by the resident and your employer."
They added: "There is an ongoing public protection risk in respect of your behaviour due to the lack of developed insight demonstrated. While there is no indication that there have been previous similar issues, your apparent lack of awareness to take steps to improve the resident’s condition and minimisation of your responsibility for the incident mean that the SSSC has no assurance that lessons have been learned and that future residents would be safe from risks to their health and safety."
Wilson avoided being struck off and has been given an 18-month warning on his registration.
Under the condition placed on Wilson's registration, he will need to perform a number of tasks and training to prevent further issues occurring in the future.
These include moving and handling training, risk assessment and escalation in emergency situations and first aid in the workplace, as well not undertaking a role in which he would be the most senior member of staff on call.
A Midlothian Health Social Care Partnership spokesman said: "We cannot comment on individual cases."
