A Fife carer who asked service users for money and shared “intimate details” of her personal life has been struck off.
Claire Smith-Little was employed as a social care worker by Fife Health and Social Care Partnership in Cupar at the time of the incidents in 2022.
Smith-Little contacted both supported people on their personal devices and social media, and attended one of their homes outside of working hours.
She also referred to one of them as “granny” in text messages.
Smith-Little has now been banned from the industry by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
‘Granny, can you help me with money?’
The SSSC found Smith-Little texted one service user – referred to as AA – in January 2022 to ask for money.
One of the messages said: “Granny can you help me today with money until Thursday please I’m struggling if not it’s fine xxxxxx.”
In another, she wrote: “50 if poss (information redacted) I called car and went mental!
“I get paid on Thursday the 3rd xxxxxx.”
The watchdog also found Smith-Little accepted money from the same service user.
She also sent further messages to the woman, one of which said: “Love you always granny xxxx.”
Fife carer called service user after midnight and asked for money
Meanwhile, in January 2022, Smith-Little sent a text to another service user – referred to as BB – asking if they used internet banking.
She asked again in March and told the service user that her car was broken, before phoning her sometime after midnight on both her home and mobile phones.
The SSSC said the carer had breached “professional boundaries” with the two clients.
The report said: “Social care workers are required to maintain professional boundaries within their caring role and should not form inappropriate relationships with those people who use services and carers.
“The boundaries in the professional relationship help to keep both those who are supported, as well as those who are caring, safe from potential harm.
“Overstepping those boundaries can have additional consequences insofar as it can cause those using services to have unrealistic expectations of other carers in future.”
The watchdog added that the carer had also “shared intimate details” of her personal life with a service user and that she had “not shown any insight” into the behaviour.
The SSSC also said it “cannot be sure” that Smith-Little would not breach boundaries again after borrowing money on more than one occasion.
A spokesperson for Fife Health and Social Care Partnership said: “We do not discuss individual members of staff for reasons of confidentiality.”
Conversation