A care home worker has been struck off after a series of blunders put disabled residents at risk.
Michael Haire was investigated following complaints about his time as a support worker at Capability Scotland’s Upper Springland centre in Perth.
Now a Scottish Social Services Council panel has found Mr Haire guilty of misconduct over a catalogue of “serious” failures between April 2012 and September 2014.
The body ruled that Mr Haire, from Perth, had given the wrong medicine – or wrong dosages – to four patients.
He had also failed to record giving medicine to a service user and also didn’t report another occasion when a different resident had refused their medicine.
In September 2014, he failed to draw up a record sheet before giving medication to patient named only as HH, which meant the user got more medication than was prescribed.
In a report by a SSSC sub-committee, a spokesman said the care worker had been well trained in the practices of administering medication and had “significant experience” in the care sector.
He said: “The sub-committee found that the facts that have been proven in this case to be numerous breaches of the Code of Practices for Social Service Workers.
“The breaches are considered by the sub-committee to be serious.”
In their findings, the panel told Mr Haire: “You have repeatedly committed errors in the administration of medication to vulnerable service users.
“These errors occurred despite the re-training and support that was made available by your employer.”
He added: “The sub-committee was satisfied that you did not intend to harm service users and that your medication administration errors were not intentional.
“Nonetheless, by failing to adhere to your employer’s medication procedure, you neglected vulnerable service users who were entitled to rely upon you to keep them safe from harm.
“The failures… placed a number of vulnerable service users at risk of harm. The potential for serious harm arising from your errors was compounded by the age and vulnerability of the service users who were in your care.”
The panel found that Mr Haire, who is from Perth, had not demonstrated that he “fully appreciated the potential consequences” of his misconduct, although he apologised several times.
The council’s spokesman added: “The sub-committee decided that a warning was not appropriate in this case as it would not address the serious nature of the misconduct, nor would it offer adequate protection against the misconduct being repeated.
“After a very thorough consideration of the issues and the options in this case, the sub-committee concluded that the only sanction that offers adequate protection from misconduct being repeated is a removal order.”
He said Mr Haire was struck off “for the protection of the public”.
The Courier has asked Mr Haire and Capability Scotland for comment.
