A woman who allegedly punched a care worker colleague and then spat in his face has been barred from the profession.
Adult residential carer Margaret Patterson shouted at two male colleagues before assaulting one of them in front of a frightened service user at the Brooklands Care Home last March, a tribunal heard.
The victim suffered a split lip and was seen crying after Patterson’s attack, an NI Social Care Council fitness to practise committee was told.
Finding three misconduct charges against Patterson proven and barring her from the profession, the committee said her misconduct “showed disrespect to the rights and dignity of her colleagues”.
Patterson did not attend the hearing and was not represented, but she had denied the allegations against her in a statement to employers.
Finding three misconduct charges against Margaret Patterson proven and barring her from the profession, the committee said her misconduct “showed disrespect to the rights and dignity of her colleagues”.
Solicitor Peter Carson, for the council, said a referral had been made by the home manager at Brooklands Healthcare on March 13, 2023, over an alleged incident on the night shift on March 8/9 involving Patterson and two colleagues, identified as witness one and witness two.
He said the incident was alleged to have taken place in the room of a service user, while the service user was present and receiving personal care.
Patterson was said to have shouted aggressively at the care workers that they were doing things the wrong way, before striking witness one in the face, causing his lip to bleed and then spitting in his face. Care assistants, and witnesses one and two both gave evidence to the committee, as did witness three, who was a nurse.
The committee said it found all three witnesses to be credible and consistent.
Witness one said that, having been shouted at by Patterson, he tried to leave the service user’s room as he felt uncomfortable.
He said Patterson blocked the door with her hand and that she suddenly pushed him. He told her not to touch his body and she then punched him in the lip with her fist.
Witness one said that when his colleague left the service user’s bedroom to get the nurse in charge, Patterson directly spat in his face.
Witness two said he saw his colleague in the corridor crying, very upset and that he wanted to go home.
There was also blood on his lips, and some liquid on his face. He then told him Patterson had spat on him.
Witness three said witness one was “very upset” and described blood on his lip and what looked like saliva on his face.
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Mr Carson submitted Patterson’s actions “showed a complete lack of respect for her colleagues and the service user who witnessed the alleged assault”.
He noted that Patterson at first denied assaulting witness one and then suggested that he had bitten his own lip when she acted in self-defence.
The committee said it did not accept Patterson’s explanation of witness one poking his finger in her face and that she acted in self-defence. It said aggravating factors in the case included:
• The assault and spitting at a colleague took place in the presence of a service user who was receiving personal care in her bedroom;
•There was evidence that the service user was frightened and scared;
• Patterson caused actual harm to witness one;
• She did not meaningfully engage with the council, and there were no expressions of remorse or regret;
• Patterson had a previous referral to the council in 2017, which resulted in advice being given to her.
The committee said in its published decision that the incident in 2017 concerned her behaviour towards a nurse in charge in the workplace.
“Therefore, having been reminded at that time of the need to treat colleagues with respect, (she) went on to aggressively shout at witness one and two, as well as cause physical harm to witness one, all of which happened in the presence of a service user.”
It said that the assault on her colleague and verbal abuse of colleagues constituted an abuse of her position of trust as a social care worker, and brought the social care profession into disrepute.
The committee added that a removal order would ensure that Patterson did not have an opportunity to repeat her behaviour.
It said: “The committee considered that public confidence in the social care profession, and the council as its regulator, would be undermined if a social care worker who is found to have shown a serious contempt for the safety of her colleagues and service users, and who persistently failed to show any insight or remediation, was allowed to remain on the register.”