A carer who made cruel remarks in a WhatsApp group about the people she was looking after has been given a warning by a watchdog.
Jessica Moore made fun of one service user’s weight and compared her to a “pufferfish” and said another with a skin condition looked like a “dalmatian” while employed as a support at home worker for Avenue Care Services in Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross.
Moore also insulted the family of another vulnerable person.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) said she had “compromised the dignity and privacy of multiple service users” and placed a warning on her registration for 18 months.
In a series of messages sent over 12 days in August 2018, Moore joked she would use one woman’s jacket as a “hammock”, saying she looked “like a pufferfish that’s been sitting in front of the fire for too long”.
She also invited the group members to guess the woman’s weight.
Branding another service user with a skin disease “the dalmatian”, she also joked she was “knee deep in cream cakes”.
And describing the daughter of another service user, she said: “Lying on that arm chair with her legs wide open acting like she’s the f**king princess of ascaban.”
The SSSC said Moore’s fitness to practice was impaired by the messages.
It said in a report: “Making derogatory comments about service users calls into question your suitability to be employed in a caring role, and your ability to properly care for those service users you were making derogatory comments about.
“Service users have the right to expect that they will have their privacy and confidentiality upheld by social service workers in whom they and the public place their trust and confidence.”
The watchdog told Moore she must also submit a “reflective account” which requires her to think about her “attitude and behaviours” and the impact her comments had on the people she was looking after.
Avenue Care Services said Moore is no longer employed with them.
