A community manager, registered as a domiciliary care worker, from Conwy has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a Social Care Wales hearing found her fitness to practise is currently impaired because of serious misconduct.
The hearing was told that in May 2020, Judith Maloney gave the wrong medication to someone in her care, didn’t report the error and falsely recorded she had provided the correct medication.
The panel was also told that Ms Maloney tried to hide the fact she had given the wrong medication by taking the correct medication away to destroy it and asking a colleague not to tell anyone what had happened
In a disciplinary hearing with her employer, Ms Maloney admitted the charges and said she regretted her actions and was sorry.
After considering the evidence, the panel decided Ms Maloney’s fitness to practise was currently impaired because of serious misconduct.
Explaining its decision, the panel said: “[Ms Maloney] put a vulnerable user of care and support services at risk by her conduct. Her failure to… administer the correct medication to [someone in her care] and her failure to report her error potentially put [them] at risk of serious illness.
“This was compounded by the steps taken by Ms Maloney to conceal her failure in this regard.”
The panel continued: “Ms Maloney has shown insight into her conduct and has accepted her own wrongdoing, both to her employer as part of their disciplinary process and to Social Care Wales with whom she has co-operated.
“We are concerned, however, regarding the depth of the insight demonstrated by Ms Maloney. Unfortunately, we have not had the benefit of hearing from Ms Maloney today to understand whether she has reflected upon, and taken any steps to, remedy her behaviour.
“As a result, we are not confident that her conduct would not be repeated in the future. This is supported by the fact that Ms Maloney herself accepts that her fitness to practise is currently impaired. We are not therefore reassured that she no longer presents a risk to individuals using care and support services.”
The panel decided to remove Ms Maloney from the Register, saying: “We consider that [a Removal Order] is proportionate and necessary to protect the public and the wider public interest.
“We consider this is the only appropriate option given Ms Maloney’s dishonesty and concealment of her wrongdoing.”
Ms Maloney was not present at the one-day hearing, which was held over Zoom last week.