A LARGS care worker laughed when one of the residents she was caring for fell and lay bleeding on the ground - and then told her it was her own fault.

Heather Hunter has been stripped of her registration by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) after a string of incidents which put residents in a state of a heightened state of distress.

The care assistant was found to have failed to provide an acceptable level of care to two vulnerable residents and of communicating inappropriately with colleagues.

Evidence given at the hearing included an incident between June 2018 and August 2018 when Hunter lifted one of the residents from the stairlift to a wheelchair in a rough manner that caused the person to cry out.

And upon finding a resident on the floor and in a distressed state in January 2019, she shouted: "See, I told you that you should be in a bed, it’s your own fault. I’m not helping you up, I’m just going to call an ambulance, - they’ll take you to hospital and make you go in a bed."

Hunter failed to carry out a full body check on the resident and acted in a way that resulted in a wound on the resident's arm not being attended to for the duration of the nightshift.

After moving the resident's legs from under a chair in a manner which caused the person to scream, Hunter responded: "Shut up".

The evidence given also stated that Hunter grabbed a resident by one shoulder of her dressing gown.

A third incident on 1 February 2019 involved a conversation with colleagues where Hunter stated 'in a boastful manner' that she laughed at a resident when she was on the floor and told her it was her own fault she fell.

The SSSC, whose headquarters are pictured here, found Hunter acted in a physically and verbally abusive manner towards two vulnerable residents in her care, communicated inappropriately to colleagues by speaking with one in an abrupt manner and by boasted about her mistreatment of one of the residents.

She was found to have placed the resident at the risk of physical harm and failing to treat her with dignity and respect.

The hearing told Hunter: "Social service workers are expected to protect vulnerable people from the risk of harm. But you placed her at the risk of physical harm and failed to treat her with dignity and respect.

"You also placed her at the risk of emotional harm, as your actions caused or contributed to her crying out.

"You continued to show a contempt for a resident’s wellbeing and role modelled poor practise to the wider team.

"The SSSC considers your behaviour to sit at the higher end of the scale of seriousness.

"Your behaviour is indicative of you having underlying values or attitudinal issues which are not easily remediable.

"The SSSC considers that there is a high risk that you will repeat your behaviour which leads the SSSC to reasonably believe that you do pose a current real risk to vulnerable people.

"You have not demonstrated any evidence of insight, regret or apology to the SSSC."

Hunter's behaviour was described as a fundamental failure to follow the Codes of Practice and an abuse of trust.

Hunter admitted the misdemeanours and accepted the Removal Order, which has now come into effect.