Care Worker Struck Off After Secret Footage Showed Her Threatening Dementia Patient, 81

A care worker has been removed from the social care register after a misconduct tribunal concluded that she threatened and mocked an elderly, bedbound man with dementia while carrying out his intimate personal care.

Amina Sani was found to have told the 81-year-old resident at Castlehill Care Home in Inverness that police would be called and would take him to court, and to have asked him whether a male colleague was going to hit him. The findings relate to an incident on 10 April last year at the facility, which has since been renamed Morar Highland.

The case came to light only because the resident's daughter, Su Christie, installed a hidden camera in her father's room after growing worried about the standard of care he was receiving. The resulting footage was later broadcast as part of a BBC documentary examining conditions at the home, in which families levelled accusations of "cruelty" and "neglect" against the establishment.

According to the tribunal, the footage captured Sani repeatedly informing the man that he was to be showered. He can be heard shouting "no" and pleading to be left alone, before swearing at Sani and a second carer. The panel watched recordings spanning more than 20 minutes and noted that the two staff members could be seen laughing during the exchange.

The hearing was told that Sani pulled the man's duvet away without warning, leaving him distressed and agitated. She then proceeded with his intimate personal care while a cleaner held his arms down, according to the findings.

Addressing the Scottish Social Services Council misconduct hearing, Sani's legal representative argued that her client had been inadequately trained in what was her first job in the UK. Namatirai Chipere told the panel that the Nigerian worker had herself been a victim of failings within the social care system.

Hearing chairman Iain Burke accepted that there had been institutional failures and that the employer had let Sani down. However, he stressed that this did not excuse her conduct, describing the incidents as a "significant abuse of trust and power" for which she had expressed no insight or remorse.

Burke said the panel believed Sani's treatment of the resident amounted to a "significant abuse of trust and power" and was "not something that could be remediated with training," because it reflected her underlying attitude rather than a gap in knowledge. Her behaviour and approach, he added, were "fundamentally incompatible" with registration as a social care worker.

The panel also concluded that Sani had failed to employ any de-escalation techniques during the encounter, despite the man's mounting distress. In its judgment, the chairman said it was clear from the video clips that Sani had shown no kindness or compassion. He noted that at one point she and her colleague appeared to be laughing at something the resident said or did, which the panel interpreted as disrespectful rather than shared humour.

The family's account added a painful dimension to the proceedings. Christie told the hearing that her father, a former merchant navy crewman, had harboured a lifelong fear of showers stemming from a childhood trauma. She said his alarm was evident in everything he did and said during the interaction, yet no attempt was made to calm him or bring the situation under control.

"He didn't know what was going on," Christie said after the ruling. "He's a confused 81-year-old man living with dementia. He was frightened." She described the experience of watching the recording as devastating and shocking, explaining that while she had known there were problems with his care, she had not anticipated seeing anything of that nature.

Christie moved her father to a different home shortly after the incident. Reflecting on the outcome, she said the decision to strike Sani off was the right one, noting that although the panel had highlighted institutional failings, the hearing ultimately concerned the worker's own personal accountability. She said the case sent a message that individual responsibility matters, and that people living with dementia should be treated with respect and dignity.

In mitigation, Sani's representative said her client wished to apologise to the family. The tribunal nonetheless decided that removal from the register was the appropriate sanction.

The care home's owner, Morar Living, said in a statement that it had acted promptly once concerns were raised. It rejected as untrue Sani's claim that she had not been properly trained. The home, now operating as Morar Highland, was graded "good" in its most recent inspection.

The case forms part of a wider scrutiny of standards at the facility. A BBC investigation previously revealed broader concerns about the treatment of residents, and the home has since been the subject of both critical coverage and subsequent reporting on improvements identified by the care watchdog.

The tribunal's decision underscores a recurring tension in social care regulation: while employers bear responsibility for training and oversight, registered workers remain personally answerable for how they treat the people in their charge. In this instance, the panel concluded that the conduct went beyond a failure of instruction and reflected an attitude incompatible with professional registration.