A DOMICILIARY care worker from Blaenau Gwent who urinated in a sink, stole alcohol from a person in his care and drank it on duty has been struck off.

Anthony Smith has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a Social Care Wales hearing found his fitness to practise was impaired due to serious misconduct.

The hearing heard that, on June 2, 2020, Smith was seen on CCTV stealing alcohol from a person in his care and drinking it on duty, as well as urinating in their kitchen sink.

He also failed to change his gloves after the incident and did not wear a face mask, despite having coughing and sneezing fits.

Smith had also falsely claimed a person in his care had been trying to self-harm and he had been forced to remove a blade from them.

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The panel also heard how, on May 23, 2020, Smith had failed to visit all the people allocated to him, did not tell his employer he had gone off shift, and did not respond to calls or texts from them. When asked to explain, he had provided differing explanations, including that he had fallen asleep in his car and that his wife had tested positive for Covid-19.

Explaining its decision to remove Smith from the register, the panel said: “The conduct we have found proved very obviously breached the trust that vulnerable people and their families placed in Mr Smith to provide the safe and appropriate care that they were entitled to expect.”

They continued: “There is no evidence of any meaningful insight before us, nor is there any evidence of Mr Smith taking any steps to remedy the actions which led to the breaches of the Code that we have identified.”

The panel added: “Mr Smith’s lack of insight creates a current risk to individuals using services. This, in our judgement, aggravates matters as it demonstrates a lack of insight into the potential effect of his conduct on vulnerable people to whom he owed a professional duty.

“Looking forward this is a matter of significant concern because Mr Smith does, in our view, pose a similar risk to vulnerable individuals with whom he might work in the future.”

In its decision it said: “There has been a serious departure from the relevant standards set out in the Code. We do not consider that any lesser disposal would protect the public. This is because of the risk of harm we judge to be present, the lack of both insight and remediation to which we have already referred, and the findings of dishonesty we have made.”

Smith was not present at the four-day remote hearing, which was held over Zoom last week.