A domiciliary care worker from Anglesey has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a hearing found her fitness to practise was currently impaired because of criminal convictions and serious misconduct.
Lilian Wyn Binyon was arrested in November 2019, January 2020 and April 2020 for driving under the influence of cocaine.
She subsequently pleaded guilty to the first two offences at North West Wales’ Magistrates Court in July 2020 and to the third offence at Caernarfon Magistrates’ Court in September 2020.
The hearing was told that Ms Binyon was wearing her Carelink uniform and in breach of the coronavirus regulations during the third arrest on 19 April, as she was travelling outside her local area without a reasonable excuse.
Ms Binyon was not working the day of the arrest and the hearing was told that while Ms Binyon did not tell the police she was working that day, her only reason for wearing the uniform was to give the false impression she was travelling for work.
Having heard the evidence, the panel decided that Ms Binyon’s fitness to practise was currently impaired because of her criminal convictions and serious misconduct.
Explaining its decision, the panel said: “Ms Binyon’s conduct showed a lack of integrity and risked undermining public confidence in domiciliary care.
“We have decided that it could pose [a] risk to individuals using services and that her dishonesty and repeated involvement in serious criminal offending amount to a breach of the core values of social care.”
The panel continued: “The limited information which [Ms Binyon] has provided to Social Care Wales does not suggest that she is likely to be motivated to put things right. She has not expressed any remorse or insight.
“In fact, her handwritten letter [to Social Care Wales in March 2020] was an attempt to evade responsibility... She suggested that it was just bad luck that she had twice been arrested for drug driving offences.”
The panel decided to remove Ms Binyon from the Register, saying: “The impairment is serious enough to justify removal from the Register and no lesser action will provide an appropriate safeguard for users of domiciliary care or protection of public confidence.”
Ms Binyon was not present at the one-day remote hearing, which was held over Zoom earlier this week.