A residential child care worker from Flintshire has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a hearing found his fitness to practise was impaired because of serious misconduct.
The hearing was told that in July 2018 Andrew Cheers shouted at and used an aggressive tone with a colleague during an incident in a car involving a vulnerable young person in their care who was being restrained.
Mr Cheers was accused of laughing at the vulnerable young person while he restrained her and threatening the young person, telling her on more than one occasion during the car journey that he would kill her.
Following the incident, the hearing was told Mr Cheers dishonesty dictated a false and misleading account of what happened to his colleague, telling her to include it in the incident report, in an attempt to cover up his inappropriate behaviour.
Having heard the evidence, the panel decided that Mr Cheers’s fitness to practise was currently impaired because of serious misconduct.
Explaining its decision, the panel said: “We have no hesitation in finding that Mr Cheers’s conduct [towards the young person] was deplorable.
“It was directed at a vulnerable young person with whom he had not previously worked. His conduct was threatening, abusive and intimidating. It clearly crosses the threshold of serious misconduct.”
The panel continued: “Whilst we recognise that the matters … occurred on a single day, we cannot conclude that those matters … can fairly be described as isolated.
“Rather, in our judgement, they represent a pattern of improper practice, since they relate to conduct towards a work colleague, a vulnerable young person in Mr Cheers’s care and conduct intended to deceive his employer and/or any person who might read the Incident Report Form.”
The panel decided to remove Mr Cheers from the Register, saying: “We have decided that, on the evidence before us, only a Removal Order will be adequate.
“This is because, in our judgement, there has been a serious departure from the relevant standards set out in the Code of Professional Practice.
“We do not consider that any lesser disposal would protect the public, given the lack of both insight and remediation … and the finding of dishonesty we have made.”
Mr Cheers was not present at the two-day hearing at the Beaufort Park Hotel in Mold last week.