Support worker convicted of 'pretending to pass wind' in residents' faces struck off

A support worker who was convicted of pretending to “pass wind” in the faces of two vulnerable residents has been struck off.

Christopher Watson appeared at Livingston Sheriff Court where he was found guilty of the ill-treatment and wilful neglect of two patients while working at Real Life Options in Kirknewton, West Lothian.

The court heard Watson pulled the heads of the two men downwards, lifted his leg and imitated passing wind in their faces on two separate occasions between July and August 2023.

A report by the Scottish Social Services Council also outlined two occasions in 2021 when Watson was accused of misconduct.

On one occasion, he failed to provide support for a man who had put his arms out looking for his help causing the man to fall to the floor and hit the side of his face.

In another incident, the support worker called a man a derogatory name while he was showering.

Watson was struck off from the register after the Scottish Social Services Council panel concluded that he had “failed to provide an acceptable level of care”.

The report added: “You have failed to provide support to a service user who was looking for your support and as a result to have caused the service user to fall to the floor and hit the side of his face.

“You also called another service user a derogatory term and spoken in a threatening manner. You were convicted of pulling two service users heads towards you and imitating passing wind into their faces

“At its highest, the behaviour is abusive and demonstrates a failure to respect and maintain the dignity of service users.

“The behaviour is indicative of serious attitudinal and values issues. Your actions could have caused serious physical harm to a service user and had the potential to cause emotional harm to service users.”

Watson, who was said to have shown no insight into his behaviour, was banned from working in the profession.