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

A care worker who was recorded on a hidden camera taunting and intimidating an elderly man with dementia has been removed from the professional register, following a misconduct hearing that heard how the 81-year-old was left screaming and begging to be left alone.

Amina Sani was found to have warned the bedbound resident that police would be called and hinted that a male colleague might strike him, as he became increasingly frantic at the prospect of being showered against his wishes. The incidents occurred at Castlehill Care Home in Inverness on 10 April last year, and only came to public attention because the man's daughter had grown so worried about his treatment that she installed a covert camera in his bedroom.

The footage, which was shown to a Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) panel, captured more than 20 minutes of interaction in which Sani repeatedly informed the resident he was to be washed. The man can be heard shouting "no" and "leave me alone" before swearing at Sani and a second carer. At points during the encounter, the two workers are visible laughing.

The hearing was told how Sani ultimately carried out the man's intimate personal care while a cleaner restrained his arms. The resident, a former merchant navy crewman, had a lifelong terror of showers linked to a traumatic experience in childhood, according to evidence given by his daughter, Su Christie.

In her testimony, Christie described how her father's distress escalated steadily throughout the exchange and that nobody made any effort to calm him or reduce the tension. She said he was a confused 81-year-old living with dementia who had no understanding of what was happening to him. "He was frightened," she told the panel, adding that watching the recording was devastating and left her in shock.

The panel concluded that Sani had told the resident words to the effect of "we will call the police and they will take you to court," and, gesturing towards a male cleaner, asked whether he thought that man was going to hit him. She also pulled the duvet off him without warning, heightening his agitation.

Delivering the judgment, hearing chairman Iain Burke described the conduct as a serious breach of the trust and authority placed in a carer. He said Sani had demonstrated neither understanding of the impact of her actions nor any remorse, and that her behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with holding registration as a social care worker.

Burke accepted arguments made by Sani's solicitor that her employer had failed her and that institutional shortcomings were evident. However, he stressed that no failings on the part of the care home excused her from her own personal duty as a registered professional.

The chairman noted that throughout the video clips, Sani displayed no warmth or empathy towards the resident, and that on one occasion she and her colleague appeared to laugh in reaction to something the man said or did. He said the laughter did not come across as sharing a joke with the resident but rather as showing disrespect. The panel determined that the resident had suffered harm and that his dignity had not been respected.

The hearing also heard that Sani failed to deploy any recognised techniques for defusing a tense situation. Burke said the panel believed her treatment of the man could not be corrected through further training because it reflected an underlying attitude rather than a simple skills gap. In closing submissions, Sani's legal representative said she wanted to apologise to the family.

Her solicitor had earlier told the hearing that Sani, a Nigerian worker, had not received proper training in what was her first job in the UK, and argued that she was herself a casualty of wider problems in the social care system. The care home's owner, Morar Living, rejected that claim, saying there was "no truth" in the suggestion that Sani had not been adequately trained, and insisting it acted quickly once concerns were raised.

The case formed part of a wider BBC documentary investigation into standards at Castlehill, in which families accused the home of cruelty and neglect. The facility has since been renamed Morar Highland and was rated "good" in its most recent inspection.

Christie moved her father to a different home shortly after the incident, and said the decision to strike Sani off was the correct one. She acknowledged the panel's remarks about institutional failures but argued that the hearing centred on the carer's individual responsibility. In her view, the outcome carries an important message that personal accountability matters, and that people living with dementia must be treated with respect and dignity in every care setting.