Social worker banned for inappropriate conduct towards carers

A social worker has been struck off the social care register for misconduct that included inappropriate and sexually motivated behaviour towards two carers.

A General Social Care Council conduct committee examined five allegations of misconduct by Muzibul Islam, who worked in Tower Hamlets Council’s community learning disabilities team from July 2007 to October 2009.

The first instance involved Ms O, a carer of a service user. During a home visit in March 2009 Islam told Ms O she was attractive and then, during a car journey that same day, asked her how she felt about him and persisted after she asked him to stop. He called her twice in the evening and sent text messages asking for Ms O to meet him for lunch. During a disciplinary about his behaviour, Islam claimed that Ms O had been in prison and had a history of drug and alcohol problems, which was not the case.

Later that same month he asked Mrs F, the wife of a service user, if she was unhappy in her marriage. He told her that he knew how she felt about her marriage and that she needed a friend. Despite Mrs F asking Islam to stop calling her, he phoned her at least three times each day between 20 and 22 March 2009.

The committee concluded that this was offensive and sexually motivated behaviour that was “reprehensible and amounted to misconduct”. “In each case he was manipulative and calculating in his behaviour towards the carer of a service user,” the committee added.

The committee also decided that the misleading claims Islam made about Ms O undermined the integrity of the social care profession.

Another instance of misconduct was Islam’s behaviour towards Farahnaaz Salurun, a 20-year-old psychology student who was doing voluntary work at Tower Hamlets in 2008. Islam was found to have made “lewd and vulgar” remarks to Salurun when he said words to the effect of “lovely tender breasts; I had lovely tender chicken breasts” while looking directly at her. The committee deemed this behaviour unacceptable and ruled that it was misconduct.

The fourth allegation against Islam involved Mr J, a service user with a history of mental health problems. In September 2007, at Mile End Hospital Special Addiction Unit, he shouted at Mr J words to the effect of “I will have you sectioned as I did before”. During a row at the unit, NHS staff asked Islam to leave the premises. The committee found that the evidence supported the allegation.

Finally, the committee looked at the case of Mr A, a service user with learning disabilities. Islam was accused of declaring that Mr A was “not ready for any activities” and declined to listen to Mr A’s concerns. The committee found that Islam had not ruled out activities in the future and while he would not listen to Mr A’s concerns he did listen, at least in part, to others who spoke on Mr A’s behalf. The committee decided that this case demonstrated failings in professional standards but did not amount to misconduct.

The committee said that Islam had shown “serious and persistent misconduct” and that Islam had “shown no insight into and remorse for his behaviour” and decided to remove him from the social care register.

Islam did not attend the hearing. He has 24 days to appeal against the committee’s decision, which was made on the 20 February.

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