Manager who made racist comments on blog struck off

A children’s day care manager in Scotland who disclosed confidential information and made racist remarks on her blog has been struck off.

Helen McClymont created a blog called “Helen’s Life”, in which she breached the confidentiality of and made derogatory remarks about children, parents and members of staff, the Scottish Social Services Council heard.

She maintained the blog for three months, during which time she also published racist or inappropriate comments about Italian, Venezuelan, Black and Muslim people.

In a letter to the Scottish Social Services Council, McClymont claimed she believed the blog would be private to her, as it was protected by a password.

But the regulator’s conduct sub-committee found other people had been given access to it, so it was in effect a public blog.

The committee said: “The publication of personal information, including derogatory comments, about service users under the registrant’s care, which could be accessed by a third party, was a fundamental breach of trust.”

It noted that McClymont had engaged with the investigation, had resigned from her job and asked to be removed from the social care register. She had also made a number of apologies.

However, her publication of personal details of service users and staff had raised “potentially serious safety issues”, which the apology did little to address, the committee found.

It added: “The registrant had exhibited apparently ingrained attitude of prejudice and racism. These attitudes are fundamentally incompatible with the core values of the registered caring professions.”

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