Social worker has sanction revoked after proving herself as support worker

A social worker has had her sanction revoked after proving herself as a social care support worker.

A HCPC panel made the decision to remove the conditions of practice order after it found the social worker had “extensively remediated her failings” in her social care role.

The social worker was initially suspended from practice in 2014 after a panel found she had provided a misleading reference for a colleague, de-allocated cases that were incomplete without permission and failed to maintain records adequately.

Reflection

Her suspension was lifted in 2015 after she provided evidence of reflection, ongoing professional development and references from a job as a gateway assessor in a local Citizens Advice Bureau. However the HCPC said at the time she “lacked sufficient confidence to return to unrestricted practice” so imposed a conditions of practice order.

The panel heard she had since been unable to obtain a social work post, but had just completed a probation period as a support worker. The post had one to one supervision and the panel felt this environment helped prove her ability to work unrestricted.

“[She] had extensive contact with vulnerable service users, including those experiencing mental health issues, substance abuse, isolation and physical disabilities,” the panel said.

Satisfied

As a support worker she also had to monitor risk and escalate safeguarding issues for vulnerable adults. The panel said this provided assurances “that the nature of her employment was such as to provide her with the appropriate setting in which to put into practice lessons which she had learnt”.

The panel said her responsibilities in the role met the practice skills she needed to meet as set out in the conditions of practice order, such as record keeping, meeting required timescales and maintaining professional boundaries.

It concluded: “[The panel] was satisfied that all of the evidence now before it showed that she had extensively reflected on those failings, had insight, and was making steady progress towards achieving a return to unrestricted social work. This panel was reassured that the registrant was unlikely to repeat her failings in the future.”