Care Worker Struck Off After Secret Footage Exposed Threats to Dementia Patient at Inverness Home

A care worker has been removed from the social care register after she was secretly recorded threatening and mocking an 81-year-old bedbound man with dementia at a care home in Inverness.

Amina Sani was found to have warned the resident that police would be called and that he would be taken to court, and to have threatened him with physical violence when he became distressed at the prospect of being showered against his wishes. The incidents took place at Castlehill Care Home on 10 April last year and were captured on a covert camera installed by the man's daughter, Su Christie, who had grown worried about the standard of his care.

A Scottish Social Services Council misconduct hearing was shown footage spanning more than 20 minutes in which Sani repeatedly told the man he was going to be showered. He can be heard screaming "no" and "leave me alone" before swearing at Sani and a second carer. According to the panel's findings, Sani and a colleague could be seen laughing during the exchange.

The hearing was told that the resident, a former merchant navy crewman, had carried a lifelong fear of showers stemming from a childhood trauma. Giving evidence, Christie said her father's distress visibly escalated throughout the encounter, with no attempt made by staff to calm him or defuse the situation. She described watching the footage as devastating and shocking, saying she had known there were problems with his care but had not expected to witness anything of that nature. "He didn't know what was going on," she said. "He's a confused 81-year-old man living with dementia. He was frightened."

The panel ruled that Sani had told the man words to the effect that police would be called and he would be taken to court, and had asked him, referring to a male cleaner, whether he thought that man was going to hit him. She also pulled his duvet off without warning, leaving him agitated and upset. The hearing heard that Sani subsequently carried out the man's intimate personal care while a cleaner held his arms down.

Delivering the judgment, hearing chairman Iain Burke said the incidents amounted to a significant abuse of trust and power, and that Sani had displayed no insight into her conduct or any remorse for it. He said her attitude and behaviour were fundamentally incompatible with registration as a social care worker.

Burke acknowledged submissions from Sani's legal representative that she had been let down by her employer and that there had been institutional failure. But he stressed that none of the shortcomings identified absolved her of her personal responsibility as a registered social care worker. He noted that throughout the video clips she showed no kindness or compassion towards the resident, and that at one point she and her colleague appeared to be laughing in response to something the man said or did. The panel concluded that this did not look like laughter shared with the resident but was more disrespectful in nature, and that the man had suffered harm as a result.

The chairman added that the panel believed Sani's treatment of the resident could not be remedied through further training because it reflected her underlying attitude. The panel also found that she had failed to employ any de-escalation techniques during the encounter.

Sani, a Nigerian worker, was appearing in what her representative said was her first job in the UK. Her legal representative told the hearing that she had not been trained properly for the role and said her client wished to apologise to the family. That claim was rejected by the home's owner, Morar Living, which said there was "no truth" in the suggestion that Sani had not received adequate training. The company said it had acted promptly once concerns were raised with it.

The footage at the centre of the case later featured in a BBC documentary examining care standards at Castlehill, in which families accused the home of cruelty and neglect. The home has since been renamed Morar Highland and was graded "good" in its most recent care inspection.

Reacting to the ruling, Christie said she believed striking Sani off was the right decision. She acknowledged that the panel had commented on institutional failures, but said the hearing was ultimately about Sani's own personal accountability and that the outcome sent a message that such accountability matters. She said people living with dementia, like her father, should be treated with respect and dignity in a care setting. Christie moved her father to a different home shortly after the incident came to light.

The case highlights long-running concerns about the treatment of vulnerable residents in care homes and the responsibility of individual staff members, even when employers are found to have failed them. It also underscores the growing role that covert cameras installed by relatives can play in uncovering mistreatment behind closed doors.