Falkirk care home worker struck off for serial abuse of female colleagues

Brian Lapsley’s removal from the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) register – specifically the parts referring to support workers in a housing support service and support workers in a care at home service – came into effect on March 26.

According to the SSSC notice of decision report, the incidents happened over a nine-year period – from August 20, 2008 to November 24, 2017 – while Mr Lapsley was employed as an administrator with a firm which operates a care home in the Falkirk area.

In one incident he got hold of a female colleague’s tunic with his left hand, pulled the tunic forward and looked down it, before making inappropriate comments about wanting to touch the woman’s breasts.

He was also reported for hugging another female colleague in a corridor, touching her inappropriately and kissing her neck and causing another female colleague to feel intimidated by his behaviour which saw him press his body against hers against a door and move in towards her to kiss her.

When a female colleague asked him for help with her payslips he placed a hand on her backside, tapped it twice and called her a “naughty girl”.

The notice of decision said: “Social service workers are expected to treat their colleagues with dignity, respect and to maintain appropriate boundaries. Their colleagues have the right to expect to feel safe and protected at work.

"Your behaviour towards six separate female colleagues was abusive, demeaning, intimidating and harassing in nature. Your behaviour is a pattern of very concerning, and, in some cases predatory, behaviour risking serious emotional and psychological harm to those colleagues.

“Your conduct appears deliberate and planned, taking place when you were alone with each of the colleagues. There is a pattern of similar behaviour over a protracted period of time. That, together with the nature of the behaviour, indicates serious and deep-seated values and attitudinal issues.

"Such conduct is very serious as it violates fundamental tenets of the caring profession – to protect people from harm and not to abuse others. We cannot be assured

that the behaviour has been remedied and consider there to be a high risk of repetition.

"If the behaviour was repeated it would risk serious emotional and psychological harm to female colleagues. There are therefore current public protection concerns and

serious public interest issues in this case."

The SSSC stated it decided to remove Mr Lapsley’s registration from the SSSC register because he was in a position of trust at the particular care home and his conduct seriously abused this trust.

His behaviour also appeared to be planned and deliberate and he exhibited a distinct and prolonged pattern of similar behaviour towards several victims.

It was stated Mr Lapsley had actually been suspended from the SSSC register for the last four years and had been subject to criminal proceedings during that time.

Although it was found Mr Lapsley had co-operated with the SSSC investigation and actually had a good history prior to these incidents, with no previous findings of

misconduct, he had not shown any insight, made any apology or expressed any regret for his actions.

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