Simon worked as a senior care assistant. He had observed a change in behaviour in one of the nurses over the past year. Simon said he had seen this nurse slap residents and on one occasion saw the nurse put their hands around a resident’s throat and force them into their room.Simon could only hear a scream and some banging after this. Simon was very worried as he felt unable to raise this internally. He did not trust the new manager as concerns had been ignored in the past and confidentiality was breached.
When Simon called we spoke to him about what other options he may have if he was worried about speaking to the manager. Simon then raised the matter with the deputy manager, who took his concerns seriously. Soon other workers felt able to come forward.
Simon wrote to us some time later and said the following:
“I felt I had no one to turn to and was in a very difficult position. One of my biggest concerns was knowing who to tell so that I could be sure that they would take me seriously and effectively put a stop to the abuse. Your advice and support were invaluable at this time…although the weeks and months that followed were stressful and traumatic. I never regretted my actions…we had to give evidence in court for the prosecution, which we all found very difficult. We got through this ordeal by supporting each other and in the knowledge that we were doing the right thing. The defendant was found guilty of seven of the fourteen charges against him and sentenced to two years in prison.”
