Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber

[2025] UKUT 219 (AAC)

Fecha: 12-Jun-2025

The care agency’s account

25.

The care agency’s summary of the fall incident in its referral to the DBS (p.50) read as follows:

Safeguarding called the office around 13.15 to say a client was outside and had fallen. The neighbours were with client. One neighbour went to get [the Appellant] as she knew they had a live in caregiver.

The neighbour found [the Appellant] fast asleep in bed, in her nightclothes.

When [the Appellant] did come outside, she did not take control of the situation, at times she left the client and said she was going to check on the laundry.

An off duty private ambulance driver was assessing the situation and decided that the client was not hurt and they should get her indoors as it is very hot.

Once inside and the client was sitting in her chair, [the Appellant] went to the kitchen and shut the door. As the medic was concerned the client would leave the property again he asked [the Appellant] to leave the door open.

26.

At this stage we simply note that the off duty private ambulance driver referred to in this passage was a neighbour. There is simply no evidence that he was a ‘medic’ properly so called, although he is described in the papers as a first responder.

27.

The summary in the care agency’s referral was mainly based on two documents. The first was a report by the agency’s live in care manager who we call Nicola. This document is undated, but we accept it as being broadly contemporaneous. The second was an e-mail sent to Nicola by Susan from the council’s Adult Social Care (ASC) team. This was timed at 14:31 on the day of the fall incident.

28.

Nicola’s report was mostly concerned with the implementation of the decision to terminate the Appellant’s placement with immediate effect. As regards the incident itself, the report read as follows:

At about 1.30pm on 6th August I had a phone call from Susan from the council’s ASC team to inform me that there had been an incident involving the Appellant and Teresa. She explained that Teresa had left the house unaccompanied, walked down the path a bit turned a corner and fell on the grass verge. This was witnessed by a member of the ASC staff who works from home opposite Teresa’s house. The staff member went to get the Appellant and found her in bed asleep still in her night clothes. Susan went on to tell me that the Appellant seemed disinterested in the situation and did not volunteer any information about Teresa that might have helped. The Appellant did not call an ambulance a neighbour did. 2 other off duty medical staff arrived. One was an off duty ambulance driver who asked Teresa’s name, date of birth etc. The Appellant gave him an old care file from the previous agency and said she could not show him Teresa’s details.

At this point the ASC staff member went back to her house as there were lots of people helping.

ASC advised me that this has been raised as a safeguarding and suggested that the Appellant needed to be replaced as soon as possible.

As I was arranging for another Carer to replace the Appellant, Susan called me again saying the off duty ambulance driver had contacted her saying that the Appellant was more worried about the washing than about Teresa and not interested about Teresa. He also said that a few days previous he had seen Teresa leave the house and the Appellant drag her back inside by her arm.

Susan suggested that the Appellant needed to be removed from the placement immediately.

29.

Susan’s account, as set out in her e-mail to Nicola, was as follows:

As discussed I was alerted by a colleague who lives near Teresa that a neighbour had knocked on her door and alerted her that Teresa had gone out through her door leaving it open. Another neighbour was with Teresa and she turned the corner so they followed and by this time Teresa had fallen on the floor on a grassy bank. There were a few people around her so my colleague went back to the house as she knew she had a live in carer and shouted but got no answer, she shouted again and got no answer so she went in and found the carer still in bed in her night clothes fast asleep. She woke the carer up and told her Teresa had gone out and had fallen over. My colleague observed that the carer came out but did not take ownership of the situation and did not let them know that Teresa had dementia and really didn’t get involved standing back. My colleague left at this point as there were a number of people there (including some off duty health professionals) and they had called ambulance.

I then had a further call from a gentleman who is a private ambulance driver who is also a first responder and he and a nurse checked Teresa over and got her off the ground as she had no pain and no apparent injuries and given

how hot it was outside they wanted to get her inside. This gent told me that on a few occasions the live in carer wandered off and said she was checking the washing and displayed no interest or concern for the client. In his professional opinion he advised that this care worker is not a responsible carer. He also advised that when he asked the care worker what the lady’s name and date of birth was she did not know the answer. He asked her for the details for the care agency and she brought out an old folder from a previous agency with old details. When they looked through and asked for other details the care worker then told them she did not have any more as they are all on a portal and she couldn’t show him. He also told me that when they brought Teresa indoors the carer went into the kitchen and closed the door and he was concerned that Teresa would go out again so he opened the door and asked her to leave it open. He asked me to contact the GP as they had stopped the ambulance from coming as there was no apparent need. This gent also told me that a few days ago he witnessed Teresa going outside and saw the carer dragging her back by the arm.

30.

We now turn to consider the Appellant’s account of events.