West Lothian carer struck off for abusive behaviour including 'screaming' at client over stomach ache
The carer shouted and screamed at her client and repeatedly left her alone in her room despite her requirement for one-to-one supervision
A West Lothian carer has been struck off by the social services regulator after she was found to have repeatedly “screamed” and behaved abusively towards a client with learning difficulties.
Susan Fulton, who was employed by Real Life Options in Bathgate, was found to have committed “serious misconduct” on several occasions between October 2025 and March 2026, which included repeated inappropriate comments and physical interventions, and numerous failures to provide required supervision.
In October, when the client complained of a sore stomach, Ms Fulton screamed “do you think I care?” and on other occasions shouted: “I don’t like working with you,”.
Three months later, Ms Fulton was found to have forced medicine in the client’s mouth while she was screaming, held her mouth closed and grabbed her wrist when she brought her hand up to hit herself.
On several occasions she was also found to have left her client, who required one-to-one care, completely alone, closing her door during ‘quiet time’ even though her door is required to remain open, and leaving her in her room when she requested to come out.
She also told her to “shut up” and “be quiet”.
In its report, the Scottish Social Services Council said: “Your behaviour demonstrates a failure to work with kindness, dignity and respect and a failure to work in a safe and effective way.
“Such behaviour is abusive and is indicative of significant values issues. The behaviour falls far short of the expected standards of social service workers and brings your suitability to work in social services into question.”
It said Ms Fulton had taken “some remedial steps” but there remained limited evidence that she had a meaningful insight into the impact of her actions and why it was unacceptable.
It said given the number of instances of misconduct there remained a risk of Ms Fulton repeating the behaviour, and therefore a finding of impairment was necessary to protect the public and maintain trust in the profession.
The council imposed a Removal Order, removing Ms Fulton from the SSSC Register and banning her from working in a social services role in Scotland.