Care home worker struck off for pretending to be a nurse
Posted 11 May 2023 - 05:00
Barry Fisher also defrauded families out of more than £130k; regulator said a repetition of his behaviours ‘would put service users at an increased risk of harm’
A care home worker who was found guilty of fraud and pretending to be a nurse during the pandemic has been struck off.
Barry Fisher had his registration as an adult care home worker with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) removed after he was convicted at Hamilton Sheriff Court in Scotland in March 2022 of falsely representing himself as a nurse ‘with intent to deceive’.
Mr Fisher attended an address, believed to be near Glasgow, in January 2021 where he represented himself as a qualified nurse. He was temporarily suspended from the SSSC register in March 2021 pending an investigation, and was officially struck off on 10 May 2023.
Families conned out of £130k for funeral plans
At a separate hearing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court in July 2022, Mr Fisher was also found guilty of fraud. He conned families out of more than £130,207 between January 2016 and September 2019 while he was director of Stevenson Funeral Directors in Scotland.
Customers had given him money for pre-paid funeral plans, either for themselves or someone else, an SSSC fitness to practise (FtP) decision found.
Customers were led to believe the money would be held securely with another company until it was needed, but instead Mr Fisher kept the cash and did not purchase any funeral plans.
‘These behaviours could have placed service users at risk of harm’
In its decision, the SSSC said a repetition of his behaviours ‘would put service users and the wider public at an increased risk of harm’, ruling out the possibility of a warning or suspension order.
‘You benefited financially through fraud and held yourself out to be a nurse in the knowledge you were not. These behaviours are serious concealments of wrongdoing,’ the SSSC found.
‘These behaviours could have placed service users at a risk of harm had you worked in a role that you were not appropriately registered or qualified to work in.’
Care home worker kept fraud charge and suspension secret
Mr Fisher’s failure to inform the SSSC about being charged with fraud, or disclose to his employer that he had been temporarily suspended, indicated ‘underlying values and attitudinal issues’, the FtP document stated.
The regulator did not consider there were any mitigating factors in Mr Fisher’s favour. Mr Fisher did not ask for the case to be heard by a FtP panel.
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