Care worker lies about self-isolating and jets off to Spain

A care worker was struck off after it was found that she lied about needing to self-isolate because of Covid to instead jet off to Spain on holiday.

Care worker Alisha Masters, 24, was struck off after it was found that she lied about needing to self-isolate because of Covid to instead jet off to Spain on holiday.

Masters told her employer that she had to self-isolate due to being in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid. However, a misconduct panel found that she had actually jetted off to the Spanish sunshine for a holiday and lied to her managers about her whereabouts.

The hearing was informed that this wasn’t Ms Masters’ first incident breaking lockdown rules having been previously caught partying with friends when the pandemic was at its height.

Ms Masters, from Rhondda, Wales, was looking after vulnerable people at their homes in her role as a domiciliary care worker.

A Social Care Wales statement said: “In May 2020 Alisha Masters went to a social gathering in breach of the coronavirus regulations in Wales at that time and then lied about it to her manager.”

“Four months later, in September 2020, Ms Masters falsely told her manager she’d been in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19 giving the impression she needed to self-isolate. She then travelled to Spain for a holiday and lied to her manager about her whereabouts during that period.”

She admitted the allegations and fought to keep her job, saying the incidents were the “biggest mistake” she had ever made.

In a ruling, the panel said to Ms Masters: “You have admitted to breaching the regulations put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 on two occasions.”

“On the second occasion, you tried to conceal the fact that you had travelled to Spain by creating quite elaborate false accounts.”

“You had opportunities to tell the truth and did not take them. Instead, you dug a deeper hole by telling another lie to your employer.”

“This could have exposed individuals who are vulnerable to serious illness to greater risk of infection.”

“This was repeated misconduct rather than a ‘one-off’ incident.”

“Your dishonesty was repeated and became more sophisticated when your original account was challenged.”

“We cannot be confident that if you were in a similar position in the future you would not behave in the same way. Your integrity is, therefore, still in doubt.”

Ms Masters is allowed appeal to the Care Standards Tribunal within 28 days.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.