A CARER who blew the whistle on a colleague she suspected of abusing an elderly man was later sacked for neglect.

But Pauline Bell claimed today she felt "totally vindicated" after an employment tribunal ruled that she had been unfairly dismissed by a York rest home.

Ms Bell, 54, of Rufforth, who wept tears of relief when the decision was announced, said today she had been through hell for eight months. "I have been fighting for my good name back," she said.

"I have been working in the care industry for ten years. I want to go back into caring and want my reputation back."

Ms Bell had told the tribunal that, after reporting her concerns about fellow carer Robert Hodgson at the Parkside home in Bishopthorpe Road, York, her anonymity should have been protected under public interest disclosure legislation.

Instead, she said she was named as the source of the complaint by the home's owner, Mary Crockatt, and Mr Hodgson - who was convicted last December of unconnected theft and deception offences - made counter-allegations of abuse about her.

"I was shocked and angry with her (Mrs Crockatt) putting me in a very compromising situation - I felt she had breached my trust," she claimed.

The inquiry ruled that Mrs Crockatt failed to go through correct disciplinary procedures before dismissing her for gross misconduct - a decision that led to Ms Bell losing her job as a relief carer for City of York Council.

Ms Bell said: "At the moment on my CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check there's a paragraph stating I was involved in a suspected abuse case at Parkside. As long as this is on there, I can't work as a carer again."

She said she intended to appeal to the CRB to remove the paragraph, and to ask the council for her position as a relief carer to be restored.

Her victory came at the end of an acrimonious hearing in Leeds, during which Mrs Crockatt had vigorously denied Ms Bell was a whistleblower, and also accused her of trying to steal a patient's bottle of sherry, being a bad carer, and turning up regularly late for work - allegations Mrs Bell vigorously denied.

Mrs Crockatt said: "If Ms Bell were a genuine whistleblower, as she now claims to be...she would have reported the matter to me immediately it occurred."

When contacted by the Evening Press, Mr Hodgson vehemently denied abusing the patient and said he no longer worked in care.

Patient 'abused'

PAULINE Bell told the tribunal that the incident happened one night in February, after Mr Hodgson had asked her to help put a patient with dementia and deafness to bed and the patient had started shouting at her.

She said Mr Hodgson ran in and pushed the patient on to the bed and pinned him down, shouting at him: "You hit ladies and I will hit you."

She said she continued to undress the patient, calming him down, until Mr Hodgson offered to take over.

Then, from the other end of house, she said she heard "an awful row, shouting and raised voices, a real commotion".

"When I arrived at the patient's bedroom he was standing up against the wall in a very distressed state with cuts and bruises on his face. I could see he was very frightened."

She said Mr Hodgson claimed the patient had "bounced off his bed and hit his face on the chest of drawers". She said: "I felt, however, that he had been abused."

Updated: 09:43 Saturday, October 22, 2005