A TWENTY-three year old woman left in charge of a care home and its 19 elderly residents was awarded £5,000 compensation for unfair dismissal.

An industrial tribunal in Leeds found that Sarah Wilson had been wrongly dismissed by Burnley Health Care Trust psychiatrist Dr Jayendra Reddy, owner of St Catherine's Residential Home, Halifax.

Tribunal chairman John Wolstenholme said Miss Wilson had been allowed to administer drugs to residents without adequate training. He awarded her £5,136.

The tribunal heard a year before her dismissal Miss Wilson had been sent home with a questionnaire to fill in about her training.

Mr Wolstenholme said: "She had had some instruction from time to time at staff meetings and has been shown things during the course of her work.

"But we accept her evidence that she had no proper training or qualifications in the administration of medicines or first aid."

Miss Wilson, of Illingworth, Halifax, started work at the home on May 18 1998. She had some previous care work experience but no formal qualifications. She was later sacked by letter for not following accident procedures when a resident was injured after a fall.

Previous verbal and written warnings were taken into account.

The tribunal heard that on January 27 1999 Miss Wilson was on duty with Mrs Tina Urbans when Georgio Shoavel fell and injured himself.

They checked him for injuries and helped him back to bed. Miss Wilson tried unsuccessfully to contact a manager to report the accident.

Later it was discovered Mr Shoavel had broken his leg and he was admitted to hospital. He never recovered and later died.

Dr Reddy said he sacked Miss Wilson because she had not followed safety procedures by failing to contact the correct manager or telephoning for an ambulance.

But Mr Wolstenholme said Dr Reddy had sacked Miss Wilson "in flagrant disregard of procedures outlined in her contract of employment" by not allowing her to present her story and not giving her the opportunity to appeal.

Mr Wilson also said he felt Miss Wilson and Mrs Urbans had done their "honest best" that night.

"Any shortcomings were a consequence of lack of specialist training rather than negligence," he said.

The tribunal heard that Dr Reddy had been under pressure from the Calderdale Consumer Affairs Unit after inspectors found a catalogue of failings in 1998 including a filthy kitchen, old food left on floors, residents complaining of eating leftovers, dirty shelves in the fridge and a member of staff working 70 hours in one week to cover sickness.