A CARE home boss is facing a tribunal accused of taping a vulnerable resident with learning difficulties to an office chair or a table.

Alison Standing was deputy manager and later acting manager at the Briar Court Nursing Home, in Hartlepool, at the time of the alleged incident between September 2007 and May 2012.

She is also accused of letting her two young daughters into the home, which is a facility for adults with learning difficulties and mental health problems, based in Hutton Avenue.

Standing is also accused of allowing them into the bedroom of the resident in question unsupervised, it is said.

She allegedly let the two girls take the man, known as Resident A, out of the home by themselves.

Standing also let the same resident into her own home, the Nursing and Midwifery Council panel heard.

It is also alleged that she taped him to a ‘table and/or office chair’ on one or more occasion during her time as manager of the home.

Her alleged wrongdoing came to light after she referred some of her colleagues to the NMC for misconduct.

The care home's operator Castlebeck, which is currently in administration, was also investigated by the Care Quality Commission for alleged abuse at its facilities.

Giving evidence from behind a screen 'Resident A' said there was a culture of horseplay at the home, but patients weren't allowed to join in in case they got hurt.

He added that sometimes staff would tape him to an office chair or table if no one else was around.

“They would tape me to the office chair meaning I couldn't stand up or move,” he said. “Alison would sometimes tape or tie me to the living room table, it appears she would do it when she was in the mood for horseplay.

“She would never do this when there were other residents in the living room.”

The nurse’s legal representative said she had a good relationship with the resident and he made the allegations because he was upset when she left the home.

Rory Mulchrone, for Standing, said to the Resident A: “Is it fair to say you had a good relationship with Mrs Standing?”

“On and off,” he replied.

“Was she a caring person?” Mulchrone asked.

“Yes, she looked after me when I was poorly in hospital, she did the 24-hour shift when there was no one else to do it,” he said.

If the NMC panel finds her fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct she could be struck off the medical register.

The hearing continues.