A care worker who posted photographs and videos of dementia patients on Snapchat has been given a probation order and 100 hours of community service. Ciara Corvan, 28, committed the offences while working as a healthcare assistant at a specialist ward for dementia patients at Craigavon Area Hospital in Northern Ireland.
Posts sent to co-workers included a picture of a female patient in the bath; a video of Corvan shaking a patient’s hand with music playing and a caption claiming she was having a “rave”; and a picture of her and a patient with their noses almost touching, captioned “why the f*** is she so close to me?”. The offences, from autumn 2022 to summer 2023, involved four dementia patients, all of whom have since died.
At Craigavon Crown Court, Judge Patrick McGurgan said Corvan had failed to treat patients with the respect and dignity they deserved, and her offending involved “degrading and humiliation of those who were completely helpless to defend themselves”. He praised co-workers who reported her actions to managers, leading to police involvement.
The judge imposed a two-year probation order and 100 hours of community service, warning Corvan, who now works for a grocery business, that a breach would lead to a custodial sentence. Corvan pleaded guilty to seven counts of ill treatment under the Mental Health Order (NI) 1986, in what police said was the first prosecution of its kind in Northern Ireland.
Corvan’s barrister told the court she had written a letter of apology, expressing “deepest regret” and acknowledging she could not expect forgiveness. The families of the victims said in a statement that Corvan “sought entertainment in humiliating” their relatives, who “could not speak for themselves”, and that “no sentence can undo the harm”.
