THREE carers at a nursing home have been sacked after leaving photographs and comments relating to their jobs on internet site Facebook.

They were dismissed from New Park House, in Trentham, after their employer ruled they had "brought the company into disrepute".

Action was taken after the staff were accused of using Facebook to comment on the home and post photographs of uniformed staff taken in the building.

Care home staff investigated following a complaint about their Facebook pages from a member of the public.

A letter to one of the group from home managing director Ann Hill states: "An investigation was carried out into the contents of your colleague's Facebook account and it was found you and other members of staff had made remarks regarding New Park House.

"Also, there was a failure to follow company procedures in that you have been taking photographs of staff members in uniforms within the home without authority.

"Even though your account has privacy settings you cannot ensure writing comments on someone else's wall remains confidential.

"You did not exercise your duty of care to both residents and staff when you were taking photographs in the home.

"As a consequence, I have decided your employment shall be terminated with immediate effect."

The group were sent letters about the issue on Tuesday last week, disciplinary hearings were held on Thursday and the three were fired on Friday.

Lorraine Harris, aged 29, pictured, who is four months pregnant and had worked at the home since March, was one of those sacked.

The mum-of-one, of Newstead, said: "I never mentioned where I worked on the site and the photograph I uploaded was just of a colleague, taken in my own time.

"I wrote on a colleague's wall that 'I think I need a break from that place', but didn't identify the home at all. I don't know how the management got onto my account because it has privacy settings.

"I'm really upset about this because I loved my job. We had said we would take all the material off our sites, although we don't think we've done anything wrong."

She added: "Now I will have no maternity pay and doubt I will find another job, being pregnant.

"It's been very stressful, I don't feel like celebrating Christmas and don't know how we'll manage financially."

The other two staff members involved in the dispute declined to be named.

The three are planning to appeal against the company's decision and are seeing Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) experts this week.

Simon Harris, chief executive of Stoke-on-Trent CAB, said: "I have not come across a case like this.

"We would need to know the employer's policy on use of the internet, whether the offence warrants dismissal and whether the correct legal procedures have been followed."

Managers at New Park House declined to comment.