A care worker has denied ill-treating nine elderly residents suffering from dementia at a Norwich care home and said she never got impatient or angry with them.

Shari Childs, 37, who worked at the Hillcrest residential home on Thorpe Road, is alleged to have roughly handled some residents and not shown them basic respect, Norwich Crown Court has heard.

The allegations about Child's behaviour were made by some of her co-workers, who reported concerns to management and police were called in.

Childs, of The Denes, Norwich, has denied wilfully neglecting or ill-treating a person lacking mental capacity between December 1, 2014 and April 30, 2015.

Giving evidence, Childs denied she acted in a rough manner with any resident and said that she suffered from Carpal Tunnel syndrome, which meant she sometimes had difficulty picking things up and had to wear splints and said it would have been impossible for her to lift or manhandle any patient in the way alleged.

'None of that happened,' she said. 'It would be impossible.'

She also denied that she had ever got angry or impatient with the elderly residents at the home, who suffer from various stages of dementia, or had ever shouted at them.

She told the jury: 'I am not an angry person. I am an emotional person.'

She said that every carer at times got stressed but she said that the training they underwent taught them to take 'five minutes'.

Childs also said that rough treatment and shouting at residents would be against any of her training and said she enjoyed her job as a carer.

'I was happy in my job that I was doing,' she said. 'I was doing really well.'

She said that she had been taking her NVQ Level Three Diploma in care.

Asked by prosecutor Philip Farr if there was any reason why members of staff should make up allegations, Childs replied: 'That's what I would I would like to know. Why do they resent me?'

She claimed that before the allegations were made she had been shunned by some staff members.

She said when interviewed about the allegations she felt confused, adding: 'I have never been in this situation before,'

The trial continues