Unit 7 - Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social Care
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This report will show how professionals duty of care contributes to safe practice in
health and social care settings. It will also explore how professionals should
recognize and respond to concerns about abuse and neglect in health and social
care settings. The report will focus on the case study of Lizzy D, who was admitted
to a female surgical ward for a routine procedure on her left hand.
P1. Explain the Implications of Duty of Care in a Selected Health or Social Care
Setting
In health and social care, duty of care is defined as a legal obligation that health and
social care professionals have towards service users. Health and social care
professionals have a duty to always act and make decisions in the best interest of
their service users.1 Professionals must act within their competence and ensure they
do not take on anything they believe they cannot do safely.
Health and social care professionals need to ensure they uphold the rights and
promote the interests of service users. Professionals should do this by treating
service users as individuals and respecting their privacy and dignity, as well as
provide person centred care. They should also encourage them to make their own
decisions and choices about their life and treatment. 2 This helps service users feel
respected and valued. Health and social care professionals must have a caring
nature to allow service users to feel. This can help build trust between a service user
and professional. Trust between a service user and a professional can mean a
service user may trust you to act as an advocate for them. Service users who require
an advocate may not understand that they have rights and may be unable to make
choices in their best interest. Therefore, health and social care professionals who
act as advocates must ensure they uphold the service users their rights. Lizzy D has
a swollen and discoloured hand following a visit from her husband. When Lizzy was
questioned about this she turned her face and refused to answer. It is important that
health and social care professionals build trust with Lizzie so she is comfortable with
disclosing matters with them. This can help Lizzie with her safety. Professionals
should also empower Lizzie so she is able to make informed decisions if she is not
comfortable talking to anyone.
All service users are entitled to their individual rights. Sometimes it is difficult for
health and social care professionals to balance a service user's individual rights with
risks. Service users all have the right to decline or reject any treatments if they are
worried about the outcome. In this situation, it is important that professionals balance
the individuals rights with any risks the treatment may cause. They do this by treating
the service user as an individual before thinking about their duty of care towards
them. Professionals should help users to maintain independence and they should
promote independence. Whilst doing this, professionals must ensure that risk
assessments are carried out so service users are properly informed and are able to
balance their rights with risks.3 Service users should also be informed on how to
manage risks effectively themselves. It is important that all conflicts are resolved for
,Tahseen Al-Zahra
50554530
the benefit of the service user. Conflicts can occur between professionals for many
reasons such as disagreement over care and treatment plans or a power imbalance.
If these conflicts are not resolved, it can risk having a detrimental effect on the
service users health and wellbeing. Therefore, it is important that all conflicts are
resolved within health and social care settings.
All health and social care professionals are responsible for and trusted with
protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of service users. Health and social care
professionals should carry out risk assessments to identify potential hazards and
risks service users may face. They should then take action to minimise these risks
for the safety of service users. Professionals should ensure they treat all service
users equally and all their actions towards service users are safe and fair. They
should ensure that service users are well informed about their condition and care
plans and they should also cater for the service users individual needs. This helps to
avoid service users being exploited. 4 Professionals must follow all policies and
procedures within their workplace and they should be up to date with their training to
minimise risk towards service users and to protect all service users’ health, safety
and wellbeing.
It is important that professionals uphold the duty of care to service users and staff to
ensure everyone is safe in the work setting. Health and social care professionals
must ensure they follow all policies and procedures within the workplace. they should
also abide by all laws and legislations to avoid consequences of not upholding duty
of care to service users. Consequences of not upholding duty of care can lead to
complaints from service users and their families. It can also lead to professionals
losing their registration and facing fines if a service user is not cared for properly as
this can have a detrimental effect on the service user. More serious consequences
of professionals not upholding duty of care are professionals going to prison.
Professionals may face prison if it is found that service users have been neglected.
The worst consequence of not upholding duty of care for service users is the death
of a service user. If a service user is not cared for correctly and is neglected, it can
lead to their condition worsening. This can lead to the death of a service user which
could have been avoided if duty of care was upheld. Therefore, it is important all
health and social care professionals uphold the duty of care for service users as it
can have a detrimental effect on service users as well as staff.
M1. Assess the Importance of Balancing Individual Rights With Duty of Care in
a Selected Health and Social Care Setting
Human rights are basic rights which belong to every individual. They embody key
values in society such as dignity, equality, respect and fairness. They are an
important means of protection for every individual, especially those who may face
abuse and neglect. These rights also enable individuals to challenge and speak up
against poor treatment they may be facing.5 It is important that health and social
professionals are able to balance a service user's individual rights with the duty of
care they have towards the individuals. This helps to ensure that service users
4
(NursingAnswers.Net, 2018)
5
(AgeUk.org, 2017)
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receive the highest quality of care possible. It is important that professionals respect
the service users rights as this means the service user will feel valued and
respected. It also means the service user will feel that their individual needs can be
catered for. Professionals must balance respecting an individual's rights with the duty
of care they have towards them. Professionals are legally obligated to act in the best
interest of the service user. Therefore, professionals must respect the service users
rights and try to accommodate their wishes. However, because professionals have a
duty of care towards service users, they must look out for service users and should
guide them in making decisions which are in the service users best interest.
An example that can be used for professionals balancing rights and risks in the Lizzy
D’s case is the unsupervised visits in the ward. Lizzy has the right to privacy and
professionals should respect that. She has the right to have a private conversation
with her husband. However, following a visit from her husband, Lizzy complained
about pain in her hand and following an examination, the nurse on duty realised it
was discoloured and swollen. The next day when Lizzy’s husband visited again and
following this visit, Lizzy complained of swelling and pain in her hand again. Her
husband insisted on drawing the curtains around the bed during the visit as he had
important matters to discuss with his wife. In ward 3B visiting is never supervised
and staff leave patients to chat unsupervised. Professionals should respect Lizzy’s
right to privacy and allow her to talk in private. However, professionals also have a
duty of care towards Lizzy and are obligated to safeguard her. Following the visit
from her husband there is a chance she is unsafe and therefore staff should not
leave her unattended during these visits. Staff need to balance Lizzy’s rights with
their duty of care towards her and help her make a decision which is in her best
interest regarding her visits with her husband.
Duty of care is a legal obligation that all health and social care professionals have.
Professionals are obligated to safeguard all service users. In ward 3B, the keypad to
gain entrance to the ward is broken. Due to this, the doors are propped open at all
times to save staff from having to leave their duties to let people in. This means
anyone who has not been authorised can gain entry to the ward. This is a
safeguarding issue and puts both service users and staff in danger as the ward is not
secure and individuals who have ill intentions can gain access and potentially harm
service users or staff. The keypad being broken is a safeguarding issue. Therefore, it
should be fixed immediately and until then staff should check every visitor to ensure
that the safety of service users and staff is not compromised. Another key concern is
that a nurse on duty did not record either the issue or the medication that she
administered to Lizzy. This is a concern because the nurse is not following protocol,
which is to fill out medication records. If medication records are not completed, it
could result in Lizzie being given too much medication which can have a fatal
outcome and result in an overdose. In order to resolve this concern, a meeting
should be set up with the nurse to ensure she does not make this mistake again.
Staff on the ward should be up to date with training and should all follow policies and
procedures to ensure mistakes like this do not occur as it has detrimental effects on
service users.
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