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Unit 7 Task 1- principles of safe practice Distinction Achieved
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- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Unit 7 Task 1 Distinction Achieved principles of safe practice easily layed out distinction first time
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Unit 7: Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social CareP1: Explain the implications of duty of care in a selected health and social care
setting.
Safe practice within a health and social care setting will involve all health staff
understanding and undertaking all their responsibilities, performing their duties to the
best of their abilities whilst minimising risk. Duty of care is a legal obligation (or duty
to perform, or not perform, a particular action) in the best interests of a service user
and other individuals your actions may affect, it should also ensure that actions that
could potentially cause harm should not be acted upon. Duty of care ensures that the
care being given to the range of service users is of a standard that means no one,
the staff or the service users, are put in danger. One of the ways that this can be put
into practice is through policies and procedures, for example, policies and
procedures along with laws and legislations. An example of one of these would be
the Equality Act 2010 - this act aims to stop any discrimination and unfair treatment
for service users and allows everyone to be treated fairly and with respect. Within
every setting, individuals rights should be promoted and service users should feel
empowered.
If the duty of care isn't up to standard or used then the care that will be provided to
the service users may not be up to the standard it needs to be and so the individuals
within the service may feel as though they are a) not getting the help they need and
b) potentially at risk. When there is a breach within the duty of care, the care being
provided isn't at its best standard and it could potentially put the service users at risk.
This risk may be down to the possible risk factors not being identified or evaluated or
simply a low standard of care that is so low it can pose harm. A professional within a
healthcare setting ghas a duty to ensure all individuals are protected from harm and
not exposed to unnecessary risk (for example, avoidable fall risks) Promoting safe
practice and protecting service users wellbeing may include protecting an individual
by, when they want to partake in an activity or action that may hurt/harm them, speak
to them in a way that doesn't disrespect or embarrass them but reassure them they
are okay but not yet able to partake in such activity and potentially offer an
alternative activity.
Within Case Study Two: Wellings NHS Trust - Ward 3B, Lizzy is currently a patient
staying within the ward after undergoing routine surgery on her left hand. One of the
ways that duty of care is breached is the fact the keypad,, used to gain entrance to
the ward is broken and so the doors are propped open. This breaches duty of care
as it potentially puts the individuals on the ward at risk as anyone can enter the ward
without being noticed. THis proposes risk as someone may enter the ward with
malicious intent and they will not be stopped as they have free access to the ward as
the doors are always open. Another way in which duty of care is breach in Ward 3B
,is that the medication given to Lizzy when her hand was sore and swollen was not
recorded, this means there will be no record on the nurse's system about what
medication she has already had and so will be potentially putting her at risk if they
were to giver here another dose when she's already had one. The nurse also did not
record the issue that Lizzy was facing and therefore the reason they needed
medication. It is important to record the reason Lizzy will have needed this
medication in order to monitor it and ensure her condition does not deteriorate.
These breaches of duty of care leave Lizzy at risk of harm and potential neglect as
she is not receiving the level of care she needs.
Within Case Study 1, Beeches drop in Centre there are a range of issues that breach
the duty to care, one of these can be the fact that there is no incident or accident
book as it had been lost previously and not replaced. This is a failure in duty of care
due to the fact that the wellbeing and safety of service users is compromised,, with
no accident and incident book anything that happens that results in a lack of safety
or injury in a service user will not be known and therefore nothing will be done about
it, for example, if someone tripped over a step and injured themselves, without
record of the accident, nothing can be done to change the step or area around it in
order to make the setting safer - in this example they could potentially put signs up,
warning of a step, or remove it completely and add a small ramp. There is also no
sign in or sign out book within the drop in centre which means the staff on duty do
not know exactly who is there at the time unless they can be seen. This is a failure in
duty of care as if there were to be a fire or an event that required an evacuation, the
staff wouldn't be aware of everyone within the service at the time and may potentially
leave someone behind, inside the building, ultimately putting them at risk.
Furthermore, in the case of a fire, the fire doors are kept locked, this has been done
to stop the service users doing drugs in the backyard however in the case of an
evacuation, this would cause huge risk and huge failings in duty of care due to there
being unsafe conditions in the case of an evacuation if one was needed. Another
failing of duty of care within the Beeches drop in Centre is that ‘the kitchen is old and
difficult to clean and the fridge doesn't always work’ This can potentially pose a risk
of food poisoning and unsafe cooking conditions in the kitchen - when an item is
hard to clean, there is a higher likelihood of dangerous and harmful bacteria building
up on it which can lead to service users to become unwell, as the fridge doesn't
work, some food may not be able to be kept fresh in the fridge - eg raw chicken, by
leaving this food that needs refrigeration outside the fridge it can breed harmful
bacteria, such as salmonella, which will lead the individuals relying on the service to
become unwell. This breached duty of care as it puts the service users at potential
risk that could have been avoided, the standard of care is not up to how it should be
and so the service users may feel unsafe within the environment that is there to aid
their care.
, P2: Discuss ways in which complaints and appeals procedures address failure
in a duty of care in a selected health or social care setting.
Complaints and appeals procedures help address the failures of duty of care within
health services and care settings - some of the ways in which complaints can be
made is through complaint policies, complaint procedures and appeal procedures.
An appeals procedure is where an urgent change is needed for the service in order
to improve the duty, and standard of care. These complaints are usually ones that
pose high risk and so need to be changed and adapted straight away. Complaint
policies are where issues are noticed and logged/reported and then used by the staff
within a setting so the overall duty of care is improved as the reasons for the small
complaints are adapted. Complaints procedures are for larger. More important
complaints where everyone involved within the setting (e.g. the staff, visitors and
service users) will have to follow a new rule/set of rules in order for change to be
made.
Complaints can be made for a range of reasons, some of these may include long
wait times/delay or cancellation of a service with no valid reason or explanation,
inadequate communication from the service as a whole or staff within the care team,
unexplained changes or reductions to care for visitors or service users being
dissatisfied with the care being provided. Some service users may complain if they
feel as though they are not being treated fairly or are being made to feel
embarrassed or ashamed during their care. These types of complaints can be used
to improve the service as a whole, when the issues are observed or reported -
members of the staff team can propose ways to improve the service. Another type of
complaint that can be made is from staff members about other staff members. If one
employee feels as though there is another member of staff providing an inadequate
level of care or showing concerning behaviour, they can complain to an individual of
a higher power in the workforce (eg a manager or boss) This person of a higher
status can then use the information regarding the complaint to propose a change in
order to maintain a high level of standard of care.
The NHS has its own complaints procedure, this is called ‘The NHS Feedback and
Complaints Procedure’ It begins with feedback, when an individual has a concern
they can raise it directly with the provider of the service - eg a local service provider
such as a GP surgery or a dentist. By raising it directly with the service provider, this
information can be sent back to an individual of higher power who can propose
change - this feedback can be used to improve duty of care and ensure the service
users are getting the care and support they need - if this is the case, no further
action will be needed. Feedback can als be used to provide information on a positive
experience at a health service - this will ensure that good behaviour can be noticed
and replicated for all service users. However, if the negative feedback is not
resolved, the issue and information can be used to make a complaint - to do this an
individual can either go directly to the organisation that provided the care (known as
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