Unit 7 - Assignment 2: Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social
Care
Date: 05/05/2023
Contents:
Page 2 - 26: Section C [P6 + M3 + D3]
Page 27 - 36: Section D [P7 + P8 + M4]
Page 37 - 40: Section D [D4]
, Section C
C.P6 - Compare the influence of different health and safety laws or
policies on health and social care practice in a selected setting
C.M3 - Analyse how health and safety legislation or policies influence
safe practice in a selected health or social care setting.
CD.D3 - Justify the effectiveness of health and safety legislation, policies
and procedures in maintaining health and safety in a selected health or
social care setting
In this first section of my assignment, I will be comparing the differences of various laws
implemented with health and social care settings in mind; some include the Health and
Safety At Work Act 1974 and the Care Act 2014. I will also be comparing this to my selected
case studies, Lucy, Kevin and Zara. To start, legislations are laws produced by a governing
body, such as those in parliament. Legislations aim to fulfil one or more of the following:
regulate, authorise, sanction, grant, declare or restrict.
Legislations and Policies:
Statutory care includes care from registered bodies, like doctors registered with the General
Medical Council of Health and Care Professions Council. This relates to legislation as health
and social care professions must abide by laws that put safety into account, such as the Health
and Safety Act At Work 1974, allowing for those working in the setting to provide care with
ease as well as for service users to feel comfortable being reliant when receiving care. For
example, legislation prevents neglect such as the type occurring in the children’s hospital that
Kevin and Lucy are receiving care from. By having legislations like these, those who still
offend can be punished by law and sanctioned for their actions, which discourages others
from doing the same. Legislations are essential for health and social care settings in order to
draw a line at what can and cannot be done based on regulating, authorising, sanctioning,
granting, declaring and restricting the activities of professionals and service users.
Service providers follow the same legislations, which is essential for the livelihood of the
setting. This is because legislation protects the people, regardless of being a service user or a
professional, and does not forget to help the public differentiate between acceptable and
contemptible behaviours. (Skills for Care, 2023) In Chilchester Drop-In Centre, the service
provider can apprehend offending professionals who do not follow legislations, allowing for
the involvement of other agencies who can sanction the individual; those like Elizabeth
would grow fewer in numbers. Legislations cover many aspects, such as safe practice
(manual handling, good hygiene, handling medication,
infection, control, safety of data and safeguarding of
vulnerable individuals).
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,Health and Safety at Work Act (1974):
The legislation is aimed at reducing the various risks to workers, employers, volunteers and
visitors in a workplace to ensure that every action is taken to prevent harm to those in the
workplace.
There are various policies in the Chilchester Drop-In Centre and Prince Oswald Children’s
Hospital which allows for those like doctors, Lucy, Kevin, Zara and Elizabeth to be safe in
the care setting:
- Some of the policies in the setting should include safeguarding policies which prevent
harm from coming to those in the workplace. For example, for Zara who is facing
abuse and neglect, the safeguarding policy would allow for the abuser to be
sanctioned on the basis of the policy.
- Another policy that should be implemented is the requirement for all incidents to be
recorded. By allowing this, the case concerning Lucy and Kevin would be recorded,
allowing for investigations to be accurate in future. Additionally, recording the
information would ensure the safety of Lucy and Kevin by ensuring that there is solid
evidence on the abuse they have faced.
- One other essential policy is the need for training of staff occurring at the very least,
multiple times a year.
Due to these policies, there would be a layer of protection that would be used in order to
inspire that protection on those wrong. As such, those who break the policies will face
sanctions from their superiors, the manager or even the regulators in commissions.
In order for the manager of the Drop-In Centre to meet the requirements of the Health and
Safety At Work Act 1974:
- They would need to take responsibility for the setting as well as the people residing
inside - this includes the workers, service users and visitors. Through this, one would
find that the setting would become more restrained when it comes to making mistakes
due to the pressure of responsibility falling onto individuals working there. This is
helpful for the children’s hospital as it allows for the doctors to take responsibility for
their mistakes, accepting any sanctions that they need in order to right their mistake.
- The manager would also be required to provide a safe place of work through trained
staff and safety checks occurring periodically, allowing for the setting to have staff
trained to handle all sorts of situations regarding the safety and health of residents and
other workers. The Chichester Drop-In Centre would benefit from a safe place as it
would prevent patients from injuring themself, whether than be purposeful or
accidently. Zara may resort to self-harm due to her deteriorating condition, so to have
a safe environment to receive care, she would be less at risk of harm.
- Another responsibility of the centre’s manager would be to ensure that health and
social care policies are implemented in the setting with a member of the workforce in
the setting being responsible for overseeing. This would allow for sanctions to befall
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, those who act against the health and safety of the setting, as well as allowing for the
setting to be regulated from a staff member inside the setting. With health and safety
policies in the setting, workers such as Elizabeth would be less likely to mistreat
service users like Zara as the policies impose sanctions on those who break them.
- The manager is also responsible for providing safety equipment such as uniforms that
prevent hazardous waste becoming a danger or tools that allow for professionals to
not come in direct contact with substances. This decreases the risk of safety being
compromised as equipment allows those using it to remain at a safe distance without
making contact with dangerous objects or facing those substances without protection.
- It is also important for the manager to ensure the setting has insurance, specifically
liability and public liability insurance, as it protects service users from facing blame in
the case of an accident. This ensures that the business is blamed and is responsible for
compensating appropriately, allowing for the business to be reluctant to allow such
accidents. If an accident, such as abuse within the drop-in centre, occurs, the setting
would be responsible for compensating the injured individuals. If that individual
happens to be Zara, she would be able to receive compensation such as therapy for the
experience or material compensation.
- A setting should be responsible for employing safe and competent workers in order to
fill roles within the setting, ensuring that they are qualified for the job and
understanding their role in keeping those around them safe and healthy. This can be
done through DBS checks and annual surveys to ensure that workers have a safe state
of mind and can work with vulnerable people. Staff in the children’s hospital
especially need to be aware of their background as they are not only working with
children, but very vulnerable children who can be taken advantage of. Kevin and
Lucy are physically vulnerable, so they cannot fight back against dangerous staff,
leading to the potential of a serious accident occurring.
- Not only these, but a setting’s manager should also ensure that workers are trained to
use all equipment safely along with being able to complete day-to-day tasks safely.
This would be done through regular training and evaluations in the setting, which
would allow for staff to be updated on their skills as well as informed on the usage of
equipment. With trained staff, the workers would risk less in using equipment without
experience. Trained staff are less likely to neglect their patients as there are
procedures that outline in detail on the methods how professionals should handle the
care of said service users.
- Additionally, by carrying out risk assessments for eliminating and controlling risks,
the manager can rest easy knowing that the setting is reviewed as safe. The use of risk
assessments is to look at the risk and find a way to get rid of it whether that be
through controlling it or getting rid of it. Risk assessments prevent the harm of
patients from dangers inside the setting, such as unsteady railings on the staircase or
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