This booklet looks at protection as a whole rather than just the safeguarding aspect, for more in depth look at safeguarding see my page.
Looks at whistleblowing, CQC, NMC and policies and procedures
DM2: Protection of children, young people and adults .
Task 1-
Jasmine Crompton
(D1: 1.1)
Within health and social care protection and safeguarding is extremely important, it
ensures that children, young people and adults are kept safe from danger, harm and
abuse. Safeguarding is a commonly used term within health and social care
services. The term safeguarding applies and extends too children, young people and
adults. NHS England (2019) stated that “Safeguarding means protecting
citizen’s health, well-being and human rights; enabling them to live free from
harm, abuse and neglect. It is an integral part of providing high-quality health
care”. Meaning it underpins the delivery of high quality, person-centred care and is
essential to a health and social care workers role and duty of care. An example of
safeguarding in health and social care is a nurse working with a young patient may
notice unusual bruising, as part of their duty of care it is their job to safeguard and
protect them from danger, harm and abuse therefor they should follow the policies
and procedures to begin the safeguarding process. Safeguarding is the term which
refers to the policies and procedures that are set in place within each health and
social care service that workers are expected to follow to ensure individuals are safe
from danger harm and abuse.
Protection refers to the action that is taken by healthcare practitioners to respond to
safeguarding concerns. Detecting and taking action on safeguarding concerns is
what it means to protect someone. The action that a practitioner takes must be in
line with their workplaces safeguarding policies and procedures. Safeguarding and
protection work hand in hand, as to protect someone correctly a practitioner needs to
follow all the relevant safeguarding policies and procedures.
(D2: 2.3)
, Whistleblowing is when someone, usually within a workplace raises a concern about
an incident or wrongdoing they have witnessed. It is the action that someone takes
to report their concerns. Within health and social care whistleblowing may be used to
report malpractice or risks that could cause harm to a patient or service user.
An example of where whistleblowing may be necessary in health and social care is
unsafe patient care. For example, if a carer is continuously ignoring a patient’s needs
and leaving their problems unattended this is bad patient care. This is because a
carer has a duty to look after their patients. Whistleblowing will help to stop this
continuing and escalating.
Another example where whistleblowing will occur is medication errors. If you as
healthcare provider wittness someone withholding medication or administering an
incorrect dosage, you have a responsibility to follow whistleblowing procedures to
ensure this does not continue.
As a healthcare professional there are certain responsibilities in relation to
whistleblowing. One of these responsibilities is to follow workplace policies and
procedures. Policies are rules set out in the workplace that are based on relevant
legislation. Policies will include details such as information about why it's in place,
the importance of it and when it was last updated. Procedures are step by step
instructions on how to correctly follow the policy and what action to take.
There are policies and procedures in place for whistleblowers within every
workplace. A whistleblower first responsibility is to follow these policies and
procedures and to take their concerns to their line managers. Line managers are the
first point of contact when a healthcare worker has any concerns. After this if there is
no change after raising these concerns with a line manager then it is also a
healthcare workers responsibility to follow up on their concerns.
If after following up their actions of whistleblowing a healthcare practitioner still has
seen no action taken regarding their concerns, then it is their responsibility to take it
further. Next, following procedures, is to report their concerns to upper management
or head office. During the whistleblowing process there are helplines available that
healthcare workers can use if they need support and guidance. In the UK there is a
dedicated whistleblowing helpline for NHS staff and for social workers.
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