Agreed ways of working in your workplace

The agreed ways of working can be found in your contract and the company’s policies and procedures. These are the rules you will work by. You can also find the government legislation online (for example Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 or Mental Health Act 2007). These are laws laid out to keep you and clients safe. The agreed ways of working can vary from place to place and person to person. You will find more specific instructions in the clients care plan and by asking the client and family members.

It is important for you to keep up to date with the agreed ways of working in your work place. These changes could come about because of changes to the care plan, the client’s wishes or even changes to the law. You need to know these changes so that you know your job role in full, allowing you to do the job role proper and safely. This will keep the client and his/her family happy and confident in you and your ability to do the work. It is also important because you could face disciplinary action from the company if you do not follow the rules laid out by them, or worse yet you could face legal action against for breaking the law.

It is also important for you to follow the guidance on the limits of your job role. Again you could face disciplinary actions from the company or legal action if you are not following the agreed ways of working. You are not covered or insured if you are doing something you should not be doing and so, if something were to go wrong while you were beyond the limits of your job role, the responsibility would stop with you. It can cause complications in the relationship between the client and yourself. If you are doing more than you should then they may begin to expect it from everyone who works with them. Other carers may not like having do work outside of the job role and this can cause rifts between the carers and client. Another reason it is important to not go beyond the limit of your job role is that you could hurt the client by encouraging them or even making them do something they cannot do, for example, getting them out of bed if they are bedbound.