Implementing Duty Of Care In Health And Social Care

1.1 Define the term ‘duty of care’
Duty of care is a responsibility to put the safety and interest of service users first, ensuring that they are treated with dignity and respect. 1.2 Describe how the duty of care affects own work role

Knowing your duty of care and the importance of practicing it, gives you a clear guide on how you should behave at work and how you must consider those you work with. Your duty of care is closely linked to protection and safeguarding. You have to keep the service users from any harm and works in their best interest. Therefore, to ensure their safety as well as your own safety and co-worker, it is necessary to update your skills and knowledge by attending or participating in any relevant training such as moving and handling, SOVA and medication administration. Also, it is part of your duty of care to report any concerns such as accidents, incident and witnessing abuse. These must be reported to the manager and there are necessary relevant forms to be completed for these which are accident/incident form and the use of whistle blowing policy.

2.1 Describe dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual’s right It is important to balance your duty of care to keep the service user safe and ensuring that they can still make their own choices as it is their right. In some cases, it will be hard to balance these and will rise dilemma or conflicts. The solution will depends to a large extent on the legal position of the person you are supporting and their condition and capacity to make a decision.

2.2 Explain where to get additional support and advice about how to resolve such dilemmas When there is concern about service user’s capacity to make decision and understand the possible risks and consequences of their actions, it must be consider carefully as it is highly complex. It is best to not decide on your own and seek advice from your first port of call which is your manager. The Regulator for advice about how to implement Code of Practice will also provide a guidance about how to implement the Code of Practice which will help you in looking at the implications for day-to-day work. 3.1 Describe how to respond to complaints

Complaints plays a significant part of monitoring process and review of service provision. It will be analyse and feed into service reviews which can help management to identify poor-quality services, services being delivered in the wrong way or place and services that are needed but are not provided. There are some basic steps to follow when responding to a complaint by the staff, service user or the family of the service user. Firstly, you must acknowledge the complaint. Listen to the complainant and avoid making any personal comment. Try to resolve the complaint directly with the complainant. If you are wrong, be apologetic. Also, be aware of differing views of what happened and what was said. Lastly, reassure the complainant that there is a complaint handling mechanism or process that will be in place.

3.2 Identify the main points of agreed procedures for handling complaints Every company has complaints policy which is available for everyone in the forms of leaflets, posters and a complaint form, both web-based and printed. Supporting complainants can be either directly (helping them to to follow the complaint procedure) or indirectly (making them aware of the complaint procedure and how to follow it). As a social care worker, you have a duty of care but do not attempt to resolve yourself the complaints that is made to you. You must report it to the manager and he/she will deal with it following the complaint policy of the organisation. You must not discuss complaints with colleagues or anyone other than your manager.