Unit 7 - Paragraphs - Coursework PDF

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Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

P1 Unit 7 - Duty of care is a legal obligation to protect wellbeing and prevent harm Duty of care is a legal obligation to protect wellbeing and prevent the harm of others. Duty of care ensures that policies and procedures are followed for the benefit of the service user, the organisation and employee. For example, the lone working policy is a set of rules used by organisations stating about working alone and the risks the employee may face. An example of this could be, for a professional working with drug, alcohol or substance abuse individuals, they could potentially face verbal or physical abuse. Sometimes, the patient might be more of a risk to themselves, and the staff member could be unable to raise the alarm if they are alone. Policies and procedures prevent risks, like the one I just mentioned, and provide a guide on how to respond to hazards in the health and social care setting. Staff in health and social care settings must follow a code of conduct set out by the organisation manager. The code of conduct is a set or rules, responsibilities and proper practices for an individual. Part of this code of conduct is professional boundaries. Staff must not be emotionally involved with the service user; this is for their own safety and for the safety of their patient and to keep them from risks. They must follow the set of guidelines during their work in a health and social care setting or another setting. It is also a framework on how to behave in an appropriate way, to maintain the quality of care and wellbeing of the service users.

Acting in a person’s best interests Acting in a person’s best interests is following the Mental Capacity Act 2005, where the professional acts in a way or makes decisions on behalf of an individual lacking the capacity to make a proper decision for themselves. This can be for financial, health and social benefits for the user. For a professional working in any setting, they may get concerned about the choices a service user makes. For example, the service user hasn’t had enough information to decide between two drastic options for their own treatment and are considered to have a mental health issue, then they may need more encouragement to go for the less risky option to decrease the chance of death and further injury. However, a professional may think their choice would be better. You should give an unbiased view but suggest the service user to take time to make their own decision about the care route they believe is better. By having a strong view and influencing their decision by acting in a way that you think is in their best interest, you may be preventing the service user from doing what they want. This is not giving them their rights and can put the professional in a difficult situation if something later on is brought up. You can only do this if you have their consent or evidence that the person lacks the capacity to make that particular decision, to prevent court action, suspension or further action and by following the rules in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

Upholding rights and promoting interests of individuals experiencing abuse or neglect Professionals must uphold the rights and promote the interests of individuals experiencing abuse or neglect to allow them to feel free from the pain and make their own choices about the life they want to live. As a professional working with individuals facing neglect and/or abuse, they should have a calming and friendly nature about them to make the service user feel safe and secure. This can allow them to trust you with their problems and help them on their way to recovery. For example, if the service user is scared, isolated or vulnerable then they may not be able to ask for what they need. This may mean they put their trust in you to act as an advocate, in order to get their point across and live their life as they wish. All service users facing abuse and neglect have unique needs, abilities and personalities; and some lack the capacity to protect themselves or to understand the consequences of their choices or your own. This means that they may not understand that they have their own rights and choices they are allowed to make. Professionals working with these people have to uphold their individual rights as the service users can’t do it for themselves.

Protecting health, safety and wellbeing Protecting health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace is putting you in a position of trust where you must be responsible and acknowledge the imbalance of power between staff and the service user. For example, service users may feel obliged to follow the advice of the professional as they have more knowledge, qualifications and experience than them. To balance this, the professionals need to spread the knowledge about their condition or wellbeing, to equal the distribution of power and avoid serviced users being exploited. Professionals should be able to explain to both managers and service users how your actions towards others were safe, fair, considered and done with proportionate equality. However, professionals need to take care of themselves while still providing the best care for others. When caring for others you need to make sure you consider the impact of your actions or failings on others and ensure you take care of them as best as you can; this is to minimise further injuries and harm to other service users.

Ensuring safe practice Ensuring safe practice is to keep professionals and service users safe in the work setting. Professionals in any setting should put in place and follow your organisations safety practices. This is done to benefit you, the organisation, the service user and anyone else involved in the organisation as it keeps people safe in the workplace. Not following these safe practices can lead to painful or irreversible accidents, injury or worse case death. Any incidents that happen must be investigated, this can be very costly in money, time and emotional wellbeing. An individual’s home for example, consists of many safety issues so you must take extra consideration for obstacles and hazards, needing safety plans before

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

carrying out a task e.g. hoisting and unknow dangers that you have no control over. You must have training on health and safety before practice to meet the requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This is essential to maintain safe practice and all of the policies and procedures should be embedded into the setting, ensuring the best quality care. Part of every job in a health and social care setting is reflective practice. This is where you evaluate how you do your job regularly and should happen with regards to health and safety. For example, using a compression bandage to stop the flow of blood instead of using a conventional bandage. This would be a combined and team effort, so constructive criticism is essential.

Codes of Conduct Codes of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules and responsibilities of proper practice for an individual. The Code of Conduct sets the standard of conduct expected of healthcare support workers and adult social care workers. It outlines the behaviour and attitudes that you should expect to experience from those workers signed up to the code. This code involves a framework with which to work, this is a basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text for individuals to follow in any setting. For example, the research governance framework 2017 allows the NHS to collect information to improve the health care they provide. A framework includes all the key working practices and procedures based on the duty of care professionals have to follow. Codes of conduct lets service users; others and you know what to expect from that profession and the behaviour you should witness from the professionals involved. For example, a healthcare assistant should follow the set codes of conduct outlined by the organisation manager and perform behaviour that is expected when following the policies and procedures.

Balancing individual rights with risks Balancing individual’s rights with choices can be difficult. Society is very complex; everyone is different from each other causing a huge diversity of personalities. This means that individual’s rights and risks can be interpreted differently. Everyone has different views on topics, for example, euthanasia or abortion. Sometimes the choices we make impacts others negatively or positively, causing conflict between individuals. An example of this could be, arguments between relatives over treatment or the services provided by health and social care settings. People who work in Health and Social care may, through their work, have power over service users e.g. their independence or knowledge of their condition/disease. This imbalance of power can cause conflicts, not just for the service user and staff, but with the family, friends and support workers. The negativity caused when there are arguments between people can have a negative effect on the patient’s mental health or surrounding relatives. Service users have the right to reject any treatment or care if they feel pressured, stressed or worried about the outcome. This means that professionals need to consider the

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

service user as an individual before thinking about their duty of care towards them, balancing their rights with the risks it may cause.

Case Study Analysis In my opinion there are four main serious failings at the Beeches Drop-in Centre where they cater for adults of all ages, many of whom are homeless. Starting from the most serious to the least, these failings are: 1. Unsafe of facilities, including no wheelchair access, fire doors kept locked and unhygienic kitchen arrangements. 2. No accident and sign in book, failing registration laws and safeguarding issues. 3. How individuals are dealt with, including incidents of violence. 4. The mental health issues of the individuals using the service. I’ve put the drop-in centres facilities as the most serious failing of duty of care because there are discrimination and safeguarding issues. This is also a problem for medical staff; if a service user was in need of being moved to hospital the paramedics will find it near impossible to remove the individual from the building, especially if they are overweight. Beeches Drop-in Centre have a legal obligation to provide equal services to all its users and by not having wheelchair friendly access, they are failing this obligation. As part of this legal obligation, the centre has also failed to keep the user’s, health, wellbeing and safety protected. The staff keep the fire doors locked in an attempt to prevent the use of drugs between the service users, this is a major failure in their duty of care. If there was to be a fire, it would be difficult for people to get out to safety and potentially cause a court hearing and the possibility of the Centre being shut down as a result. At Beeches Drop-in Centre they also have inadequate hygiene standards in the kitchen. This includes a faulty fridge and old, hard to clean surfaces that the staff cook from. This could result in food poisoning as food kept in the fridge are no longer safe to eat and the unhygienic food preparation surfaces can cause illnesses or diseases. Proper duty of care can resolve this by making sure professionals in any setting put in place and follow the organisations safety practices, ensuring safe practice in the work setting. This is done to benefit you, the organisation, the service user and anyone else involved in the organisation as it keeps people safe in the workplace. Not following these safe practices can lead to painful or irreversible accidents, injury or worse case death. Staff need to make sure the fire doors are alarmed but kept unlocked, this would tell them when service users have gone out of the door to use drugs. Staff also need to manage the discrimination in the centre and provide ramps and handrails so that all service users feel welcome and able to use the Drop-in Centre. They also need to ensure the cooking conditions are up to standard and are of good quality. By following proper duty of care these issues can be resolved and the centre would provide better quality care and support. The second main issue at Beeches Drop-in Centre is their failure to follow the registration law. The Centre doesn’t have a sign in book which is illegal as if there were to be a fire the staff wouldn’t be able to check if everyone is accounted for, especially having homeless

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

people use the centre can make it worse because they are more vulnerable; and the fire service may be put in unnecessary danger that could be avoided. Staff also don’t always remember to sign visitors in, and this is not only a safeguarding issue, but a disciplinary problem. The managers of the Drop-in Centre need to address this problem and provide the staff with discipline or revalidation, so they are properly trained for the issue. Correct duty of care can resolve this to make the centre a happier and safer place. Beeches Drop-in Centre also no longer have an accident book. This is a safeguarding issue as the service users may face abuse or neglect which is not resolved. It is a legal legislation to record incidents that happen in any work setting, and staff should consider the impact of their actions or failings on others and ensure that they take care of them. This is done to protect service user’s health, safety and wellbeing. Staff at Beeches Drop-in Centre are failing registration laws and causing serious safeguarding issues; they don’t have an accident or sign in book preventing the best quality care to the service users. Staff must have training on health and safety before practice to meet the requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This is essential to maintain safe practice, follow correct duty of care and all of the policies and procedures should be embedded into the setting, ensuring the best quality care for all its service users. The third most important failure is how individuals at the centre are dealt with. Beeches Drop-in Centre, care for mainly homeless people, these people are the most vulnerable individuals in society and therefore are more sensitive, insecure and less confident. Homeless people have no basic hygiene as they don’t have a safe place to live, this means they are at risk of major diseases and illnesses. As a result of being homeless they are not registered with a doctor and their health deteriorates quickly, meaning that they are at a higher risk of mental and physical ill health. Many of the homeless people that use Beeches Drop-in Centre use drugs and alcohol causing high emotions and insecurity from overcrowding, resulting in arguments. There are often outbreaks of violence as a result of these issues and this puts extra pressure on staff members who could require further training or negotiation skills to solve these issues. Staff are failing their duty of care to these users because many are suffering abuse from the violence and are incapable of speaking up for themselves. As staff are not keeping a detailed incident book, managers do not know of the violence and cannot provide the appropriate support for the staff in order for them to provide the best quality care and support the service users desperately need. Proper duty of care can resolve the violence and how individuals are dealt with as staff will have the correct training and be able to follow the policies and procedures to keep all service users safe at the centre. I have put mental health issues of the service users last because all services can come into contact with people with ill mental health. The individuals at Beeches Drop-in Centre are spontaneous and reactive because their worries and anxieties overcome rational thought, so they are unpredictable. These individuals tend to be isolated and have distinctive needs that staff are not meeting, due to a lack of training managers are not providing. Some service users do not respect other individuals using the service and pick on them for their mental health. As a result of some people having a phobia to certain foods, other service users pick up on this trigger and make mealtimes more difficult, resulting in abuse or neglect. Staff are

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

failing their duty of care to the service users as they are not providing equal support to all its users. By staff balancing individual’s rights with risks they are supporting the dynamics of society and it’s important to consider the service user as an individual before thinking about duty of care. Staff following the proper duty of care can resolve these issues and improve the quality of care the service users receive at Beeches Drop-in Centre.

P2 –

Kate Vickery

Unit 7 Coursework

Discuss ways in which complaints and appeals procedures address failure in a duty of care in a selected health or social care setting

Complaints A complaints process is important in health and social care because it protects those that are vulnerable and gives them a voice to express their choices and opinions. Individuals that are vulnerable are less able to communicate their problems and therefore would find it difficult to complain; services need to balance power to control how they manage complaints from service users. This is why it’s more important to have a complaints process in health and social care settings than for individuals that are more confident and able to express their issues with the services provided to them. For example, someone with a learning disability in Beeches Drop-in Centre may not be taken seriously when trying to complain about an issue with the service, so the issue would not be followed up. This would make these service users feel discriminated against and unwilling to seek the help they need. Its important to have a complaints process in a health and social care setting to promote better treatment and care. A proper duty of care will address the failures that have been complained about, to promote improvements in the care they provide.

By law, all organisations providing NHS and local authority social care must have a complaints procedure. You have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of NHS care, treatment or service, and this is firmly written into the NHS Constitution. This complaints procedure allows individuals to complain without being discriminated against and makes sure the service follows up on the complaint to resolve the issue. Without a complaints process, organisations quality of care would decrease, resulting in staff losing their jobs and service users being abused. For example, Winterbourne residential home for adults with learning disabilities, allowed complaints to be ignored and residents were abused and faced hate crime for months until an undercover news reporter showed what really went on. Another example would be Beeches Drop-in Centre where the services users had no ramp access, and this meant the disabled people were discriminated against making them feel unwanted in their service. There were also reports of other service users isolating individuals suffering with mental health problems, and often refusing to speak to them. Staff should have recognised this and applied the Equality Act 2010 to prevent any further discrimination against these service users. This shows that the organisation must have a complaints procedure to allow staff and service users to complain when they face discrimination or other wrong treatment. It will also address the failures in duty of care by providing a better, more equal space for service users to feel happy in.

An effective complaint procedure helps organisations deal with complaints quickly, fairly and consistently and is an important part of an equal opportunity policy. Employers may decide to; develop a specific procedure to resolve complaints, of discri...