Unit title: Principle of communication in adult social care settings Unit number PWCS 21 Unit level: 2 1. Understanding what is required for good practice in adult social care roles 1.1 Identify standards that influence the way adult social care job roles are carried out The standards which influences the way the work role is carried out are: Codes of Practice, minimum standards, Regulations, national occupational standards • Regulations are: Health and Safety at work Act 1974, Care Standards Act 2000, Manual Handling operations regulations, NHS & Community Care Act, Food Safety Act, and Management of Health and Safety at work. • Codes of Practice are: Codes of Practice for Social Care Workers ad Employers; General Social Care
These standards are guidelines, policies and procedures that we are expected to follow, that identify the quality of care we are expected to achieve and deliver. By understanding these standards, a social care worker can reflect on their practice and identify areas for
Employers have to ensure that everyone who works for them is registered and eligible to work in social care. - Standards and codes of practice will vary depending on the UK country in which you work. Each UK country has National Minimum Standards (-these are used by the Commission for social Care Inspection to inspect the quality of care in services.) that are used by inspectors to ensure that services are being delivered at an acceptable level. The more importantly the national Occupational Standards (-UK standards of performance that people are expected to achieve in their work, and the knowledge
Aii How the duty of care affects the work of a social care worker The social care worker must: * Adhere to the set rule of standards laid out by the organisation and not work outside their capabilities as this could lead to negligence, incompetence or abuse and cause harm to the service user, colleagues or self. * Always act in the best interest of the service user and their care needs, giving choice and promoting independence whilst treating them with respect, whatever their choices and
Your workplace policies and procedures will be built around these Legislations and code of practice, which in turn will define your job responsibilities. 2. Explain expectations about own work role as expressed in relevant standards Refer to the GSCC code of practice which states social care workers must: • Protect the rights and promote the interests of service users and carers • Strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers • Promote the independence of service users whilst protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. • Respect the rights of service users whilst seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or other people • Uphold public trust and confidence in social care services • Be accountable for the quality of their work and take responsibility for maintaining and improving their knowledge and skills See The GSCC code of practice in full which is included with the mandatory units sent to you. REFLECT ON PRACTICE OUTCOME 2 1.
Lead and manage a team within health and social care setting Learning outcome one – Understand the features of effective team performance. Activity 1 Examine Syer and Connolly and Bruce Tuckmans theory of team development and compare the two Syer and Connolly believe that effective team development requires certain aspects to be in place in order for the development to happen, they write that there are two elements to team development, maintenance and task roles. In order for the team to develop they need to have task roles such as analysis, decision making, planning and design, maintenance roles are areas such as being concerned about people’s feelings and relationship between team members, continually working towards cohesion within the team and preventing negative conflict within the team, they also believe that task and maintenance roles are interconnected and both are required for the success of teams. ( Syer and Connolly 1996) Bruce Tuckmans theory related to how teams build from the start of their journey together and some of the transitions they go through when building the team dynamic, Tuckman describes these thus: Forming – when a team are trying to develop their roles and responsibilities are unclear, the team members do not want conflict and therefore tend to not make any decisions for fear of upsetting one another, they simply want to gather information about each other before making any commitment to taking on responsibility, this often happened when someone new joins and established team, they as individuals will be reluctant to take on any responsibility. Storming – when team members become more established and knowledgeable and want to show what they have learned, this can lead to conflict and power struggles as their skills and understanding develop and they challenge each other’s ideas.
Principles of Personal Development in Adult Social Care Environment 1.1 Standards that influence how Adult Social Care job roles are carried out: • Code of Practice as laid down by the Management of the care home • Legislation and regulations that are currently in place such as the Equality Act 2010 and the CQC Judgement Framework Outcome 1 which details the way in which the Care Quality Commission will measure care providers against the Health and Social Care Act 2008 • National Occupational Standards which define individual competence in performance terms i.e. the successful outcome of work activity. These standards are concerned with what people do and not just what they know. They are in place to promote best practice. 1.2 Reason why reflecting on work activities is an important developmental skill: • It allows you to review how and why you carry out a particular task or range of tasks which in, turn gives indications that identify possible areas of improvement in your role as carer • Indicates better methods of carrying out the role of carer • May Indicate possible areas of further training that may be needed • Indicate areas to be discussed in our annual personal development plan review 1.3 Ways to ensure personal attitudes do not obstruct the quality of work • Have self awareness of innate attitudes and those acquired through peer pressure • Develop an understanding and awareness of other people’s attitudes and convictions and accepting and respecting these personal differences even though you may not fully agree with them.
Refocusing on your thinking and knowledge to generate new ideas. Look at your behaviour, learning needs and your judgement. Why is reflective practice important? Reflective practice is important for you to focus on how you interact with your colleagues, customers and the each environment that you will be in. It’s an impact on yourself learning and knowledge you have gained.
The unit examines the importance of understanding an individual’s preferred method of communication, when working with users of social care services and the need to observe reactions in order to support the communication cycle. The unit also investigates barriers to communication and ways in which these can be minimised or removed. Issues of confidentiality are considered with regard to maintenance and also the notion of agreed times when information must be shared. The unit will prepare you for working with users of services with a variety of communication and language needs. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria In order to pass this unit, the evidence that you need to present for assessment needs to demonstrate that you can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit.
It is better to be successful at what you can do than to take on too much and fail. Communicate your concerns (Losh, 2011). • Learn how much you can do. Pay close attention to how much you can do in your different roles and still maintain high levels of quality. When we take on too many assignments in and out of work at the same time, quality can suffer.