Unit 4 - Duty of Care

446 Words2 Pages
Charlotte Green Unit 4 04/07/15 1.1 A duty of care is the requirement that all health and social care professionals, and organisations providing health and care services, must put the interests of the people who use their services first. They also have to do everything in their power to them from harm. Your duty of care underpins everything that you do: it’s what underlines the code of practice and it should be built into you practice on a day to day level. Exercising your duty of care is also a legal requirement. 1.2 Knowing that you must exercise your duty of care towards everyone you work with provides a clear guide to how you should behave, and how much you consider those you work with. Following a code of practices and thinking about your duty of care means that your practices will be safer because you will stop to think if you are working in the best interest of the person you are supporting and if you are keeping them from harm. 2.1 Exercising a duty of care is not about wrapping people in cotton wool or preventing them from taking any risks. Just participating in everyday life involves risks – for example, crossing the road is a risky business. There has to be a balance and you need to consider the risks. 2.2 The purpose of a risk assessment is not to remove the risk, but to take reasonable steps to reduce them. The process involves looking at the risk, and considering what can be done to make it less likely that the risk will become a reality. 2.3 Your first port of call if unsure about what to do if you are exercising your duty of care is to consult your manager. They should be able to advise you about the best approaches to take. You could also contract your regulator for advice about how to implement the code of practice. 3.1 Complaints to an organisation are an important part of the monitoring process and they should be considering as part
Open Document