Introduction to Duty of Care in Health Essay

1.1 Duty of care is your responsibilities and legal obligations of an individual or organisation. We must adhere to a standard of reasonable care in our work role. 1.2 The duty of care affects my work role as it is a requirement that I am aware of the policies and procedures in place within my department and in the Trust as a whole. It is important that I participate in regular training events to ensure my knowledge of these policies and procedures is relevant and up-to-date. This includes manual handling, fire safety, safeguarding, clinical skills, infection prevention and information governance. 2.1 Dilemmas that could arise between the duty of care and an individual’s rights in my role are if a patient were to divulge information of abuse, I would have a duty to pass this information on to relevant staff members even if the patient told me in confidence. If a member of staff was doing something that could compromise the care of a patient, it would be my duty to report such behaviour to management. Also, if I was asked to do something that I was not competent at doing or using a piece of equipment in an unsafe way, it would be my duty and my individual right to refuse as it could result in harm to a patient, myself or colleague. 2.2 I would be able to get additional support and advice about how to resolve such dilemmas by talking to my line manager. If the dilemma involved a colleague and I thought there could be negative attitudes against me, there is a whistleblowing policy in place. If the dilemma was concerning safeguarding, I could talk to the safeguarding team about my concerns. I could also use InSite to look at policies and procedures and I could speak to senior members of staff. see more:explain what it means to have a duty of care in own work role nvq 3.1 If someone is making a complaint to you or has asked to speak to someone about making a complaint, it is important to stay calm, be polite and listen to them, there may be a way of resolving the issue without making a formal complaint. Do not be patronising or sarcastic, don’t quote policies or lose your temper. 3.2 The main points of agreed procedure for handling complaints are: †¢Listen carefully and show empathy. †¢Confirm and agree the detail of the complaint. Record the complaint formally using the verbal complaint record and ensure a copy is passed on to your line manager and the complaints office. †¢Be alert to confidentiality issues – seek consent as necessary. †¢Always offer an apology – this is not acceptance of liability. †¢Confirm what you will be doing to resolve the complaint. If the complaint will be more appropriately managed by another member of staff, explain this to the complainant and ‘hand over’ to the appropriate staff member. †¢Agree the timeframes within which you will be reporting back to the complainant – Within the target of 48hrs. †¢Respond to the complainant within the agreed timescale. †¢Indicate clearly the detail of any action that will be taken as a result of the complaint. †¢Should the complainant request a written response, ensure your line manager is aware and response action, as appropriate agreed with the complaints office. †¢Facilitate implementation of any agreed action.