The Risk Assessment of the Duty of Care in Working Environment

'Duty of Care' is defined simply as a legal obligation to: always act in the best interest of individuals and others; not act or fail to act in a way that results in harm; act within your competence and not take on anything you do not believe you can safely do'.(social care institute for excellence) Duty of care means keeping individuals safe and free from harm whilst supporting their right to choice. Duty of care contributes to the safe guarding and protection of individuals by ensuring care workers are working to agreed standards by following policies and procedures and best practice. It ensures that organisations have clear reporting systems in place when there are suspicions or disclosures of danger, harm or abuse.

A resident in one of my my work settings, Mrs A, has Dementia. She does not understand that she is living in the home and believes that she will be going home the next day. She has believed this for the last 6 months of her stay with at the home. Unfortunately this has meant that it is very difficult for Mrs A to agree to receiving assistance with her personal care and finds it very rude if staff prompt her. Mrs A is more than capable of completing her own personal care and is fully independent in this area so care staff must respect her wishes and her rights to maintain independence but care staff have become aware that due to Mrs A believing she is going home the next day, she is not maintaining her hygiene levels. There is evidence that she is not using the flannels and towels provided in her room and the shower is unused every morning. When prompted, Mrs A says she will do it when she gets home. Mrs A is becoming noticeably dirty and odorous.

Care staff have documented the findings in Mrs A's daily record and raised their concerns with the Manager. The manager was able to discuss the concerns with Mrs A but this was difficult as Mrs A did not agree and was not open to discuss the concerns. The manager called a meeting with Mrs A's next of kin and discussed the concerns. Mrs A's next of kin had some ideas that may help to encourage Mrs A to carry out personal care and prompts that staff could use. For example, Mrs A did not have showers,she had baths and she would not like the assistance of care staff to have a bath. Also, She often went away for the weekend with her husband and found that she did not like to use towels that others had used.

The new information from Mrs A's next of kin enabled Mrs A to have her own towels and flannels brought in from home and the wishes of Mrs A to bath alone could be looked into. Mrs A agreed to bath alone when care staff prompted her and gave her the towels from her home. The manager carried out a risk assessment. Mrs A could have a bath alone as long as she would use the call bell if she required assistance. She would not use the bath hoist to get in and out of the bath, instead she must be able to get in and out independently. The manager was able to risk assess how the bath would be carried out and how care staff were to assist Mrs A in preparing the bath but not to take an active role and give Mrs A her independence. The risk assessment would be reviewed monthly and monitored by care staff after very bath to ensure her needs are still being met and it is still safe to continue.

Additional support and further information about conflicts and dilemma's can be found. In house policy and procedures o Colleagues o Senior members of staff o Social worker or other professionals o Individuals family/friends. Listen to the complaint. Ensure that all barriers to communication have been addressed, such as eye contact, hearing impairment (aids) vision impairment (glasses).