Assignment 2 Bethany Perrin P6 assignment- Compare the influence of different health and safety laws or policies on health and social care practice in a selected setting.In this assignment I am going to be talking about the influence of different health and safety policies on health and social care practices in the Peterhouse care village. Health and social care professionals have to follow a number of legislations and policies in order to maintain safe and best practice which provides effective care for its service users. The first legislation that I am going to be discussing is the health and safety at work act which is a legalisation that is aimed at reducing the risk of harm to employees, visitors and volunteers in a workplace. This is a legislation that all workplaces and organisations have to follow, and it can vary for the different service provision, for instance a care home with individuals who have challenging behaviours may need to have a restraint policy in order to protect staff, whereas a nursery would not require a health and safety policy like this. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village the employees’ health, safety and wellbeing was not always protected which doesn’t comply with the health and safety at work regulation. The second legislation that I am going to be discussing is the data protection standards which is a legislation that focuses on maintaining a service users’ confidentiality. This policy’s key aims are to ensure that the service provisions form a professional relationship with the service user, and they do this by maintaining confidentially in order to maintain dignity. This legislation is also a legal requirement as said by the data protection act (1998) which says that service provision staff should only hold information that the service user has consented too and this information has to be stored securely, on a need- to-know access basis only which ensures that it is only seen by the relevant people. This links to health and safety because we are protecting the service user’s dignity and information by ensuring that we keep their records confidential. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village individuals right to privacy was respected and their confidentiality was not broken at any time which stayed in line with the data protection standards. The third legislation that I am going to be discussing is the care act which has similar aims to the data protection act, however it helps service users by protecting their data from being shared to others, it also enhances the quality of care for both the service user and staff which helps to improve health and safety of the service provision. This act controls how service provisions should share the data and it should be inclusive of all safeguarding partners as these are specifically there to help individuals. This means that this legislation key aim is to mainly help put the service user at the centre of their care which helps to recognise any signs of training and support that health and social workers may need in order to prioritise the health and safety of the service user.This links to health and safety because we are promoting person centred care so this means that the service users health will be affected positively as we are keeping them safe by giving them a person-centred approach. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village there was a lack of training and there was very poor care delivery which means that this wasn’t in line with the care act legislations policies. The fourth legislation that I am going to be discussing is the reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations also known as RIDDOR (2013), which is a legislation that requires designated people and employees in a workplace to ensure that they report certain incidents such as death or any serious workplace incidents. This means that the key aim of this legislation is that employees report any accidents, illnesses and near misses to their employer to ensure that the health and safety can still be maintained. This links to health and safety because we are preventing the risk of any infections and anything that could be dangerous to service user’s health by reporting any dangerous illnesses or deaths. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village there was a lack of reporting of dangerous injuries that should have been reported to the CQC or local authority which means that the RIDDOR legislation wasn’t followed. The fifth legislation that I am going to be discussing is the control of substances hazardous to health also known as COSHH (2002), which is a legislation that requires employees to take control over any substances that can be harmful to theirs or service users health this could be medication or cleaning products. This means that the key aim of this legislation is to ensure that the employees are protecting the service user’s health and their own health by controlling substances that could pose a risk to others. This links to health and safety because we are ensuring that our service users health is also our top priority by keeping control of any dangerous substances that could pose a danger to their health. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village they worked very well at controlling hazardous substances that could have been negative to their service user’s health. The sixth legislation that I am going to be discussing is the care quality commission standard which is a professional body which sets specific standards for health and social care provisions and these regulations have to be followed. Its main aim is to ensure that healthcare provisions are providing the highest quality of care that is safe for both employees and service users. This links to health and safety because the CQC help to control poor practice of care so if there is a health and safety issue then the CQC can offer warnings and shut down the healthcare provision for poor practice which protects the service users. This links to the CQC report because in Peterhouse care village they did not inform the CQC appropriately and they did not follow the regulations that were set, this meant that they required an inspection to highlight several warnings on what they needed to improve.The care quality commission are a professional body which puts standards and requirements in place for health and social care provisions in order to keep a safe working environment for employees and promote best practice for the service users. They inspect the workplace, and they will look at the training that employers get to ensure that all staff know the relevant policies and procedures which are taught via training. This ensures that the procedures and known and can be followed to a high standard. The Care quality commission are a very useful professional body to the public as they publish their reports and findings online which means that the healthcare provision will only be chosen by service users if they receive a high rating of care. The CQC work by helping health and social care provisions to improve their quality of care by issuing warning notices which outline the needs for improvement, this helps to improve the quality of care that the service provision currently provides. The main 1 / 3
factors of the care quality commission influence the way practice takes place because it ensures that service users are always protected from harm and that they receive the best care possible. The care quality commission influenced practice because their main aim was to maintain the safety of both the staff and service users at a health and social care provision, and they did this by setting clear guidance and ratings to staff and the public. The CQC follow thirteen fundamental standards which ensure safe and best practice in care, they want all health and social care provisions to provide person centred care, which the Peterhouse care village did not comply with as they did not tailor the care to their service users’ needs and this was highlighted in the report as needed improvement. The CQC also ask that health care provisions ensure that their services users’ dignity and respect is upholded at all times which ensures that the service user feels safe and comfortable in their care, the Peterhouse care village however did treat all their service users with dignity and respect as the staff had received adequate training on how to provide care in this way. The CQC also ensures that health and social care provisions always get their service users consent before providing care and treatment to these individuals, in the Peterhouse care village the staff understood consent after they had received training, and this was demonstrated in the CQC report as the staff asked each patient if they wanted help before providing it for them. The CQC also ask that health and social care provisions provide the safest care possible which means that individuals should be protected from harm at all times and not be given unsafe treatment at any time. At Peterhouse care village the service user’s health and safety was not always protected because the staff failed to provide everyone who lived at the residential village with a care plan which means that some medical conditions went un-noticed and then developed into dangerous health. There are many different influences that can affect the way practice is performed by healthcare provisions, one of them being the safeguarding of vulnerable people including adults, children and young people. The care quality commissions main aim is to safeguard individuals from abuse, so this is a very big influence on the way that care is given. In the Peterhouse care village they did not ensure that the individuals were being safeguarded as their systems and processes for safeguarding had not been established and they didn’t operative effectively which means that the service users weren’t protected from abuse. By having this influence on the CQC this is an advantage because it ensures that all service users are protected from abuse and they are able to feel comfortable whilst receiving treatment from the service provision due to the fact that the service provision will have strict safeguarding policies that have to be followed and if they aren’t followed then that healthcare professional can be removed from the health and social care register. If we didn’t use this policy this would be a disadvantage to the service user as they may not feel safe reporting their abuse to the healthcare professional and they might miss appointments due to the fact that their abuse will be ignored by the health and social care professionals. Another main influence on the CQC standards is the promoting of health and wellbeing which could be through the safe handling of medication, in the Peterhouse care village this was thoroughly followed as the health and social care staff ensured that all medication was stored, administered and disposed of safely which means that medicines were stored securely, and the staff worked to promote good health and wellbeing of the service users. By having this influence on the CQC this is an advantage because the service user’s health will always be put first so their health and wellbeing will always receive the highest standard of care and they will never be in harm in terms of unsafe medications as the health and social care professionals are always dispending and storing the medication safely. If we didn’t do this it would bring disadvantages to the service users, for example if we gave the meds to an elderly man with dementia to dispense himself and he forgot he had taken his meds and took a second dose he could overdose on the medication and he could cause damage to his health and wellbeing which would be a negative for himself. We can also see that meeting legal and regulatory requirements including record keeping is a large part of influencing the CQCs standards, in the Peterhouse care village this wasn’t followed and the legal requirements regarding record keeping were not maintained as the reports were not complete, accurate or contemporaneous as the staff at the care provision did not include details about the care and treatment that the service users received and the decisions that were made regarding the care that was being provided. This means that the staff did not work to aim for best standards of care as the vital medical information wasn’t noted down all the time, this is very dangerous because if a service user had a do not resuscitate warning in place and this wasn’t noted down on the medical records then the service provision would be breaching the legal and regulatory requirements. By having this influence on the CQC this is an advantage because we will always know the past medical history and any ongoing health conditions that could affect the way that we need to provide care to the service user, this means that we should always follow the legal and regulatory requirements as it helps us to provide best practice to the service users. If we didn’t do this then it would be a disadvantage because we could cause very damaging effects to the service users health and wellbeing, for example if the care records are poorly maintained and there is information regarding a DNR missed we could complete resuscitation and get removed off the register and fined because of this vital piece of information being missed. An advantage of using the CQC when delivering care is that the care that is provided will always be to a high standard as the CQC aims to achieve the most effective and safest type of care for the service user so it’s important that we always look to abide by the CQCs guidelines. This legislation links especially to health and safety because the CQC’s main aims are to help to protect service users from poor practice of care so if there was ever a health and safety issue then the CQC would provide help to the service users by offering warns and they can remove healthcare professionals from the register or close the provision which helps to protect the service users from poor practice.The RIDDOR legislation is about the reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences (2013) which is a legislation that requires health and social care professionals in a service provision to report any deaths or serious workplace accidents, specified dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases to the governing bodies who can take note of this. This ensures that anything that could be harmful to a service users health is recorded in order to keep a safe working environment for employees and promote best practice for the service user. The RIDDOR legislation ensures that all health and social care professionals report any accidents, illnesses and near misses to their line manager which ensures that the incidents don’t happen again, or they can be prevented. Another way we could see this is if a service user at a care home was showing signs of food poisoning it can hint that there is poor 2 / 3
practice when it comes to food handling. This legislation also sets out guidance that all health and social care provisions must follow, this being that there should be a designated safety officer at the provision that will inform the authorities of any accidents that has resulted in death, hospital treatment, injuries to the healthcare professional, and any other dangerous occurrences or situations that may happen. The main factors of the reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences (2013) influence the way that we can deliver care because it ensures that all service users are always receiving the best care possible and if something was to go wrong in the service provision it could be investigated to see if there needs to be further action taken. RIDDOR has influenced practice because its main aim is to protect individuals from any injuries that occur at the workplace, it also allows health and social care professionals to be held accountable for negligence or poor working behaviours if they are investigated. They also aim to get all health and social professionals to promote good health by following all the health and safety procedures that in place for the service provision, this helps to prevent any dangerous incidents from occurring. If the health and social care professionals chose to ignore the reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences (2013) legislation then they would be breaking the law and they could be removed from the health and social care register for poor practice. This legislation also uses the procedure that when a health and social care professional reports any incidents as they are required, the risks are then addressed and can be kept to a minimum which works together to keep everyone at the service provision safe from harm. In the Peterhouse care village the health and social care professionals did not always report the incidents or accidents that occurred which means that they didn’t comply with this legislation, the accidents that did happen were never cross referenced in the risk assessment, so a re-occurrence was very likely to happen. The care village did have systems in place to keep track of the dangerous incidents that took place however these were not fully established so they weren’t effective in keeping track of any dangerous occurrences. There are many different influences that can affect the way practice is performed by healthcare provisions, one of them being the management of risk assessments and being able to maintain a safe working environment for the health and social care staff. RIDDOR’s main aim is to keep all staff and service users safe from all possible harm so this is a very big influence on the way that care is given. In the Peterhouse care village they didn’t always protect their service user’s health and wellbeing as they did not give everyone who lived at the care village a risk assessment that reflected their needs which means that they had a lot of risks. Individuals who had been recently put into the care village had not received their risk assessment which means that the health and social care staff there could not effectively put together a care plan in order to support this service user, it wasn’t able to mitigate the risks, and this led to inaccurate and incomplete care planning for the service users. The risk assessments that had been completed were not always accurate which meant that sometimes service users were given inappropriate care due to the incorrect information being given to healthcare professionals, for example some risk assessments had not been updated to reflect any changes in the service user’s health and wellbeing. At Peterhouse they did review the risk assessments that had been created monthly and they would then put actions in place to reduce these risks.One good thing at the service provision is that they had a very detailed risk assessment which covered all areas of the home for the event of a fire, each member of the home had a personal emergency plan which ensured that they were supported in the event of a fire and these plans were adapted to meet people’s specific needs. Some of the staff at the health and social care provision had received training that allowed them to maintain a safe working environment through being able to move and handle things safely, however it was only 70% of clinical staff which were aware and knew how to do these things, so this was poor of the service provision. By having this influence on the RIDDOR policy this can be seen as an advantage because it ensures that the service provision is a safe place to be for all the service users as there will be a minimal number of risks due to the risk assessments in place, it will also ensure that the staff are safe as if this policy was followed all the healthcare staff would have received training in safe moving and handling. If the service users knew this information, it would allow them to feel more comfortable about choosing the service provision for their care as they know they would be in a safe environment.If we didn’t use this policy, it would be a disadvantage to the staff and service users as both may feel unsafe whilst in the service provision, this is because there would be risks to all service users so the staff would have an increased workload of having to provide more care especially if a service user was harmed because of a risk and required more care. The staff also wouldn’t have the relevant training that they needed which may make them feel like they are unprepared to do their job which can make them feel insecure and unsafe. Another main influence on the RIDDOR policy is the protection from accidents, injuries and illness which could be through infection control, food preparation and hazardous substances. In the Peterhouse care village the health and care professionals had a good understanding of how they could prevent infection through the procedures, and they showed these skills when they provided care. However, although most staff had received training and held a good knowledge pf the infection control procedures, 37% of workers at the care provision had not received this training and they could not provide care that minimised the risk of infection. Most staff at the service provision could recall the in-house policies and procedures that govern the service which is very good for the service provision. In terms of food preparation, all the food was safely made, and the service provision were very good at preventing illnesses that are food borne, and they had a list of service users who had special food preferences and dietary requirements.However, there was often a lack of communication to the kitchen team about service users who need special diets in order to aid weight loss or if they needed fortified food to help assist their care. The service provision was excellent at making sure that the hazardous substances were in a safe place and out of reach from all service users, so they followed the policy thoroughly when it comes to hazardous substances. By having this influence on RIDDOR this can be seen as an advantage as it goes hand in hand with the original policy, with the main aim to make sure that the service user is always protected from poor illness through accidents and injuries to their health.This means that this policy ensures that the service user is at the heart of the care and their health and wellbeing will always receive a high standard of care at the service provision. If we didn’t do this then it would bring disadvantages to the service users because their health wouldn’t be protected, and they would be at risk of harm.This would cause negative effects to the service users health and wellbeing and it can lead to the service provision being shut down for unsafe and poor practice so it’s very important for a healthcare provision to follow this policy
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