Unit 7: Principles of Safe Practice in Health and Social Care

Task 2 – Legislations, Policies & Procedures

P6. Compare the influence of different health and safety laws or policies on health and social care
practice in a selected setting.

In health and social care, it is vital that all professionals apart of health and social care settings/
organisations follow all of the health and safety laws and policies that has been set. This is to ensure the
safety of the service users and providers at the organisation. It is also for the prevention of harm to
anyone at the organisation or service users. are kept safe from harm. There have been many laws and
policies that have been set, such as;

The health and safety act at work, which was set in 1974 (TUC, 28th September 2022). This legislation’s
focus is to minimise the danger and risk in organisations, which prevents risk of harm to the service
users and providers. This legislation is set out to be followed by all health care organisations. For
example, in the ward Lizzy is being treated at, the keypad to the ward's door is broken, so anyone has
access to the ward, such as Lizzy potentially abusive husband. This can be the reason of increased risk of
many incidents (abuse) and accidents occurring due to the lack of safe practice. This example shows that
the health care setting is dangerous as it can increase any chances of random people walking in the ward
to abuse service users/ providers. This policy isn’t being followed by the service providers treating Lizzy
as the safety of the individuals are not being taken seriously. They’re being left unsupervised whilst
visitors come to visit them. This could lead to further abuse from Lizzy’s husband, as he’s not being
supervised when her visit. This is misconduct within practise as service users are being neglected by
providers as they’re not improving the environment to ensure everyone's safety and there are still
hazards in the environment, which are dangerous for everyone there. Another example is the nurse not
recording down the medication they’d administered for Lizzy. This is a harmful and unsafe practice as it
can cause serious long-term issues for Lizzy and could potentially lead her to death.

The Data Protection Act, which was set in 1998 (Privacyhelper), is also a legislation of health and safety.
This legislation is important in health and social care, as it helps to maintain confidentiality in health and
social care settings/ organisations. All confidential information of service users must be kept secret,
hidden well and safe. In doing so, this preserves the service user's dignity and rights to privacy, which
allows for them to trust the provider. There are limitations to confidentiality, for example, Amina
suspects that Lizzy is being abused due to the signs in her behaviour and her swollen hand. If Lizzy
chooses to speak up about her situation to Amina or another service provider, they must let her know
that it cannot be kept a secret and would have to be reported to the higher up (managers, local
authority, etc). They still must remain confidentiality though, which they can do by not spreading or
reporting the information about the situation to anyone unauthorised to know. This is a safeguarding
situation and so confidentiality must be breached to ensure the safety of the service user, as the
information can be used to help with the investigation.
The Care Act, which was set in 2014 (CQC, 12th May 2022), mentions that those who are managing the
safeguarding situation (most likely the police) have responsibilities to follow up on, such as; carrying out
assessments for those who require support and care, even if they potentially have benefits from
government-funded care. These assessments that are carried out must be focused on the users'
requirements and the impact their needs have on their health and wellbeing and focusing on how to
achieve great outcomes in treatment. Advocates can be provided to service users to allow for the
service users involvement in the assessment to be increased, if they need the support of an advocate.
This Care Act helps protect vulnerable individuals from potentially being abused, neglected, etc. This Act
also links into protecting data of service users. It mentions that when sharing information to other
safeguarding members, the information must be protected at all costs. They can do this by sending the
information flagged as important, have the email password encrypted, only haring information they
need to do their part in investigating this safeguarding issue and not the entire document of
information, etc. The act gives out guidelines and procedures that must strictly be followed by all
professionals. If a service users confidential information is breached and is now accessed by those of un-
authorisation, the professional who caused this leak of information can suffer the legal consequences,
such as getting sued, fined, put into jail, etc. Breaching confidentiality could potentially put the service
user at risk of harm as it would be leaking their personal information. For example, Lizzy’s phone
number, address, and the hospital she’s staying at, health conditions would be leaked. This would be
harmful to her as the keypad of the ward is broken, which means anyone who is dangerous can walk in
at any time to abuse or harm the service users.

The Care Standard Act (scie, Assessing the mental health needs of older people, April 2006), which was
set in the year of 2000, ensures that all professionals are competent to provide and perform the best
and most effective care/ treatment available and promoting improvements in health care. Professional
bodies such as CQC (Care Quality Commissions) can ensure this by doing regular check-ups on the staff's
performance abilities, whether they attend training regularly, preventing infections, service users'
satisfaction, complaints been seen too, etc. These are just a few things that ensure better practise and
safety for all service users. All service users have the right to receiving effective treatment. For example,
the service providers treating Lizzy forgot to record the medication they had administered to her, which
is misconduct, poor standard of care and can be seen as neglect, as it can cause harm to her. This is the
provider failing to follow up on their responsibilities, which this act could help them to provide better
treatment to the service users by; ensuring that all professionals attend regular training sessions to
maintain competent in the care they’re providing. This would ensure service user satisfaction as the
provider is competent, knowledgeable, understanding of knowing how to act in safeguarding or
troublesome situations, etc, which promotes effective and safe practises within the organisation.

The organisation is low on staff, which could slow down or rush the service user's treatment, which is
unsafe practise. The Care Quality Commision body have standards that must be met by all professionals
apart of health care organisations. Some of these standards are (CQC, 25th August 2022); Professionals
must be able to perform and provide effective care to the service users to ensure that they receive
effective care that can help them get better as soon as possible. There are thirteen important standards
to follow to ensure that the treatment received by service users is effective and safe. Regular CQC
inspections would allow for the organisation to make improvements and implications to better the
standard of care being provided and the environment. For example, if CQC were to inspect the ward
Lizzy is being treated at, they’d notice the hazards, neglect, misconduct, lack of resources, service users
unsatisfied and unsupervised, not recording important things down, lack of training sessions attended
by providers, etc. From the inspection CQC can discuss with the providers what they need improving on
and can place special measures on the organisation to fix them issues in a certain amount of time, if not
done, they could potentially be shut down for unsafe practice and not making changes to the issues. If
changes are made to the environment and performance in care, this would improve the care being
provided and promote safety to service users.

DBS checks are a disclosed and barring service check-up (mind, BDS checks and your mental health,
December 2022), which shows whether one has a past of criminal offences or not, which can prevent
them from working in health and social care if they do. For it to be completed, it requires personal
information such as, a passport, bank statement, birth certificate, and any other form of identification. It
would usually take one to receive the results back in around 14 days, if not longer. There should be
regular DBS checks-ups enforced into this organisation to ensure that the providers there aren’t
dangerous to the service users. These must be regular check-ups to ensure they haven’t recently
committed a criminal offence, so that if they have their manager can of course fire them if necessary as
they could be of danger to the vulnerable service users.

Health and safety legislations and policies are vital to implement in any health or social care setting as
they ensure the safety of both service users and providers. That give guidelines out to promoting safe
and effective practise among the health care organisations. For example, service providers may not
follow the policies and procedure, which can result in the service users become very overwhelmed with
all the mistakes and issues created. Lizzy’s service provider hasn’t been recording down the medication,
dose and timing of when they gave Lizzy her medication. This is unsafe practise and misconduct. Lizzy
would be affected if she is given too many doses of medication. Another example may be, the broken
keypad allowing anyone to access the ward, which means they can walk in any time and can cause harm
to vulnerable users, if that’s their intentions. The ward could have a signing in sheet/ list that must be
signed before entering the ward to see their loved ones. Their name would now be recorded and so if
anything happens to the users at the time of when the visitor came, they’ll have a potential suspect and
can move onto further investigation. This prevent others from being harmed and only authorized visitors
only can enter the ward.

M3. Analyse how health and safety legislation or policies influence safe practice in a selected health
or social care setting.

There are many reasons to why professionals don’t follow up on the legislations and policies set in place
for them. One of those reasons is that some organisations are on a tight financial budget, which
prevents them from buying equipment or recourses that they require to meet the set acts placed for
them to follow (HSE, Personal protective equipment (PPE) at work regulations from the 6th of April
2022). This legislation made it a duty to all professionals to wear a protective clothing, which is called
PPE. They have a duty to wear this piece of protective clothing to ensure prevention of infections
spreading. Some organisations don’t get funded enough to be able to buy the PPE, which raises the
likelihood of infections being spread around the organisation. If the infection does go around and affects
service users, making them get ill, this is an unsafe practise, as it is making service users ill and can cause
harm to them as they’re already as vulnerable. This could potentially lead them to death as they’re
already in a vulnerable state, in which the infection spread can affect them and make them more likely
to die.

Infection can be spread to one another quite easily. If professionals are not careful, they can get the
infection through the bodily fluids of the ill service user, constant (a lot) of psychical contact with service
user, etc. For example, HIV, malaria, meningitis, etc (Mayo clinic, Infectious disease). This PPE prevents
infection spread and so without it everyone in the health care environment are likely to get the
infection. If the organisation Lizzy is being treated at struggles with funding/ financial issues then it is
likely they can’t afford to buy the protective clothing (PPE) around any of the service users, including
Lizzy herself, which increases the chances of infection spread through the ward, which’ll then require
more staff to take care of the ill as the previous providers may have caught the infection too and can no
longer work (now in the ‘sick’ role). Lizzy is already psychically vulnerable, due to her just having been
out of surgery, so, if she catches the infection, it can affect her immune system, potentially putting her
at the risk of dying.

Financial issues within the organisation is the main fault of the professionals not being able to wear the
clothing to prevent infection spread. This means the professionals wouldn’t be able to follow up on the
legislations and polices put up. This means the practise is unsafe as everyone at the place has higher
chances of getting infected, which will affect their ‘usual’ roles. Ill providers mean less providers to look
after ill service users, putting everyone at risk.

Lack of training can be another reason to why professionals don’t follow up on the legislations and
polices set out for the to follow. Regular training is a part of the acts policy, as it educates professionals
on skills, they require to provide effective care to service users, knowledge on how to act in certain
situations, teaches one about the legislations, procedures and changes that may have been made, etc.
So, by not attending training, a professional is already going against the acts, as it’s a part of the
standard policy to do regular training. Lack of training can mean that over time a professional could
possibly forget certain skills and knowledge they require but may be decent at performing other skills
they do regularly because of experience. The lack of skill and knowledge in certain areas could fall bad
on them as a service user may require certain care that involves those skills and knowledge that they’ve
forgotten about, which is seen as poor service performance as they’d not know what to do. This may be
overwhelming for them and may lead to extreme stress. This stress may build up and then can be a
distraction that can cause many mistakes to occur in a service users care. These mistakes can be severe
and can affect the service users' risk to harm. For example, the professional is stressed out from not
knowing how to perform a certain skill that they forgot over time, as they didn’t attend regular training.
This stress can cause distractions, such as when they’re administering a dose of medication, but they
administer the wrong medicine and dose. This can negatively impact the service user's life, as the side
effects of the wrong medication they received can take a toll on them, depending on the severity of the
side effects. Another example can be of forgetting to record/ note down the administration of the
medication. Both can easily be increasingly affective one one’s life and could cause death. This all
implies that when a professional doesn’t have the correct knowledge or skills, they’ll fail to preform
effective treatment to the service users. When attending training, a professional would be able to obtain
the required knowledge and skills to ensure effective treatment and safe practises to all service users.
No training implies more mistakes being made by professionals in Lizzy’s case, they are at risk of legal
consequences such as being sued, fined, taken to court for misconduct (neglect), etc. Without the
correct knowledge, professionals are more likely to treat service uses the wrong way (ineffectively). Lack
of training would result in unsafe practise as the provider could cause harm to service users by not
knowing the proper way of how to use the equipment. The manager of the professionals in Lizzy’s ward
should have made it known that training is mandatory. They should’ve also made sure they regularly
attend, they can do this by; having a sign in chart, which would help with knowing who attended, having
a certificate to symbolise a successful end to the training course, which they would only receive if they
actually attended the training sessions, etc. The training that would be useful for the professionals in
Lizzy’s case study would be, to be taught how to properly and accurately record medication that was
given to service users, how to administer medication, how to deal with safeguarding situations, etc. The
professionals in Lizzy’s case study aren’t performing effective treatment as they’re not attending training
to get the skills and knowledge required for them, which means they are not doing properly, so they are
not following the acts by not taking the training.

Another reason to why professionals don't follow up on the legislation acts and policies set for them to
follow is lack of resources, which links to financial issues. The organisation may have low financial
fundings, which affects the sort of quality and number of resources they buy. The quality of care that
would be provided with low quality resources would be poor as well as dangerous because treatment
would take longer than usual. This may be because of the lack of resources they have, so they must
share between a lot of patients that require that same resource for their treatment. This then takes time
to treat the service users, which means as they’re waiting on their treatment to continue, they slowly
get worse as they’re not receiving treatment quick enough, which could lead to worse health or even
death. Some conditions may not be able to be treated, due to the lack of resources they have as certain
treatments require different resources. Equipment such as rails, wheelchairs, chair lifts, hoists, etc, for
those in need of help when moving around may not be available to them due to the expense. This will
lead professionals to struggle to provide effective care to them. Most acts highlight the importance of
service users' safety, so if their safety isn’t ensured due to lack of equipment, then this is unsafe
practise, and it doesn’t follow the acts given as they’re in risk or injury. Professionals would be at risk of
injury too, as they may struggle to move a patient safely without equipment such as a hoist, which could
result in them dropping, falling, hurting themselves as well as the patient. This links to the PPE
protection clothing they can’t afford, which will spread infections everywhere, making everyone ill and
those vulnerable patient's condition worse as they must deal with being ill too. An example could be
when covid-19 occurred and the hospitals required so much equipment such as masks, gloves, bacterial
wipes, PPE, etc. They required a lot of equipment, which they couldn’t afford. This increased the risk of
covid-19 spreading around as there weren’t enough protective clothing equipment to go around. This is
unsafe practise as the service users are at risk of not getting treated sooner due to lack of equipment.
Lack of equipment may mean the service providers rather not treat them as they haven’t got the tools
to do so, to prevent poor treatment, but this is poor as there would be no one treating them. There are
many legislations and policies against this as working prevent accident, illness and injury and also
prevents vulnerable people getting hurt. Usually, a lot of equipment is required for service users such as
those in Lizzy’s case study. The professionals providing treatment to her need a lot of equipment and
resources to keep up with the standard of care. For example, a new, fixed keypad to keep the users on
that ward safe from those unauthorized people.

Another reason professionals don't follow up on the legislations and policies that are set up for them to
follow is the environment around them. Everyone’s workplace has hazards that may be anywhere.
Having hazards in a health care setting is risky as it can easily cause injuries to service users and
providers and it also goes against the health and safety at work act. The care act highlights taking care of
all service users with proper effective treatment. A hazard can be anything that could cause harm to
others, such as, a wire laying on the ground, water spilt on the floor (without stop sign), fire, spread of
infection, error in medication, lack of security, blocked corridors, etc. These hazards could easily be
prevented yet could easily injure someone.

All these reasons stated above are unsafe practises as they can lead to risk of potential harm to service
user and health professionals. For example, Lizzy could be in risk of overdose as her provider gave her
medication without recording/ noting it down. This mistake can be seen also as neglect. Also there is
lack of security at the ward Lizzy is getting treated at, as of the broken keypad. This implies that anyone
can enter the ward without authorisation and could potentially cause harm to anyone there. One last
reason to why professionals may not follow the legislations and policies set to be followed by them is
staffing issues, lack of staff. Lack of staff can result in there being more risks of potential accidents and
increases of illnesses, etc. Lack of staff means the staff working to treat the service users must work
twice as harder and faster than usual, just so that all service users are treated. That may be
overwhelming, stressful and distracting for them, leading to many mistakes being made and poor
treatment received by service users. Also, the service users would feel unworthy of anyone time,
underappreciated, etc. This also may lead to neglect of some service users, as the provider may forget to
treat or care for a service user as they never got to get to them in time. Low staff can affect the service
users and providers as makes service providers fall into making mistakes and is unhealthy for both the
service users and providers, which is unsafe practice. In the ward that Lizzy is being treated at, there are
less staff working on the ward, especially when her husband comes to visit. The staff tend to leave her
unsupervised, which is neglect. If the ward was not unstaffed and Lizzy was being supervised, one of the
providers may have noticed any behavioural changes that occurred in Lizzy when her husband was
around her pr any other signs of potential abuse. This increases the risk of danger for Lizzy as the
providers are not protecting Lizzy or other service users, who are all vulnerable.

Professionals must follow the acts as it protects not only the service users, but also the providers too.
Guidelines and standards of care are set to guide professionals on how to act when in a tough situation,
to effectively perform treatment on the individuals properly. The acts clearly and specifically highlight
the wrongs/ misconducts and rights in care, such as... the acts demonstrate how to keep safe practises.
One way to maintain safe practices such as, carrying out accurate risk assessments to minimise any
hazards in the setting. Another way is to get a DBS check done every now and then (every 3 years or so)
to prevent anyone with a serious criminal offence from working with/ treating those who are vulnerable,
to ensure their safety away from dangerous individuals. If professionals don’t follow the acts set out to
them to follow up on, they’d likely be influencing bad/ unsafe practises. For example, the providers in
the ward where Lizzy is being treated at must follow the acts. Following the acts would protect
vulnerable service users like Lizzy from harm by her husband, being overdosed, being neglected, etc. If
they followed the acts the providers would have sorted out the broken keypad, would have recorded
the information of the medication and report suspicions of her husband, record the changes and signs
(her swollen hand) of potential abuse, etc. Lizzy would be protected and prevented of further abuse as
if they followed the acts, they would’ve already figured/ suspected and reported the suspicions they
have of her potential abuse. Lizzy and the provider are ensured protection when the acts are followed
upon.

Procedures, responsibilities & responses

P7. Explain how different procedures maintain health and safety in a selected health or social care
setting.

In health and social care, it is vital to maintain health and safety as it ensures the safety of the
vulnerable individuals who have specific needs and to also protect the health care professionals. There
are many procedures that promote health and safety within health care organisations, such as;

Infection control and prevention:

Infection control and prevention are used to minimise and prevent the spread of illness, bacteria and
diseases. Infections can be spread through transmitted bacteria from the air, water, animals, flies,
psychical contact, bodily fluids, etc. Service providers must attend all training, as having an
understanding on how to deal with infection control is vital as in hospitals there are many infections
spread, causing many service users to have infections. Since the service users are already vulnerable
from their conditions or illnesses they have and so catching an infection would make their immune
system far worse and weaker, which could lead to further health problems or death. Service users can
be more likely to catch infections, as they are in a vulnerable state. For example, Lizzy is more likely to
contract infections as she is psychically vulnerable, due to just being out of surgery, which means her
immune system is weak and will struggle to fight off the infection. Service providers, users and visitors
can all prevent infections from spreading by regularly washing the hands through thoroughly, keeping a
bit of distance, put used tissues in the bin, etc. Service providers must wash their hands between
treating service users. This is all to help prevent infections from spreading and will potentially prevent
most people from getting ill.

Safe moving and handling of equipment and individuals:

Safe moving and handling of equipment and individuals is to ensure service users are prevented from
getting injured and that they receive the most effective safe form of treatment/ care from their service
providers. Service providers in health care must be regularly trained to know how to use equipment and
recourses that are given to them to treat service users. This would ensure that they use it properly and
would promote effective care and safe practises within the setting. For example, a hoist is used to carry
someone who has difficulties with movement, to help them move from one place to another. Without
the knowledge and skills of knowing how to properly use the hoist, one could seriously injure the service
user. The service user may fall and break a bone. They already struggle with movement, which could
mean their bones may already be weak, which implies that if they fall, they’ll easily break a bone. So,
that is why in health care, it’s important that all service users attend regular training opportunities they
receive from their managers, as it would prevent the likelihood of a user's getting injured. There are
many check-ups to ensure that risk is being minimised, such as, if carrying a task out seems risky, one
should try to check for other ways to carry out that same task without the risk of potentially injuring
themselves. To do this they should quickly analyse and use their initiative to do a quick risk assessment
on the task. Highlighting any hazards of the task through a quick risk assessment and then eliminating or
minimising them as much as possible would prevent the risk of getting seriously injured. Try to use
equipment available that is suitable for the safe completion of the task. If it is still not suitable for you to
carry out the task because it requires two people, discuss with your manager that you need support of
another person to carry out the task.

Food preparation and storage:

Food preparation is important in health and social care, as it allows for the service users to eat food that
is cooked and prepped well, so that they can enjoy their food without worrying about getting food
poisoned. Service providers must ensure they wash their hands before prepping and cooking a meal. All
surfaces should be wiped clean, with safe bacterial wipes. Some foods require a vigorous wash
beforehand and some don’t need that done. For example, meat requires the wash before cooking it, to
remove any bacteria that can cause infection. Meat contains salmonella, along with many other
bacteria. Salmonella can cause chronic, acute illness and even death. If food isn’t cooked or prepped
properly the service user eating the food could get food poisoning, which can have dangerous impacts
to them as they already have health condition or illness. This would make the immune system weak,
which can make it more difficult for them to perform any daily tasks. A service provider can prevent food
poisoning service users by; washing the food properly before cooking it (if necessary, such as with
meat), being mindful of one’s personal hygiene (such as facial hair) when cooking and prepping meals,
using in date foods only, to prevent them from eating mold and food with an off taste as it can be
unpleasant, use the correct temperature so that it doesn’t get over-cooked and finally, all foods must be
covered with foil or any safe coverage materials for food. This is to prevent any flies or bugs from getting
into the foods, also whilst keeping it warm for the service users to enjoy it warm. Food storage is
important as food can go off date when food is being saved for another time, as it could be forgotten
about. When food is saved it can most likely get overdate and lose the nutrients it usually had in
beforehand. Also reheated food cannot be frozen again, so the leftovers must be thrown it away as it
would have been touched up by a service user. There are now some bacteria in the food from the
service user, which can go mouldy very quick. Set the fridges and freezers at the correct temperature to
avoid loss of nutrients and to keep food fresh and safe. It is vital to ensure that food is stored in the right
way, packaging, etc. All foods that were removed from original container for leftovers, must be labelled
and dated, to ensure that if it happens to go over the due date, then the service provider would know
and would do throw the food away as it’s no longer seen as safe for the vulnerable service users to eat
that food. This is important to ensure that the food being given to the service users are nutritious, fresh,
in date and safe to eat.

Storage and administration of medication:

Storage and administration of medication is important when working in any health and social care
setting, as all health care providers must be aware and understand the principles of managing
medication properly. All service users have their own specific needs in care, so even though some of
them may have the same condition, they most certainly wouldn’t all want the same treatment, as they
have their own preferences. Medication is harmful in many ways and if taken by the wrong person they
could suffer from many side effects, possibly even death. This is why it’s vital to store the medication
properly. The medicine can be kept in a cupboard that has a lock with it to prevent anyone from
accessing it but the service provider. Most medication is kept away from the heat and damp area as it
can damage it and it would be of no use anymore, so storing it in a dark and cool area would be the best
choice. Administering the wrong does of medication can lead to overdose. Skipping doses of medication
can cause the drug to stop working properly and it becomes useless to intake the drug. It is important,
as the provider of service users, for you to know your service user's needs, such as what medication they
take and dose, etc. When dealing with medication, there are many areas providers must cover, such as;
finding appropriate place to store drug, getting the correct dose, then administration of drug, disposal of
any medication and recording the dose, drug given, time was given down and also record that the
medication was kept. As a professional, it is your duty to safely store medication in places out of reach
to them. Medication is administrated to the service users depending on what their needs are. Training
would help you understand how drugs work, such as when it needs to be disposed of, the side affects
that may occur, how to store them properly and safely, etc. Service providers who trained often would
have the knowledge and skill to administer medication.

Storage and disposal of hazardous substances:

Storage and disposal of hazardous substances is important in health and social care as it can cause harm
to anyone if not dealt with properly. Without the proper disposal of hazardous substances, the impact of
this can be serious as it can result in accidents, death, injuries, etc. These hazardous substances may be;
chemicals, fumes, gases, etc. They can be radioactive, flammable, etc. Service providers can ask the one
who supplied this substance for a safety sheet, if there are no instructions of how to dispose or store of
it safely on the contain itself. Serious measure must be taken place when dealing with harmful
hazardous substances by following the COSHH regulation. The COSHH regulation is Control of Hazardous
Substances to Health, which was set in 2002, to ensure safe disposal and storage of hazardous
substances. COSHH is a set regulation that guides providers on how to store dangerous substances to
ensure safety and minimise risk of those around. Any dangerous substances should be stored carefully in
the correct storage location specifically made for it to be stored there. Certain factors must be
considered when placing / storing the substance in an area, such as the location, maintenance, capacity,
ventilation, and temperature.

P8. Explain the health and safety responsibilities of employers, employees and others in a selected
health or social care setting.
All those who work or enter a health care setting, such as a hospital, must act upon their responsibilities
to ensure the health and safety of everyone, including themselves. Here are the responsibilities of the
employers, employees and the visitors, in a health care setting;

Responsibility of employers (nidirect, Healthcare manager):

All health care managers have many responsibilities to act upon, such as, minimising the risks of danger
to their employee, which they can do by identifying hazards. They also have the responsibility of
implementing changes and health and safety measures/ adaptions (through risk assessments) such as,
getting the keypad of the ward door fixed. Regular training opportunities must be provided to their
employees. For example, for the provider who doesn’t record the medication they administered to Lizzy
and for other providers who cause misconduct. Regular meetings to check up on the employees, if they
need support, advice, have any queries, etc. They must keep the employees aware and update them of
any new changes with legislations and polices. They must provide information to employees on how to
keep themselves and others safe. Providing equipment that is necessary in helping the employees
perform their jobs successfully.

Responsibilities of employees:

All health care providers have many responsibilities to act upon, such as, their duty of care towards the
service users and themselves as both have the right to be safe within the health care setting. One
responsibility is if they have any concerns or queries is that they go discuss that with their manager if
they're unsure of what to do in that situation. For example, Amina could go to ask for advice from her
superior who then can direct her to the best option when suspecting a safeguarding issue, so that the
issue can be reported and investigated, preventing Lizzy from being abused any further on. This is good
for them as they’d then be advised on what to do and how to act upon the situation from a person who
has likely gotten more experience and knowledge than them. Ensuring the safety of service users and
minimising the risk of harm during treatment. Service providers need to make service users and visitors
aware of the necessary health and safety legislation, emergency procedures and guidelines they need to
know, which they must also follow to maintain safety within the environment. To attend regular training
to remain competent and to keep one’s performance skills effective. They should inform and put-up
notices of where the visitors can and cannot go. This is a must because sometimes in hospitals visitors
may get lost in a different ward, where there may be high cases of illnesses there and the visitor could
potentially catch those illnesses if not cautious. This would result in them spreading the illness onto their
loved one or other people they come in contact with. They could accidently enter a room with
medication in it or a theatre operation room. Providing the best form of care/ treatment to service
users.

Responsibilities of others in the setting:

All service users and visitors in health care settings have some responsibilities to act upon, such as, being
aware of health and safety legislations (guidelines), such as, preventing spread of infection by washing
hands and sanitising after seeing loved ones. Another responsibility is filing any complaints, feedback or
concerns in, preferably in the time limitations available. Not entering rooms or wards you have not been
authorised to access. Removing and be mindful of any hazards that may cause potential harm to
anyone. For example, due to the broken keypad of the ward's doors, visitors are responsible for signing
in and out of the ward before seeing a loved one and leaving. This is to prevent anyone unauthorised
from coming in and trying to harm service users or providers.

M4. Analyse how individual responsibilities and health, safety and emergency procedures contribute
to safe practice in a selected health or social care setting.

Health care professionals have the right to be protected as well as the service users are. These
procedures and responsibilities ensure the safety of both the service users and providers. There are
many consequences to not following up on the safety procedures and responsibility one has, such as
someone getting injured, sick, etc. This can lead to one getting a disciplinary or even worse the person at
fault and the organisation could get sued, fined, etc.

Standard of care can be set without any sort of guidelines for providers to follow. Without rules or
guidelines, service users and providers could potentially be harmed/ dangerous incidents can occur
more often as they wouldn’t know the rulings or methods of how to prevent these situations. An
example could be during an attack on those in the same ward as Lizzy, as someone can walk right into
the ward without authorisation because the door of that ward has a broken keypad, which means
anyone can just barge in and have access to vulnerable service users who aren’t being supervised by
their providers enough. If the health professional lacks the competency and understanding of
procedures, such as the emergency procedure, the professional wouldn’t know how to act in the
situation. This could lead to worse outcomes, potentially death, if they don’t prevent the situation from
escalating.

Another example of this may be not noting/ recording down the medication that was administrated to
Lizzy. It is the professional's responsivity to record medication that has been taken by Lizzy, at all times.
This is to ensure that she’s been given her medication and keeps others aware of that, so they don’t
accidently overdose her. When professionals follow up on their responsibilities, it prevents harm to
others and themselves. A similar example could be, when a professional doesn’t record and report
incidents, accidents, abuse, or suspicious behaviour. These situations must be recorded and reported, to
ensure that it is put to a stop and prevents any further damage/ risk of harm, if they aren’t recorded,
there would be no solid evidence or information of the situation to support further investigation. This
implies that the situation would less likely be solved and those who are at risk would remain at risk, until
the situation has been fully investigated and solved. If this happens, then it is likely that no one would be
reprimanded for the incident/ situation and so they’d possibly continue causing harm, abuse, neglect to
others, etc. This is misconduct and unsafe practises clearly been taken place, as Lizzy and other service
users are being neglected (unsupervised) and the service providers aren’t fulfilling their responsibilities,
which increases risk of harm to all service users and providers.

All professionals working in health care organisations have many responsibilities, some of which ensures
their safety and the users. One responsibility is to carry out risk assessments, which ensures that any
potential risks from hazards are minimised as much as possible to ensure safety. For example, a service
user wants to take the risky option of treatment and so as the provider can’t refuse the choices they
made, they must at least minimise the risk of the treatment, so that they can take the treatment
provided with less risks of them or anyone else around being harmed.

Professionals must attend training regularly to understand and obtain the skills on how to carry out
these responsibilities, but if for whatever reason they don’t then, this could result in service users and
professionals being harmed from many hazards around them as risk assessments not being carried out
properly. Also, if a harmful situation were to occur, the service provider would potentially be
overwhelmed with all the danger around them as they wouldn’t know how to deal with those certain
situations because they didn’t attend the training sessions that would’ve taught them how to handle
those situations.

Not only do the professionals have responsibilities, but so do the service users and those who are
visiting them. One of the responsibilities of the visitors are; signing in whenever they enter the ward to
check up on a loved one. This responsibility is vital to be followed up on, as if not followed up on it could
potentially put the visitor and service users/ providers in danger. For example, visitors must sign in
because there could potentially be a ‘visitor’ (Lizzy’s husband) who intends to cause harm to the service
users or providers and due to the broken lock/ keypad, they can walk in any time they wish. The sign in
list would be there as evidence to who enters the ward of the time of any incident, this would help the
investigation if it occurred to be a ‘visitor’ who caused the harm to others in the ward. if all visitors sign
in, this could prevent further risk to service users or providers as then the person who causes the abuse
can be stopped from entering the ward from anytime further on. Another example may be, if a fire
breaks out or an attack is occurring, and the service providers must make sure all those in the ward are
escorted out. They would be able to check the sign in list to check if they’ve escorted all out. Not having
a sign in list at the ward and the doors of the ward not being sorted out is unsafe practise for all those at
the hospital (service users, visitors and providers) as it they can be harmed at any time.

Lack of training can be one reason to why some professionals may not be able to follow the procedures
and responsibilities put in place for them to ensure safety. Professionals may not attend training as they
have no time due to having long hours of work, some of them may believe they’ve learnt all the
information they need to know whilst in education, etc. It is vital for professionals to be able to follow
procedures (emergency procedure) such as, infection control, fire safety, etc. Training helps
professionals to understand how procedures must be followed and how situations should be acted
upon, which allows them to follow the procedures correctly, ensuring safety. If professionals don’t
attend training, they wouldn’t know how to act in these situations, potentially leading to higher risk of
harm to others, including themselves (access, Taylor. J, 18th March 2022).

Another reason to why some professionals may not be able to follow the procedures and responsibilities
put in place for them to ensure safety may be because they are constantly distracted. Responsibilities
and procedures are less likely to be followed upon, if one were distracted as they’d not be able to
remain focused on one thing at a time, which can raise the likelihood of one's risk of being harmed.
There are many distractions in a health care environment such as, having too many patients to deal with
at once, lack of time, etc. Distractions can be dangerous for both the patient and professional as one’s
attention is not full focused on the patient, making the patient feel unvalued and not worth anyone's
time. It can also put them at risk of potential danger. An example could be, Lizzy’s nurse who
administrated her medication, but possibly forgot or neglected to record it down. Her nurse could've
just accidently forgot as they may have had rather too many patients to tend too. This can cause Lizzy to
be at risk of potential overdose. Another example could be, administrating the wrong medication or
wrong dose of medication to a service user, which could potentially lead to death, in some cases.

There are many disadvantages when a professional doesn’t follow up on the responsibilities they have
and the procedures. One of them is that there would be a higher chance of accidents occurring, due to
lack of knowledge to properly carry out risk assessments. Another one is that, if mistakes are made in a
service users care, it can be seen as misconduct or neglecting of the service user. Guidelines are set out
for professionals to follow, to ensure no misconduct occurs and a good standard of care is provided by
professionals. Without these guidelines from the procedures, unsafe practises and many more mistakes
in practise would be of common culture among the professionals. Legal action can be taken upon by
service users, if they wish to sue the misconduct/ mistakes that a professional made in their care. For
example, Lizzy could take legal action, as the professional in her case made a mistake in not recording
the medication, they had given her. This also can be seen as neglect or misconduct, which is un-ethical in
health and social care.

There are also many advantages when a professional follows up on the responsibilities they have and
the procedures. One of them is that it ensures the service users protection of harm, neglect, abuse, etc,
as there are many procedures that are against misconduct. Another advantage could be that risk
assessments would be carried out properly as professionals would have obtained the knowledge on how
to carry it out, which minimises the risk of danger to service users and providers. Also, professionals
would know what to do in safeguarding situations, such as record, report, ensure safety and no breach
of confidentiality, etc. This all promotes a safe practise, which would keep everyone safe and will allow
for treatment and care to be taken place to help the service users. For example, the professionals in
Lizzy's case study could analyse their environment and carry out a risk assessment and finding solutions
to all hazards there. One hazard being, the broken keypad/ lock of the ward door, which allows for un-
authorized people to enter, potentially causing harm to everyone. Replacing the lock would help prevent
any potential harm from occurring.

References:

https://www.tuc.org.uk/guidance/what-health-and-safety-work-act#:~:text=The%20Health%20and
%20Safety%20at%20Work%20Act%201974%20(HASWA)%20lays,visitors%20and%20the%20general
%20public. (TUC, 28 September 2022)

https://www.privacyhelper.co.uk/knowledge-hub-articles/data-protection-act-1998-a-summary-of-the-
8-guiding-principles#:~:text=The%20Data%20Protection%20Act%201998,and%20movement%20of
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https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/adult-social-care/care-act-easements-it#:~:text=The
%20Care%20Act%202014%20is,the%20impact%20of%20their%20needs (CQC, 12th May 2022)
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https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/fundamental-standards (CQC, 25th August 2022)

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/dbs-checks-and-your-mental-health/about-
dbs-checks/#:~:text=A%20DBS%20check%20is%20a,for%20Disclosure%20and%20Barring%20Service.
(mind, BDS checks and your mental health, December 2022)

https://www.hse.gov.uk/ppe/ppe-regulations-2022.htm#:~:text=Personal%20protective%20equipment
%20(PPE)%20at%20work%20regulations%20from%206%20April%202022 (HSE, Personal protective
equipment (PPE) at work regulations from the 6th of April 2022)

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infectious-diseases/symptoms-causes/syc-
20351173#:~:text=Infectious%20diseases%20commonly%20spread%20through,someone%20who
%20isn't%20infected. (Mayo clinic, Infectious disease)

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/healthcare-manager#:~:text=Managers%20play%20a%20key
%20role,needed%20to%20deliver%20effective%20healthcare. (nidirect, Healthcare manager)

https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/blog/importance-of-staff-training-in-health-and-social-care/
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