Defend the role that duty of care plays in ensuring people are kept safe.

One of the most important roles in ensuring citizens' overall health and well-being is the duty of care. Similarly, safeguarding entails keeping citizens safe from harm, abuse, and neglect.

However, it is difficult for a care worker to establish a relationship with the person receiving care while respecting their rights and adhering to the duty of care regulations.

Duty of care contributes to the protection of individuals' rights and the consideration of their needs, which can sometimes lead to quandaries. In this blog, you will learn about your responsibilities when dealing with difficulties and how to successfully maintain both parts.

This blog will go into detail about how duty of care helps to safeguard or protect individuals.

What exactly is the Duty of Care in Health and Social Care?

The term 'Duty of Care' refers to a situation in which you are responsible for the health, safety, and well-being of others; this can include things like ensuring safe working conditions and providing appropriate feedback.

Duty of Care in Health and Social Care means that organizations in the health and social care sectors have a responsibility to the people they serve. That is, they must do everything possible to keep the people in their care safe. As a result, it is not only the responsibility of the care institution to prioritize the safety, welfare, and interests of the individuals who use its services, but it is also the responsibility of the care workers.

Responsibilities and Examples of Duty of Care in Health and Social Care

Every citizen is required by law to exercise due care. It will take effect the moment a person receives care or treatment. You may face legal consequences if you violate your duty of care, such as being found negligent.

Responsibilities

A care worker's primary responsibility is to care for patients. Individual well-being, welfare, legality, and ethical behavior are all aspects of the duty of care.

A care worker's duties in health and social care include the following:

• Patients are consulted, their health-care needs are discussed, and recommendations are made.
• As needed, prepare health-care plans Maintaining a professional demeanor while providing patients with care and compassion
• Following all local, state, and federal rules and regulations while providing safe health-care services
• At all times, maintaining an individual's privacy and dignity

Examples

Let's look at some examples of workplace duty of care responsibilities.

• Example 1: As a healthcare assistant, you are in charge of a patient's personal care. Before touching them, get their permission, explain what you're about to do, and cover their body. This preserves their dignity while fulfilling your obligation to care for them.
• Example 2: As a result of social abuse, people may suffer mental trauma, which may lead to future self-harm. Social abuse includes having poor connections with friends and other people, not performing well in school, and having difficulty at work.

As a care professional, you can help the abused person form a strong support network within the family and ensure that the abused person is not isolated from the environment in which they are staying.

Managing Duty of Care Issues and Addressing Responsibilities

As a caregiver, you should expect to encounter some quandaries while caring for a vulnerable person. On the one hand, you must promote the individual's safety and well-being and do everything possible to keep them safe. However, even if you believe they are making a mistake, you must respect an individual's right to make their own life decisions.

For example, if you are caring for someone who is clinically obese, they may develop serious diseases if they continue to overeat. Instead, you should look out for the individual's best interests by encouraging them to eat less, while still allowing the individual to eat whatever they want.

If your duty of care interferes with an individual's right to independence by restricting their freedom, you must find alternative ways to promote their independence. For example, you believe they should not use a kettle to make a cup of tea because it could cause them harm. However, if you prevent them from making a cup of tea, you are violating their individual right to independence. They will be able to regain their freedom if you ask them to make a cup of tea under your supervision while no harm is done.

Another example of restoring individual freedom while maintaining duty of care responsibility is: if someone wants to try a new activity but is concerned about its safety, you should prepare a risk assessment outlining the likelihood of the risk occurring. The goal of creating a risk assessment is to detect potential health and safety issues, assess risks, and identify flaws.

Individuals' safety and well-being are the primary concern of duty of care and safeguarding, and the duty of care contributes to their safeguarding and protection. Health-care workers must ensure that their actions do not harm the people they serve.

It contributes to ensuring that healthcare workers only act in the best interests of the people they serve. As a result, the duties of care and safeguarding are inextricably linked because they are intended to protect those receiving care services.

Potential Dilemmas or Conflicts Between the Duty of Care and an Individual's Rights

Individuals may wish to engage in potentially hazardous activities for the sake of their health and safety. While you have a duty of care to do everything possible to keep them safe, you also have a responsibility to respect their rights and choices.

The duty to protect an individual's well-being frequently clashes with the right of that individual to make their own decisions. When you know that the person you are caring for as a caregiver should not be doing something, you should respect their right to make their own decisions.

What role does the Duty of Care play in the safeguarding or protection of individuals?

When it comes to supporting people's rights and choices, the duty of care can include ensuring that they have the resources they need to make their own decisions, such as food, water, shelter, and safety.

It may also include the dissemination of information so that people can make informed decisions. While safeguarding is also concerned with ensuring citizens' health and safety so that they can live free of fear and conflict,

Where can I get more help, advice, or information about conflicts and dilemmas?

There are numerous services available to assist you with conflicts and dilemmas. You can also seek help from a therapist or counsellor. They will be able to provide you with objective advice and service as you work through the problem or difficulty. You can also find useful information about resolving conflicts and making decisions online or in books. The more information you acquire, the better equipped you will be to make the best decisions for yourself.

Your own resources may be the most beneficial. To put it another way, a personal code of ethics can serve as a "go-to" resource. You do not have to agree with someone else's beliefs and ideas, but it is worthwhile to consider whether their points of view are similar to yours.

Conclusion

The terms "safeguarding" and "duty of care" are interchangeable. Safeguarding allows people to be safe from bullies, harassment, and neglect, whereas the duty of care is for the people who need to be safeguarded. I hope this blog has answered your questions about how duty of care helps to safeguard or protect individuals.