Merit 1
Balancing an individual's rights and maintaining the duty of care policy can become
challenging however they are both as important as each other, the Beeches drop in centre is
ran by two staff members one being a social worker and the other being a registered nurse.
The centre usually gets very hectic and hard to manage the service users who attend. This
makes it hard to perform duty of care for the individuals as half of them are not cooperative.
For example, some service users attend the centre when they are drunk which makes it hard
for the staff to keep the centre under control. Staff attempt to remove the drunken individual
however they usually don't leave and sit outside harassing other people attending the drop-in
centre. This makes it difficult for the staff to maintain an individual's rights as they are
causing disruption and saying hurtful things to other attendees, in this situation the staff
should politely ask the individual if they need any assistance from the professionals and if
not ask them to leave… however this could cause conflict between the individual and staff.
To avoid causing conflict, staff should inform higher authorities for example, the police before
the service user becomes violent and aggressive.
Choice is a right that all individuals are entitled to when assessing the health care services
they require, meaning they have the ability to choose whether they want to proceed with the
care that is recommended or provided or if they do not. This promotes duty of care in the
health field as it shows equality and independence that patients are entitled to - when
patients make a decision regarding their personal health, professionals must support this to
the best of their ability. For example in the case study 3, Wellings NHS trust… the act of
choice is demonstrated as patients many service users are granted routine surgical
procedures to aid their condition. This shows that the patients are given the option to go
through with the surgery as it has been arranged beforehand so they are planned. Another
example of patients using their rights is to make choices on how they receive their care, this
could be at home visits by a doctor if they do not feel comfortable or are unable to travel to
clinics.
Another individual right that is important is confidentiality, this is because it reinforces a
patient's safety when accessing health professionals as patients are sometimes required to
regard personal information… for example their house address, phone number or personal
information about themselves they would not like to be disclosed to others. Breaches of
confidentiality can result in jobs being lost and a lack of trust between the patient and
professionals.This is also apart of duty of care which professionals should be providing at all
times. An example of this is, if a colleague or other service user asks about a patient's health
status, they should be informed that the information cannot be disclosed.
Consultation is also an important factor that should be taken into account by healthcare
professionals as they are required to arrange consultations with service users in order to
avoid misdiagnosing, mistreatment and to improve the care that is needed to support
patients.(pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) It also creates a positive relationship between a patient and
professional as they discuss what is best for them… also medication procedures is an
important topic to be discussed as some may come with side- affects patients must be
aware of. An example of this where it is not performed correctly is in case study 1 at the
breeches drop-in centre, as some service users have phobias of different foods, staff should
, have a 1-1 with the service user to ensure this is not affecting their meal times, as it is. If the
staff had done this beforehand there would have been no issue regarding the matter and
meal times would run smoothly.
Equal and fair treatment is important when providing the duty of care act as it is the key to
ensuring each patient is treated as similar as one and other. Fair treatment means treating
the patient to the best of their ability and what is needed to support and help them with their
condition. Equal treatment means to treat all patients with the same amount of care and
determination to help them, and not lacking care for another. An example of fair treatment
not being performed correctly is in case study 3 the Firs residence the service user Elise
suffers with dementia, she has recently had multiple items go missing from her room which
she has reported to staff; hairbrush and a gold bangle which were found in her room and
now money has gone missing from her wallet. The staff disregarded this as they believe
Elise is only forgetting where they put things, therefore they made a note of the missing
money and claimed it had been found in one of Elises drawers. However the money had not
been found at all, this is a lack of duty of care in the residence and a neglect to their service
users. How staff should have handled this was to aid Elise to find her money and once it had
been found then make a note of it not make false conclusions. An example of unequal
treatment is case study 4 Training centre for young adults with disability. Many of the service
users who attend here suffer with epilepsy and require medication to prevent seizures, one
being Sally. However some staff that administer medication are not trained. This is a risk to
the patients themselves as their medication could be administered wrong, consequently, staff
forgot to deliver medication to Sally resulting in her having a seizure. This is unequal
treatment as staff had given medication to other service users but not Sally, this also shows
signs of neglect and a huge lack of duty of care in this centre. The staff should be
investigated due to this matter to avoid any other issues caused by this again.
Protection from harm and abuse is a major factor that comes with healthcare professionals
performing duty of care as it ensures all service users are protected from receiving any
harmful behaviour when accessing professional care. Professionals can act on this individual
right by safeguarding, this can be used to report any concerning remarks made by patients
or any concerning bruises/ injuries(england.nhs.uk) This is important to conduct this policy
as it keeps service users safe inside and outside of the professional practice. An example of
this is in case study 3, Firs residence, where the garden gate appears to be broken and
some service users have used this to wander out of the residence, this exposes them to risk
and harm. The case study states that two service users have been brought back by police
officers, so it shows this incident has happened on more than one occasion. As staff have
not noticed the individuals to be missing from the residence as they are unsupervised this
causes a huge risk towards service users safety as they are not being properly looked after
by the staff members, this shows a lack of duty of care and negligence towards them. Due to
service users being able to leave the residence without being noticed, this shows that
anyone could gain access to the residence which is a major risk and safety precaution as
people who enter could pose a hazard to individuals including staff. To avoid this situation
staff should immediately contact council/ high authorities in order to get the garden gate
fixed to ensure everyone inside the building is safe and protected. Another example of the
individual right, protection from harm and abuse, is not performed correctly is in case study
2, Wellings NHS trust, as Lizzy who is a patient on the ward due to having a routine surgery
on her hand, and it went well, has had suspicious interactions with her partner when visiting.
Balancing an individual's rights and maintaining the duty of care policy can become
challenging however they are both as important as each other, the Beeches drop in centre is
ran by two staff members one being a social worker and the other being a registered nurse.
The centre usually gets very hectic and hard to manage the service users who attend. This
makes it hard to perform duty of care for the individuals as half of them are not cooperative.
For example, some service users attend the centre when they are drunk which makes it hard
for the staff to keep the centre under control. Staff attempt to remove the drunken individual
however they usually don't leave and sit outside harassing other people attending the drop-in
centre. This makes it difficult for the staff to maintain an individual's rights as they are
causing disruption and saying hurtful things to other attendees, in this situation the staff
should politely ask the individual if they need any assistance from the professionals and if
not ask them to leave… however this could cause conflict between the individual and staff.
To avoid causing conflict, staff should inform higher authorities for example, the police before
the service user becomes violent and aggressive.
Choice is a right that all individuals are entitled to when assessing the health care services
they require, meaning they have the ability to choose whether they want to proceed with the
care that is recommended or provided or if they do not. This promotes duty of care in the
health field as it shows equality and independence that patients are entitled to - when
patients make a decision regarding their personal health, professionals must support this to
the best of their ability. For example in the case study 3, Wellings NHS trust… the act of
choice is demonstrated as patients many service users are granted routine surgical
procedures to aid their condition. This shows that the patients are given the option to go
through with the surgery as it has been arranged beforehand so they are planned. Another
example of patients using their rights is to make choices on how they receive their care, this
could be at home visits by a doctor if they do not feel comfortable or are unable to travel to
clinics.
Another individual right that is important is confidentiality, this is because it reinforces a
patient's safety when accessing health professionals as patients are sometimes required to
regard personal information… for example their house address, phone number or personal
information about themselves they would not like to be disclosed to others. Breaches of
confidentiality can result in jobs being lost and a lack of trust between the patient and
professionals.This is also apart of duty of care which professionals should be providing at all
times. An example of this is, if a colleague or other service user asks about a patient's health
status, they should be informed that the information cannot be disclosed.
Consultation is also an important factor that should be taken into account by healthcare
professionals as they are required to arrange consultations with service users in order to
avoid misdiagnosing, mistreatment and to improve the care that is needed to support
patients.(pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) It also creates a positive relationship between a patient and
professional as they discuss what is best for them… also medication procedures is an
important topic to be discussed as some may come with side- affects patients must be
aware of. An example of this where it is not performed correctly is in case study 1 at the
breeches drop-in centre, as some service users have phobias of different foods, staff should
, have a 1-1 with the service user to ensure this is not affecting their meal times, as it is. If the
staff had done this beforehand there would have been no issue regarding the matter and
meal times would run smoothly.
Equal and fair treatment is important when providing the duty of care act as it is the key to
ensuring each patient is treated as similar as one and other. Fair treatment means treating
the patient to the best of their ability and what is needed to support and help them with their
condition. Equal treatment means to treat all patients with the same amount of care and
determination to help them, and not lacking care for another. An example of fair treatment
not being performed correctly is in case study 3 the Firs residence the service user Elise
suffers with dementia, she has recently had multiple items go missing from her room which
she has reported to staff; hairbrush and a gold bangle which were found in her room and
now money has gone missing from her wallet. The staff disregarded this as they believe
Elise is only forgetting where they put things, therefore they made a note of the missing
money and claimed it had been found in one of Elises drawers. However the money had not
been found at all, this is a lack of duty of care in the residence and a neglect to their service
users. How staff should have handled this was to aid Elise to find her money and once it had
been found then make a note of it not make false conclusions. An example of unequal
treatment is case study 4 Training centre for young adults with disability. Many of the service
users who attend here suffer with epilepsy and require medication to prevent seizures, one
being Sally. However some staff that administer medication are not trained. This is a risk to
the patients themselves as their medication could be administered wrong, consequently, staff
forgot to deliver medication to Sally resulting in her having a seizure. This is unequal
treatment as staff had given medication to other service users but not Sally, this also shows
signs of neglect and a huge lack of duty of care in this centre. The staff should be
investigated due to this matter to avoid any other issues caused by this again.
Protection from harm and abuse is a major factor that comes with healthcare professionals
performing duty of care as it ensures all service users are protected from receiving any
harmful behaviour when accessing professional care. Professionals can act on this individual
right by safeguarding, this can be used to report any concerning remarks made by patients
or any concerning bruises/ injuries(england.nhs.uk) This is important to conduct this policy
as it keeps service users safe inside and outside of the professional practice. An example of
this is in case study 3, Firs residence, where the garden gate appears to be broken and
some service users have used this to wander out of the residence, this exposes them to risk
and harm. The case study states that two service users have been brought back by police
officers, so it shows this incident has happened on more than one occasion. As staff have
not noticed the individuals to be missing from the residence as they are unsupervised this
causes a huge risk towards service users safety as they are not being properly looked after
by the staff members, this shows a lack of duty of care and negligence towards them. Due to
service users being able to leave the residence without being noticed, this shows that
anyone could gain access to the residence which is a major risk and safety precaution as
people who enter could pose a hazard to individuals including staff. To avoid this situation
staff should immediately contact council/ high authorities in order to get the garden gate
fixed to ensure everyone inside the building is safe and protected. Another example of the
individual right, protection from harm and abuse, is not performed correctly is in case study
2, Wellings NHS trust, as Lizzy who is a patient on the ward due to having a routine surgery
on her hand, and it went well, has had suspicious interactions with her partner when visiting.
