Duty of Care in Care Settings

Understand how duty of care contributes to safe practice.

Learners should understand the meaning of the following terms, be clear about how they relate to each other and identify the links between them and safeguarding or protecting individuals:

• Duty of care:
• accountability for e.g. exercising authority, managing risk, working safely, safeguarding vulnerable adults
• monitoring own behaviour and conduct
• maintaining confidentiality and protecting sensitive data
• reporting concerns
• maintaining professional boundaries
• maintaining high standards of conduct outside the professional role
• Duty of Candour:
• the ‘professional duty of candour’ guidance sets out the standards expected of healthcare professionals, including “saying sorry”.
• workers in the caring professions must:
• speak to a patient, or those close to them, as soon as possible after they realise something has gone wrong with their care.
• apologise to the patient – explain what happened, what can be done if they have suffered harm and what will be done to prevent someone else being harmed in the future.
• use their professional judgement about whether to inform patients about near misses – incidents which have the potential to result in harm but do not.
• report errors at an early stage so that lessons can be learned quickly, and patients are protected from harm in the future.
• not try to prevent colleagues or former colleagues from raising concerns about patient safety. Managers must make sure that if people do raise concerns they are protected from unfair criticism, detriment or dismissal.

Assessment Criteria

• 1.1

  Explain what it means to have a duty of care in own work role.

• 1.2

  Explain how duty of care relates to duty of candour.

• 1.3

  Explain how duty of care contributes to the safeguarding or protection of individuals.

Understand how to address conflicts or dilemmas that may arise between an individual’s rights and the duty of care.

Learners should be able to describe potential conflicts or dilemmas they may face between their duty of care and individual’s rights. This may include:

• attitudes of individuals towards the person providing care or towards others
• unsafe behaviour such as drug/alcohol abuse
• aggression and violence, bullying and intimidation, vandalism.

Learners must know that individual’s rights include:

• respecting others’ points of view and actions
• being safe and secure
• being loved and feeling that they belong within the community or their personal network
• having a right to education
• being treated fairly and equitably.

Learners should be aware of sources of support and advice about conflicts and dilemmas: e.g. from their line manager, through accessing training and professional development opportunities, by speaking to other health professionals, school/college services, counselling services, mediation and advocacy services.

Assessment Criteria

• 2.1

  Explain conflicts or dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual’s rights.

• 2.2

  Explain where to get additional support and advice about conflicts and dilemmas.