Define the term ‘duty of care’
Duty of care means that you must aim to provide high quality care to the best of your ability and to ensure the well being of the service users. We all have a duty of care to consider the effects of our actions upon other people who may be affected. In the workplace you have policies and procedures that you have to follow. These policies and procedures will affect your role as a carer. Describe how the duty of care affects own work role
I keep my knowledge & skills up to date; I also provide service at the standard of the reasonable person. I know what must be done to ensure that the service can be provided safely I keep accurate records as appropriate I only delegate work or accept it when it is safe to do so I protect confidential information except where it conflicts with public interest or safety.
Also every heath worker has a duty of care towards the service users and themselves and also their colleagues it can be applied to every aspect of work, from duties to undertake to equipment that may need to carry out working safely.
Describe dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual’s rights
As a care worker I try my best to help service users to live independently. That means encouraging them to make decisions for themselves. When someone in our care decides to do something that we think is unsafe, we face a dilemma (a difficult choice between two decisions).
Sometimes we question ourselves if we let them do something dangerous, are we failing in our duty of care? So to help us with that we have: The Human Rights Act 1998 that states the following * freedom from torture and degrading treatment, * freedom from slavery and forced