What is duty of care?
Duty of care means promoting wellbeing and making sure that people are kept safe from harm, abuse, and injury.
Your duty of care is to each individual and to the other workers you come into contact with in the workplace or the community.
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The duty of care is part of the code of conduct for healthcare support workers and adult social care workers in England and will most likely also be in your job description.
Duty of care is a legal requirement; you cannot choose whether to accept it. It applies as soon as someone has care or treatment. Breaking this duty, for example through negligence, could result in legal action.
It is important that you have the knowledge and skills to act on your duty of care in your role but that you don’t work beyond it.
As part of your duty of care you should be able to:
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Pass on any concerns you have about wellbeing
Concerns could be about anything from poor working conditions or equipment to untrained workers, as well as suspected abuse.
In any situation, if you do not know what you should do, ask your manager.
Provide guidance
Providing guidance about how to deal with abuse and violence or substance misuse or how to handle toxic substances or carry out risk assessments are all part of making sure that the duty of care is carried out.
Fire drills, agreed ways of handling medication as well as cooking and food storage procedures are some of the routine ways for making sure that everyone knows how to fulfil their duty of care.
Work in the agreed way
Every employer has agreed ways of working to respond to possible harmful situations.
The agreed ways of working vary from one workplace to another, so you need to check them if you move to a new job in social care or health.
Agreed ways of working should be documented, but even if you are told about them only in conversation, you must still work to them.
