Implementing a Safety Policy at the Workplace

The provided content emphasizes the importance of maintaining health and safety in the workplace, focusing on the role of risk assessments in identifying potential hazards and taking corrective actions to mitigate risks. It highlights the significance of regular risk assessments to ensure that health and safety needs are prioritized and that policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and maintained. The content also underscores the need for healthcare organizations to follow health and safety legislation to prevent incidents like those experienced by Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, where inadequate review and maintenance of systems led to a falling standard of care. By conducting regular risk assessments and taking proactive measures to address identified risks, individuals can contribute towards ensuring the health and safety of colleagues, visitors, and patients.

HEALTH AND SAFETY
IN THE HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
WORKPLACE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Critical review of systems, policies and procedures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust ....3
1.2 Assessing responsibilities in Mid Staffordshire trust ......................................................5
1.3 Analyzing health and safety priorities for Mid Staffordshire trust ..................................5
Inadequate review and maintenance led to appalling standard of care..................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
a) ............................................................................................................................................7
Importance of conducting regular risk assessments...............................................................7
2.1 Use of information gained from risk assessment by Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust .......8
2.2 Analysis of impact of noncompliance with health and safety legislation......................10
2.3 Addressing dilemmas encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies . 11
2.4 Analysis of effect of non compliance with health and safety legislation ......................11
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................12
3.1 Procedures for monitoring and reviewing health and safety practices ..........................12
3.2 Analyzing enforcement of health and safety policy leading to development of positive
culture...................................................................................................................................12
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution to placing the health and safety needs of the individuals 13
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Health and safety is an important consideration that needs to be taken into account by all
the practitioners in Health and Social Care (HSC). Here, integrated services are provided to the
people by health care providers (Akintoye and Chinyio, 2005). Providing for the health and
safety of staff, service users and visitors is an important aspect for successful operation of a
health care organization. The present report has been prepared to address the health and safety
issues that were identified in Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. An understanding has been
developed about the importance of carrying out continuous monitoring and implementation of
health and safety legislation within a health care organization. The report will also consider
significance of record keeping, monitoring and review of health and safety policies and
procedures.
TASK 1
1.1 Critical review of systems, policies and procedures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust
There are various systems, policies and procedures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust that
are followed for communicating information about Health and Safety at the work place. These
are in accordance with the legislative requirements in UK on communication of health
information (Hillier and et.al., 2009). The trust has in place, a system, for providing integrated
information of the patient to all the medical staff. As per this system, the staff is required to be
aware and knowledgeable about all the medical history of the patient. This system also sets out
the task that information about a patient will be available in a form in which it can be easily and
quickly accessed by all the medical staff. This system is in accordance with Health and Social
Care Act 2001. As per this legislation, the health care providers have the power to process
patient's information for diagnosis and treatment (Information governance, 2015). However, it
can be critically analyzed that this system is not appropriately followed at the trust. The staff do
not consider it as their duty to obtain all the relevant information about the patient they are
treating.
Another piece of legislation in UK is Electronic Communications Act 2000 (Information
governance, 2015). As per this Act, the health care providers are allowed for creation and

transmission of prescriptions by electronic means. In order to comply with this legislation, the
Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust has a procedure regarding communication of medical information
before the patient is treated. According to it, the staff is required to create and refer to the
medical details of the patient prior to providing treatment (Read and Johnson, 2012). They are
also allowed to carry out transmission of this information to other staff who are taking care of the
patient in hospital. However, it can be critically evaluated that this procedure is not followed at
the trust. This is evident from the case of death of a patient named Gillian. The patient died as
the staff did not bother to read the details which interpreted that she was diabetic. As the staff do
not refer to the details of patient, it poses risks to their health and safety.
The Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust has policy in place for providing protection to the data
of the patients. This is in accordance with the requirement of the Data Protection Act 1998.
according to this Act, health information is considered to be of sensitive nature. Health
professionals need to share information about the patients (Davies and et.al., 2012.). As per this
Act, before sharing the information about a patient, his consent is to be obtained. Also, this
legislation has eight principle according to which the information should be:
 Processed for limited purpose
 Fairly and lawfully processed
 Accurate
 Adequate and relevant
 Cannot be kept longer than as required
 Processed as per the rights of the subject
 Secure
 Transferred to countries only after adequate protection
As such, the policy that trust follows requires the staff to abide by these principles.
However, it can be critically analyzed that the these principles are not followed at the trust. The
information is not processed as per the rights of the patient.

1.2 Assessing responsibilities in Mid Staffordshire trust
The following are the responsibilities at Mid Staffordshire trust in relation to the organizational
structure: Director- The director is in charge of the overall health and safety of the trust. He makes
the decisions regarding the major health and safety aspects. It is his duty to appoint health
and safety executive. He also ensure that health and safety executive gets the necessary
support and resources (Davies and et.al., 2012). Senior manager- The senior manager performs the duty of enlisting the actions that are
to be taken on account of risk assessment. After getting these actions approved from the
director, necessary steps regarding them are taken within the trust. Assistant manager- He is responsible for carrying out risk assessment. Following this, he
conducts regular meetings with the senior manager and present report on the risk
assessment that has been carried out. Assistant manager also supervises that the staff
follows the general instructions for health and safety (Akintoye and Chinyio, 2005).
 Health care worker- Health care worker is responsible for ensuring the health and safety
of the service users. He also has the duty of informing and advising them on maintaining
health and safety.
1.3 Analyzing health and safety priorities for Mid Staffordshire trust
The health and safety priorities for Mid Staffordshire trust can be analysed. Proper
communication of medical information is the first and foremost priority for the trust. This is
justified on the grounds of the case of Gillian Astbury. The nurses did not read her medical notes
and failed to give her regular doses of insulin. Therefore, it is a priority for the Mid Staffordshire
trust to establish a procedure which makes it mandatory for the staff to read the medical
information of the patient when he is admitted.
Another priority for the staff of the trust is that there should be a positive culture ((Flin
and et.al, 2006)). The trust has poor culture. There is no proper communication between the staff
and patients which leads to error. Therefore, it is a priority for the trust to develop a positive
culture at the workplace so that staff takes their work seriously.

Inadequate review and maintenance led to appalling standard of care
From the case of Gillian Astbury, it was evident that the review and maintenance of
various systems, policies and procedures for communication of information was inadequate. This
led to a fall in the standard of care delivered to the patient. The basic foundation of these
communication systems, policies and procedures was to be knowledgeable about the patient's
medical information (McCusker and et.al., 2005). These most importantly covered the aspect of
using the medical information in the best possible way to provide treatment and care of utmost
quality to the patient. However, as the review and maintenance of these systems were
inadequate, these requirements were not met. Due to this, care of the desired quality was not
provided to the patients.
As the procedure for communication of information was not maintained sufficiently, the
medical information about the patient was not present in an integrated form. Without the
maintenance of details of the patient in an easy and quickly accessible form, the staff developed
a careless attitude (Collins, 2009). They did not consider it important to refer to the complete
medical details of the service user and provide treatment accordingly. Utmost treatment and care
can be provided only if the medical history of the patient is brought into knowledge. While
providing treatment, it is also required that the health care staff should perform a thorough
assessment of the patient and record the details. These details are to be recorded in electronic as
well as paper form so that these can be accessed at the bed side as well as at other places.
However, as the details are not read, the required treatment is not provided to the patients as was
the case of Gillian. She was a diabetic patient and needed a dose of insulin. But, against the
system of communication, the team of nurses who were treating her did not bother to refer to the
documents. As such, they did not provide her insulin. After 10 days, the patient died of diabetic
Ketoacidosis.
The policy for communicating medical information of the patient was also inadequately
maintained. As such, the team of health care staff do not consider it important to discuss about
the patient and adopt an intervention from mutual consent (Savage and Ford, 2008). As such, all
the details of the medical condition of the patient are not examined by them. This leads to serious
consequences related to the health of the service users. These demonstrate that standard of care
has fallen in the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. This is because when care and treatment is to be
provided to a person, the team of health care professionals has to pay attention and importance to

every minute detail about medical condition of the patient. It is only then that care of the highest
quality can be provided to the service users. But as the staff at the trust do not consider it
important to work in an integrated manner after examining all the details regarding patient's
condition, the standard of care fell.
TASK 2
a)
Importance of conducting regular risk assessments
Risk assessment is the process with the help of which organizations are able to put a
proactive policy in place for efficient management of workplace risks (Risk Assessment, 2015).
It is for this reason that conducting regular risk assessment is considered to be an important
aspect. A HSC organization performs the work of providing treatment and care to ill people.
Therefore, it has the responsibility of health and safety of service users, visitors as well as the
staff. Thus, conducting regular risk assessment is very important or organizations like Mid
Staffordshire NHS Trust. This can be illustrated in the following manner:
 Integral part of health and safety- Risk assessment is an integral part of health and
safety of an organization (Alldred and et.al., 2011). It is very important and lawful
abiding for a health care organization to provide health and safety to its employees,
visitors and service users. Risk assessment is important as it assists in protecting the
health and safety of employees and others associated with the organization.
 Prevention of occupational risks- Risk assessment is significant as it helps in
preventing occupational risks at the workplace. In this way, the cases of workplace
accidents can be reduced.
 Identification of hazards at work- Risk assessment is important as it helps in
identification of hazards at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. These may be related to the
injuries caused due to trips and falls, electrical equipment in poor condition, risks of
infection due to unhygienic environment etc. as the hazards are identified, the risks
associated with them can be managed (Barber and et.al., 2009). In this way, risk

assessment informs the staff of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust regarding measures that
could be taken for protection of health and safety of staff, visitors and patients.
 Identifying who might be harmed- Risk assessment is essential as it helps the health
care organization like Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust to determine who might be harmed
due to workplace risks. As such, actions can be taken by the trust towards providing
protection to those groups of people.
 Provision of training to staff- Risk assessment provides information so that decisions
can be taken regarding provision of training to the staff (Reeves, 2011). This is
important for enabling the nurses, health care professionals and other staff to provide
care and safety to patients and themselves.
2.1 Use of information gained from risk assessment by Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust
Information gained from risk assessment can be used by Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust for
developing care plans for individuals. It can also be used for informing management decision
about policies and procedures. This can be illustrated with the help of the following risk
assessment of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust.
Potential
hazards
at the
workplace
Who might be
harmed and
how?
Actions
already been
taken
Additional
actions to be
taken for
managing the
risk
Person
responsible
for taking
the action
Date of
action
Present
status
Trips and
falls
Visitors,
patients and
staff might get
injured by
slipping on
spillages. They
may also get
injured by
tripping over
objects and
The trust has
good house
keeping
practices.
There has to be
an improved
system which
ensures that
floors are kept
clean and free
of obstacles.
Supervisors 02/02/15 On-
going

Potential
hazards
at the
workplace
Who might be
harmed and
how?
Actions
already been
taken
Additional
actions to be
taken for
managing the
risk
Person
responsible
for taking
the action
Date of
action
Present
status
falling.
Infection
and cross
contaminat
ion
Patients,
visitors and
staff may get
harmed if they
get infected.
Cross
contamination
may also harm
their health
and well being.
Clean
environment
is maintained.
Floor and
other surfaces
are cleaned
using
disinfectants.
Staff needs to
be trained in
adopting
proper hand
hygiene
practices.
Staff and
supervisor
02/02/15 On-
going
Inappropr
iate
communi
cation of
informati
on
Service users
might be
harmed as
they might
not get
appropriate
care.
Records of
all the
patients are
maintained
in which
their medical
information
is stored.
A system
needs to be
implemented
and staff
needs to be
trained at
referring to
the medical
notes before
providing
treatment.
Senior
manager
02/02/15 On-
going

Information from the above risk assessment helps in making care plan for the individuals.
While making care plan, the staff will be aware that there is risk of infection, hence care needs to
be provided accordingly. It will also inform that hand hygiene is to be practiced by the patient as
well as the staff so that the chances of infection can be reduced (Street and et. al., 2009). Risk
assessment helped in identifying that there is a risk to safety of patients due to
miscommunication of information. The staff does not refer to the medical notes and needs to be
trained in doing so. As such, while preparing care plan, cross checking can be done to know
whether all the aspects related to the medical condition of the patient have been covered or not.
Being knowledgeable about the risks that patients could be exposed to, effective care plan can be
prepared.
Information from risk assessment also apprise management decision about policies and
procedures. From the risk assessment, the management of trust can come to know that there are
risks related to trips and falls. It also tells that a system of good housekeeping needs to be
implemented (Stevenson and et.al, 2004). As such, decisions can be taken by the management
for the same. Also, assessment of risk informs that there is a hazard of miscommunication of
medical information which may harm the patient. Therefore, the management gets informed that
it needs to take decisions for making procedure regarding referring to the medical notes of the
patient by the entire team of health professionals who are providing treatment to him. Apart from
that, from risk assessment, trust comes to know that patients, staff and visitors have the risk of
infection and cross contamination. For this, there is a requirement to train the staff relating to
adoption of hand hygiene practices. Hence, management can take decisions for doing so.
2.2 Analysis of impact of noncompliance with health and safety legislation
Noncompliance with health and safety legislation can have drastic impacts on Mid-
Staffordshire patients and the workplace. The patients will not be provided adequate health and
safety by the trust. As such, while getting treatment, they can catch infection (Ahmed and et.al.,
2004). They can also become ill due to cross contamination. In this way, they will get troubled
by enhanced stays in the trust. Their health will be negatively impacted. Moreover, without any
set procedures for communication, the medical information will not be examined properly by
staff. This can lead to medication errors and severe impairment to health of the patients.
Considering the impacts on workplace, these can be long lasting (Wilson and et.al., 2005.).

Actions will be taken against the trust by Care Quality Commission (CQC). HSE (Health and
Safety Executive) will also prosecute the trust as was done in 2013 due to the death of Gillian.
This will harm the image of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. Service users will lose trust in the
organization.
2.3 Addressing dilemmas encountered in relation to implementing systems and policies
Various dilemmas are encountered in relation to implementing systems, policies and
procedures. While implementing the policies for health and safety, it may not be followed by the
service users (Davies and et.al., 2012.). There are patients who lack road awareness but still want
to go out alone. The policy states that it is responsibility of the staff to check that these patients
do not step out of the trust. However, every individual has right to freedom. Therefore, it is a
dilemma whether to implement the policy for health and safety or to allow such patients to move
out of the trust. Such dilemmas can be addressed in the following manner:
 The trust can implement a sound system of communication of patient information. Rather
than paying attention to the achievement of national targets and financial balance, it can
focus on care provision as the prime goal (Flin and et.al, 2006).
 The trust can develop a system whereby the patients and staff can communicate with the
board. This is essential for bringing potential risks to their notice.
 Policies need to be implemented by Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust for adhering to the laws
related to health and safety Acts.
 Regular risk assessments can be conducted for identifying who can be harmed and in
what ways (Nembhard and Edmondson, 2006).
2.4 Analysis of effect of non compliance with health and safety legislation
Non compliance with heath and safety legislation can have several negative effects on
Mid Staffordshire trust. As legislations will not be followed, it will impact the health and safety
practices within the trust. The hospital will not adopt healthy and safe practice. This would lead
to workplace accidents. Moreover, it would also lead to medication errors which would
negatively impact the image of the trust (Stevenson and et.al, 2004). Furthermore, organizations
like CQC will take enforcement action against the trust. This is because, non compliance with
health and safety legislations will not enable the trust to provide care of acceptable standard.

Thus, there will be provision of care of low quality. It will have adverse effect on the
relationships between the patients and the doctors. There will be lack of trust among the patients.
TASK 3
3.1 Procedures for monitoring and reviewing health and safety practices
The following procedures can be used for monitoring and reviewing health and safety policies
and practices at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust: Local inspections- The health and safety executive of the trust can carry out local
inspections of the workplace. In this way, monitoring of the policy can be done at the
workplace. Active monitoring- This is another way in which health and safety policies at the trust
can be reviewed and monitored (Hillestad and et.al., 2005.). Active monitoring helps in
assessing the policy when it is being implemented at a workplace. Thus, it helps in
reviewing the policy while it is being followed at the trust.
 Documentation- For reviewing the policy, documentation can be used as an effective
method. This will help in assessing the areas where implementation of policy needs to be
strengthened (Berwick and et.al., 2006). Documents of various departments can be
prepared and presented to the management.
3.2 Analyzing enforcement of health and safety policy leading to development of positive culture
It can be analysed that existence and enforcement of effective health and safety policies
and practices can ensure the presence of a positive health and safety culture. When such policies
are present, the staff works as per the standards and rules that govern their own safety as well as
that of patients and visitors (Rozich and et.al., 2004). Training is also provided to the staff
regarding maintenance of safety at the workplace. It leads to less cases of workplace injury and
accidents. The patients are protected from all the potential risks and hazards. Their health and
well being is improved as provisions are made for managing the risks of trips and falls, infection
and cross contamination, miscommunication of information etc. In this way, a positive health
and safety culture is ensured in Mid-Staffordshire. Along with that, existence of health and safety
policies help in ensuring that regular risks assessment are conducted at the trust (Katz-Navon,

Naveh and Stern, 2005). With this, potential risks to the staff, visitors and patients can be
identified and managed. As such, positive health and safety culture is maintained at the trust.
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution to placing the health and safety needs of the individuals
I can ensure that health and safety needs of the individuals are placed at the centre of practice in
the following ways:
 I follow the health and safety policy implemented at the workplace. This helps me to
work towards maintaining health and safety of my colleagues, visitors and patients.
 I contribute towards undertaking actions that arise from risk assessments conduct
regularly at the workplace. In this way, I am able to ensure that health and safety of
individuals is kept at the centre of practice. This is because, actions that are taken from
risk assessment are directed towards managing potential risks to health and well being of
people at the workplace. Hence by undertaking those actions, I ensure that safety needs of
people are placed at the centre of practice.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that it is crucial for the health care organizations to
follow health and safety legislation. Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust was prosecuted by HSE as
safety of patients was not assured by the trust. Inadequate review and maintenance of systems,
policies and procedures led to falling standard of care provided by the Trust. It is important to
conduct regular risk assessment. Information gained from risk assessment can be used for
developing care plans for individuals. It is also used for informing management decision about
policies and procedures. Noncompliance with health and safety policy has drastic impacts on
patient of Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust as well as the workplace.

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