Implementation of Health and Safety Measures

The given assignment is about implementing health and safety measures in a Northfolk nursing home. The report discusses the importance of health and safety practices, legislation acts such as the Equality Act and Health and Safety Act, and risk assessment for ensuring patient safety. It also evaluates the contribution of placing health and safety measures in the nursing home.

Health and Safety in the Health and
Social Care Workplace

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Policies And Procedures for communicating information...............................................1
1.2 Responsibilities for managing the health and safety........................................................2
1.3 Health and Safety priorities..............................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Care planning for individuals and organizational decision making.................................3
2.2 Impact of any one aspect on social care practice...........................................................4
2.3 Dilemmas encountered in implementing systems and policies for health and safety......4
2.4 Effects of non compliance with health and safety legislation in Northfolk nursing home5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 How health and safety practices can be monitored..........................................................5
3.2 Effectiveness of health and safety policies in the Northfolk nursing home.....................6
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution of placing health and safety measures...........................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Health ans safety is considered as a very essential tool in every workplace. In health and
social workplace, it is the responsibilities of the authorities to make use of all the policies and
procedures in order to provide proper care and support to the patients (Carpenter and et.al,
2017). A healthy and safe environment can help in making the system better and also can help in
achieving the targets at much faster rates. The report is about the Northfolk nursing home in
which a resident, Patrick is suffering from early stage dementia, so it includes the
implementation of the health and safety legislation along with the risk assessment factors.
TASK 1
1.1 Policies And Procedures for communicating information
There are enormous policies and procedures that can help in getting proper data and
information on health and safety in any health and social work place. Although there are various
acts such as the data protection act, health and safety act etc. some of them are discussed as
following. One of the very common and well known act is the Equality act 2010 which can be
considered by the Northfolk nursing home (Braveman, Egerter and Williams, 2011). In this act,
the nursing home has to consider the fact that everyone in a workplace are equal and no sort of
discrimination should be done to any of them. Whether it is about colour, race or gender,
everyone including the employees, staff and patients, all are treated equal. There should be no
sort of discrimination in the health care and nursing workplace as well. There are efficient rules
for this act as any one failing to do so can be charged huge penalties as the involved person may
have to give a huge penalty and along with it, they may get suspend for a specific period of time
depending on their involvement in the act (Clougherty, Souza and Cullen, 2010). Another policy
is the health and safety act in which it says that it is the responsibility of the Northfolk nursing
home to take proper care of Patrick as he is suffering from early dementia. AS by the staff, he
has been provided a Zimmer frame for mobility but he is not comfortable with that and also gets
sometimes very aggressive. The nursing home should consider the fact that as he is already ill,
his mental condition must be not well as well. So, in that case, they should provide him some
other supporting material. In that case, may be he will feel comfortable enough and it will also
help him in getting better earlier.
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1.2 Responsibilities for managing the health and safety
In a health and safety workplace, everyone including the staff, employees and the
authorities have their own different responsibilities. Everyone is bound to their own set of
responsibilities. The most important factor is that everyone in the Northfolk nursing should
ensure that what they are doing and what can be its consequences on others. It is considered as
the most important thing to do. Like the authorities at the Northfolk nursing home has the
responsibility to manage and control all the staff as well as the care provided by them to the
patients. The staff has the responsibility of providing proper care and support to the patients, no
matter what they are doing (Reeves and et.al, 2011). It is because it has often been observed that
the people admitted may suffer from various mental tensions, so it is normal if they get violent
and aggressive. Their mental stability cannot be guaranteed that time. So, in that case, the nurses
at the Northfolk nursing home as in case of Patrick as well, they can deal with him in a more
patient way so that he also cooperates with them. As Patrick is not comfortable with the Zimmer
that has been provided by the nursing home for his mobility, so the nurses can find out some
other method in which Patrick might feel comfortable in. It will however help Patrick in getting
better and also the nurses should deal with the patients more patiently and lovingly. They should
also ensure the fact that they cannot discriminate with any patient on the basis of colour, race etc.
It is not allowed at any case in the health and safety workplace because such factors can give a
lot more mental tension to the patient which can further cause more complications.
1.3 Health and Safety priorities
There are some steps that the Northfolk nursing home should consider while giving
priority to Patrick and other ones like him. These are discussed as under :
In context with individual's health
IN this the Northfolk nursing home should ensure the behaviour of Patrick completely.
As he is suffering from early stages of dementia, it must have some impact on his mental
condition as well. Also, he has some issues in his eyesight and hearing. So, the nursing staff
should understand that behind his aggressive behaviour, these are some reasons that he feels
uncomfortable and irritated. The factors are simple to understand as he is not going well and is
suffering from two three issues, so staying irritated is normal. After analysing Patrick
completely, the nursing home should decide how and which treatments will stay feasible for him.
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Another most important priority is that even if in the treatment procedure, he acts abnormal, the
staff should deal with the situation very patiently and cooperate with the patient no matter what.
In context with Individual's safety
For maintaining the responsibility of Patrick's safety, the staff should provide him a place
where there is no risk of electricity short, or there is no presence of any tools such as stab,
hammer etc. that can hurt the patient (Glasby, 2017). It is also considered as a very essential
priority of the nursing staff and authorities. Also, they should have a proper eye on him whether
they are not being getting any sort of external drug from any other external body. These are
considered as the general priorities that could be considered in order to treat Patrick well.
TASK 2
2.1 Care planning for individuals and organizational decision making
Risk management is considered as a method which can help in assessing the data and
information which further helps in identifying all the risk factors of a person and it is based upon
various factors of an individual such as their habits, age, weight and other related factors. The
information from the risk assessment can prove very beneficial for individuals and for Northfolk
nursing home (Reeves and et.al, 2011). It also has a special impact on the decision making
process. As per NHS, assessment of risk has become compulsory in every health and safety
organization, so as in Northfolk nursing home as well. By using this, the Northfolk nursing home
can stay protected from a various number of harmful factors that can act as a barrier or challenge
for the nursing home in providing treatment to the patients including Patrick. By making a risk
assessment plan, the nursing home can be able to analyse that from what sort of issues they
should stay protected (Cooper and Quick, 2017). After analysing them, the nursing home can
also make pre strategies that in case of occurrence of such complex and complicated situation,
they can make use of them and continue in their process without any issue. As per the health and
safety act 1925, it has been become compulsory to make the risk assessment document, so the
Northfolk nursing home should also ensure the fact to prepare a proper and appropriate risk
assessment document and must display it in their nursing home (Gordon and Findley, 2011).
Therefore, it is compulsory for the Northfolk nursing home as well that while creating all the
policies and procedures, the nursing home must have to produce all the considering factors for
the risk assessment (Law and et.al, 2011).
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2.2 Impact of any one aspect on social care practice
Providing proper training and development about the roles and responsibilities is
considered as one of the basic aspect of the nursing home. So, it is the responsibility of Northfolk
nursing home that it ensures to manage to provide proper and much effective training and
development to its nursing staff so that they can stay aware of their basic roles and
responsibilities and understand how to prevent all the harmful factors along with the risks. The
Northfolk nursing home can include ad hoc trainings and other sessions so that it will help in
maximizing their knowledge on various practices of the health and safety (Hasson, 2010). A very
common example of this can be considered as that if a new employee has joined the nursing
home but has not provided proper training a development on using the x-ray machines. When
some patient will come for checking their x rays, the person will not be able to do anything
because they have no or very less information about that. In this case, the person may also do
anything that can stay possible on his side, but as lesser knowledge is dangerous, so it might
create some sort of complications and complexities. So, if the Northfolk nursing home will
provide proper training to each employee, then they can ensure a lesser risk of any nursing staff
doing blunders. So the process does not give only knowledge to an individual, but also makes
the person capable of completing their duties in an appropriate way. The same process can go
further as well as the person will be further able to teach new employees about all the safety
practices in the Northfolk nursing home.
2.3 Dilemmas encountered in implementing systems and policies for health and safety
While planning health and safety for a nursing home, it is obvious enough that the home
might have to face some risks or dilemmas. Following are discussed some dilemmas that the
Northfolk nursing home may also face while implementing health and safety. These are
discussed as following :
Health and safety risks in case of supply chains
As the Northfolk nursing home must be having some policies and procedure for
maintaining proper safety measures, it is not necessary that the suppliers may also be following
the same as these are the third party people and might become the result for creating any
complex or complicated situations.
Impacting technology
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Although involving the digital technology can stay very helpful and beneficial for the
Northfolk nursing home as it can help them in increasing the rate at which they are doing
activities. Also, the technology can help them in excluding all the manual processes so that it can
help in maximizing the success rate of the home, but is also necessary to ensure that the
installation power is very much and requires a much but one time amount as well. In this case, if
the operator is not available, then it can act as dilemma for the Northfolk nursing home.
2.4 Effects of non compliance with health and safety legislation in Northfolk nursing home
Various number of complications can arise in case if a health and safety organization may
not follow all the compliances. These compliances are being provided by the government in
order to maximize the rate of healthy people, thus avoiding all the complex and complicating
situations. Although there are enormous number of legislations that are provided for the health
and safety organizations such as the equality act 2010, the health and safety act, mental health act
1983 etc. The effects of non compliance of various legislations have different impact on the
health and safety measures in the Northfolk nursing home. So, the Northfolk nursing home
should ensure that the physicians must be able to compete with the other ones, that means they
should have physical competencies in laws, otherwise they may have to pay some penalties
according to the dis punishment of the law. As in the equality act 2010, it says there should be no
sort of discrimination in the workplace (Cunningham and et.al, 2012). Northfolk nursing home
should also ensure the fact of treating everyone in the home equal and not discriminating anyone
on the basis of their colour, race or gender. It is completely not allowed in any organization. If
any nursing staff or authority may found guilty in this, they might have to pay huge penalties.
Also, they can even get suspended from their job for a specific or may be longer period of time.
TASK 3
3.1 How health and safety practices can be monitored
It is very necessary for the Northfolk nursing home to measure the current and the
ongoing service along with the risks. The health and safety in the Northfolk nursing home can be
monitored I a number of ways which are discussed as following :
Measuring the performance
The Northfolk nursing home can measure all the health and safety practices and it is
considered as a very important aspect because it can help the home in analysing all the threats as
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well, so that they can focus on them and see for any further modifications which will be very
beneficial for the Northfolk nursing home.
Including active measures
These active measures helps in giving the feedbacks and these refer to various factors
such as the implementation and the operational system of the Northfolk nursing home,
compliances of the standards and all the practices, inspection about the condition of the site,
monitoring of the environment, surveillance of how the patients are being treated by the nursing
staff and the behavioural observation as well.
Inspections
Having inspections is a very better way of checking whether everything in the nursing
hoe is going well or not. This can be done by talking to various patients, their family members
and through very obvious the CCTV cameras. Along with the inspection of the behaviour, it also
includes the condition of the nursing home and all the facilities that the nursing home provides
for its staff and patients as well.
3.2 Effectiveness of health and safety policies in the Northfolk nursing home
The culture and environment of the nursing home has various impact on the condition of
the policies and patients. The effectiveness of various policies and procedures are discussed as
following :
Designing of the project
An efficient and appropriate design of the Northfolk nursing home can lead it to achieve
better outcomes and a culture which can seem happier as well as healthier.
Risk assessment
While implementing all the policies and procedures of the organization, it is important to
consider all the risk factors as well because it can help the Northfolk nursing home in analysing
what factors should the nursing home can avoid because these risk factors can act as barriers for
the nursing home. So a pre assessment of the risk factors can prove very beneficial for the
Northfolk nursing home.
Emergency precautions
It is very essential for the Northfolk nursing home that it keeps all its emergency
precautions ready as in case of fire, there should be proper number of fire extinguishers so that
the problem can be solved in the minimum time and the nursing home should not have to face
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huge issues because of the destruction of the property by fire, or loss of life of various patients.
So, the home can ensure a proper preparation of it (Cunningham and et.al, 2012).
3.3 Evaluation of own contribution of placing health and safety measures
While the implementation of various practices that can be used in the Northfolk nursing
home, I came to know about various legislation acts such as the equality act, health and safety
act etc. and its importance that how they are beneficial for the patients as well as the Northfolk
nursing home. Along with it, I also learned about the importance of doing risk assessment along
with the basic implementation as it is very essential for any organization.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that health and safety is considered as a very
essential and important factor in the Northfolk nursing home. Also, it includes the monitoring of
the implementation of all the legislations of the health and safety in order to make sure that the
patients may not have to suffer from any complex situation. It also included various legislation
policies which has a very important impact on maintaining the safety and health of all the
patients.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Braveman, P., Egerter, S. and Williams, D. R., 2011. The social determinants of health: coming
of age. Annual review of public health. 32. pp.381-398.
Carpenter, J. and et.al., 2017. Effective supervision in social work and social care. Health.
Clougherty, J. E., Souza, K. and Cullen, M. R., 2010. Work and its role in shaping the social
gradient in health. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1186(1). pp.102-124.
Cooper, C. L. and Quick, J. C. eds., 2017. The Handbook of Stress and Health: A Guide to
Research and Practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Cunningham, F.C. And et.al., 2012. Health professional networks as a vector for improving
healthcare quality and safety: a systematic review. BMJ Qual Saf. 21(3). pp.239-249.
Glasby, J., 2017. Understanding health and social care. Policy Press.
Gordon, M. and Findley, R., 2011. Educational interventions to improve handover in health care:
a systematic review. Medical education. 45(11). pp.1081-1089.
Hasson, H., 2010. Systematic evaluation of implementation fidelity of complex interventions in
health and social care. Implementation Science. 5(1). p.67.
Law, R. and et.al., 2011. Psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of workplace bullying
and harassment, job resources, psychological health and employee engagement. Accident
Analysis & Prevention. 43(5). pp.1782-1793.
Reeves, S. and et.al., 2011. Interprofessional teamwork for health and social care (Vol. 8). John
Wiley & Sons.
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