Unit 7: Principle of Safe Practice in Health and Care | Case Study 2: Welling’s NHS Trust, Ward 3B
This assignment will discuss the evaluation of significant duties of care and complaints procedures in
promoting safe practice in a selected health or social care setting. Justification of procedures in the
setting for responding to concerns about abuse and neglect. Assessing the importance of balancing
rights of individuals with a duty of care in the setting; explaining what the implications of a duty of
care is and discussing ways in which the complaints and appeals procedures address any failures in
the duty of care.
P1- Duty of care is a legal obligation and is used to protect and keep others safe. It cares for an
individual’s wellbeing, compliance, and safe practice. Health and social care settings all require legal
obligations to ensure that everyone associated within the services are protected from any harm and
abuse; It is also to make sure that the care being given to service users is to a reasonable, equal
standard and that the service providers do not put themselves or the service users in danger. There
are multiple policies and procedures that come below the Duty of Care that is provided within a care
setting. E.g., Equality Act 2010. Equality ensures that there is no discrimination within the setting and
that everybody is treated the same with respect. Within the Duty of Care for every care setting,
individual’s rights and interests should be promoted.
If Duty of Care was not used within a health and social care service, the care being given towards the
service users and the staff is not being provided to the best standard. If there was a breach within
the Duty of Care at a care setting, there would not be a balance between the individual’s rights and
their risks e.g., when the rights of the individuals are not being met and the risks are not being
evaluated. Implications means that someone suggests something or implies something without
saying it direct. Within a health and social care setting, implications mean that the service provider
suggests something to the service user with other intentions. A professional within the setting should
have a duty of care to ensure that the individuals are protected from harm and that their health and
safety and wellbeing is not at risk. An individual using the service could want to do something
without support from a professional. On the other hand, the activity could be putting them at risk or
could cause them harm. The professional would then have to say something that does not make the
service user feel like they are not capable of the activity but on the other hand, the professional
would need to say/ suggest something so that the service user stays safe. Ensuring safe practice is
important within the setting. E.g., in the case study, the lock is broken so the staff within the hospital
would have to ensure that safe practice is in place to ensure that the health and safety and wellbeing
of all patients including Lizzie is protected and promoted. It also ensures that they are safe from
neglect after having surgery.
Within the Welling’s NHS Trust Ward 3B case study, an implication would be that when Lizzy’s
husband came to visit, he ‘insisted on drawing the curtains around the bed’. As visits are ‘never
supervised’, Lizzy’s husband could leave without opening the curtains. If the curtains are left closed,
the nurses may think that the husband is still visiting. If Lizzy were becoming progressively worse,
nurses would not be able to see and give medical attention.
P2- Complaints and procedures help address failures with the duty of care within a care setting.
Complaints policies and procedures are methods of logging complaints and using the complaints so
that staff members within the care settings can help make the setting better. A complaints procedure
can be used by everybody who has dealings with a setting. E.g., staff members, service users, visitors,
and volunteers. Everybody would have to follow the procedures before changes are made. An
appeals procedure is where urgent requests are made by somebody who has dealings within the
, care setting. The requests that are made within the appeal procedure usually would get seen to and
sorted immediately.
Complaints procedure and appeal procedures are principle as they are used to improve the health
and social service overall. Having the procedures, staff can become more aware about what is wrong
within the setting and get more insight about how others provide care. Failures can be detected at an
earlier stage because after a complaint, the staff within the service provider would become
interested about what is wrong with the setting and try to resolve the problems quickly. If the
complaints are ‘handled well’ then the service would become improved and could have a better
reputation. This means that more people outside of the service would know about it. Complaints
procedures and appeal procedures are also important as they are used to ensure that the care being
provided is equal and fair for the service uses and the professionals.
There are many reasons why complaints can be made. E.g., within a health and Social care setting,
visitors may disagree or be dissatisfied with the care that is being provided. Service users may
complain if they feel that they are not being treated fairly to other service users. This complaint can
be used to improve the way that staff work within the setting. This is because the complaint shows
what the individuals who use the service think. Complaints made by employees/professionals can be
to do to with other staff members. If an employee/ professional believes that another employee is
not providing the best care for the service users, they may complain so that the managers investigate
and responds rapidly. Managers may complain about their own setting because they may not be
satisfied with the work that their employees are putting in or may not be satisfied with how the
owner of the health and social care setting is treating the employees.
There is a specific procedure that people can use when complaining about something within the
NHS. This is: The NHS Feedback and Complaints Procedures. This NHS complaints procedure starts
off by getting the individual to give feedback about the department that they had a problem with.
The NHS state that the feedback is sent directly to the head of department. The feedback would be
hopefully resolved for the future. If the feedback is used to ensure duty of care, service users would
not be getting the care and support needed. If the issues were not resolved from the feedback,
individuals would be able to make a complaint straight to the organisation. The organisation would
have the direct information so that they could deal with the complaint in the right manner
themselves, rather than the complaint being passed through others. If the complaint does not get
dealt with quickly, and the individual is still concerned, they are able to make a complaint to the
‘Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’. This government official would make further
investigations so that the complaint is sorted. The NHS state that they would respond to both, the
feedback and the complaints with respect and they would be treated seriously.
Within this case study, a complaint could be made by Lizzy’s husband for the concern about the door.
The door is propped open due to the door lock being broken. If the ward is busy, there may not be
anybody watching the door which means anybody can walk in and out. Lizzy’s husband may
complain because he could be worried for the safety and the duty of care for his wife. A service user
may complain because if somebody who was not meant to be there walked in, the staff may have to
focus on removing them rather than on their patients. If this happened, the patients may not be
given the best care and there would be a breach within the Duty of Care.
Another complaint that could be made by Lizzy is about the medication. As stated when the
medication was given to Lizzy the nurse forgot to record the medication. This is a breach of duty of
care because if another nurse looks at the records, sees that the medication was not recorded, they
may assume that medication was not given, so they may give Lizzy another dose of medication. This
This assignment will discuss the evaluation of significant duties of care and complaints procedures in
promoting safe practice in a selected health or social care setting. Justification of procedures in the
setting for responding to concerns about abuse and neglect. Assessing the importance of balancing
rights of individuals with a duty of care in the setting; explaining what the implications of a duty of
care is and discussing ways in which the complaints and appeals procedures address any failures in
the duty of care.
P1- Duty of care is a legal obligation and is used to protect and keep others safe. It cares for an
individual’s wellbeing, compliance, and safe practice. Health and social care settings all require legal
obligations to ensure that everyone associated within the services are protected from any harm and
abuse; It is also to make sure that the care being given to service users is to a reasonable, equal
standard and that the service providers do not put themselves or the service users in danger. There
are multiple policies and procedures that come below the Duty of Care that is provided within a care
setting. E.g., Equality Act 2010. Equality ensures that there is no discrimination within the setting and
that everybody is treated the same with respect. Within the Duty of Care for every care setting,
individual’s rights and interests should be promoted.
If Duty of Care was not used within a health and social care service, the care being given towards the
service users and the staff is not being provided to the best standard. If there was a breach within
the Duty of Care at a care setting, there would not be a balance between the individual’s rights and
their risks e.g., when the rights of the individuals are not being met and the risks are not being
evaluated. Implications means that someone suggests something or implies something without
saying it direct. Within a health and social care setting, implications mean that the service provider
suggests something to the service user with other intentions. A professional within the setting should
have a duty of care to ensure that the individuals are protected from harm and that their health and
safety and wellbeing is not at risk. An individual using the service could want to do something
without support from a professional. On the other hand, the activity could be putting them at risk or
could cause them harm. The professional would then have to say something that does not make the
service user feel like they are not capable of the activity but on the other hand, the professional
would need to say/ suggest something so that the service user stays safe. Ensuring safe practice is
important within the setting. E.g., in the case study, the lock is broken so the staff within the hospital
would have to ensure that safe practice is in place to ensure that the health and safety and wellbeing
of all patients including Lizzie is protected and promoted. It also ensures that they are safe from
neglect after having surgery.
Within the Welling’s NHS Trust Ward 3B case study, an implication would be that when Lizzy’s
husband came to visit, he ‘insisted on drawing the curtains around the bed’. As visits are ‘never
supervised’, Lizzy’s husband could leave without opening the curtains. If the curtains are left closed,
the nurses may think that the husband is still visiting. If Lizzy were becoming progressively worse,
nurses would not be able to see and give medical attention.
P2- Complaints and procedures help address failures with the duty of care within a care setting.
Complaints policies and procedures are methods of logging complaints and using the complaints so
that staff members within the care settings can help make the setting better. A complaints procedure
can be used by everybody who has dealings with a setting. E.g., staff members, service users, visitors,
and volunteers. Everybody would have to follow the procedures before changes are made. An
appeals procedure is where urgent requests are made by somebody who has dealings within the
, care setting. The requests that are made within the appeal procedure usually would get seen to and
sorted immediately.
Complaints procedure and appeal procedures are principle as they are used to improve the health
and social service overall. Having the procedures, staff can become more aware about what is wrong
within the setting and get more insight about how others provide care. Failures can be detected at an
earlier stage because after a complaint, the staff within the service provider would become
interested about what is wrong with the setting and try to resolve the problems quickly. If the
complaints are ‘handled well’ then the service would become improved and could have a better
reputation. This means that more people outside of the service would know about it. Complaints
procedures and appeal procedures are also important as they are used to ensure that the care being
provided is equal and fair for the service uses and the professionals.
There are many reasons why complaints can be made. E.g., within a health and Social care setting,
visitors may disagree or be dissatisfied with the care that is being provided. Service users may
complain if they feel that they are not being treated fairly to other service users. This complaint can
be used to improve the way that staff work within the setting. This is because the complaint shows
what the individuals who use the service think. Complaints made by employees/professionals can be
to do to with other staff members. If an employee/ professional believes that another employee is
not providing the best care for the service users, they may complain so that the managers investigate
and responds rapidly. Managers may complain about their own setting because they may not be
satisfied with the work that their employees are putting in or may not be satisfied with how the
owner of the health and social care setting is treating the employees.
There is a specific procedure that people can use when complaining about something within the
NHS. This is: The NHS Feedback and Complaints Procedures. This NHS complaints procedure starts
off by getting the individual to give feedback about the department that they had a problem with.
The NHS state that the feedback is sent directly to the head of department. The feedback would be
hopefully resolved for the future. If the feedback is used to ensure duty of care, service users would
not be getting the care and support needed. If the issues were not resolved from the feedback,
individuals would be able to make a complaint straight to the organisation. The organisation would
have the direct information so that they could deal with the complaint in the right manner
themselves, rather than the complaint being passed through others. If the complaint does not get
dealt with quickly, and the individual is still concerned, they are able to make a complaint to the
‘Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’. This government official would make further
investigations so that the complaint is sorted. The NHS state that they would respond to both, the
feedback and the complaints with respect and they would be treated seriously.
Within this case study, a complaint could be made by Lizzy’s husband for the concern about the door.
The door is propped open due to the door lock being broken. If the ward is busy, there may not be
anybody watching the door which means anybody can walk in and out. Lizzy’s husband may
complain because he could be worried for the safety and the duty of care for his wife. A service user
may complain because if somebody who was not meant to be there walked in, the staff may have to
focus on removing them rather than on their patients. If this happened, the patients may not be
given the best care and there would be a breach within the Duty of Care.
Another complaint that could be made by Lizzy is about the medication. As stated when the
medication was given to Lizzy the nurse forgot to record the medication. This is a breach of duty of
care because if another nurse looks at the records, sees that the medication was not recorded, they
may assume that medication was not given, so they may give Lizzy another dose of medication. This
