Understanding Duty of Care and Safety Responsibilities

Course description

Are you looking to provide the best possible care for others and ensure their wellbeing? This course explores the legal aspects of healthcare and caregiving and explains how to manage incidents, near misses and errors that lead to breaches of duty of care. We discuss patients’ rights and consent regarding students' involvement in patient care. We lay out the safety responsibilities of care workers and employers and employees in the UK.

‘Duty of care’ is defined as the legal, professional or moral obligation to ensure safety and promote the wellbeing of others. It is a critical aspect of many professions and industries as it sets the standard for the level of care that should be exercised. As a health or social care worker, employer or employee, you have a vital role to play in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of those in your care. Fulfilling your duty of care and safety responsibilities requires a deep understanding of the legal, ethical and best practices that guide your actions. This course introduces you to the concept of duty of care and explains its principles and legal obligations in any setting. We show you how duty of care affects your work, what to do if you come across a duty of care dilemma and where to go for support or advice.

The course lays out the legal aspects of care and explains how it is related to the 'duty of candour' and the 'duty of loyalty'. We define terms like ‘negligence’, ‘failure to provide the standard of care’ and ‘breach of duty of care’. Duty of care demands that the interests of service users and their needs be put first. We teach you how to manage conflicts between the duty of care and the individual rights and choices of your service users. We then provide practical examples and case studies to demonstrate these principles. Getting informed consent from patients is a moral and legal obligation of healthcare professionals. Did you know that informed consent is also required when patients are involved in research and education? We discuss the UK Department of Health’s guidance on patient consent for student involvement in their care. We also address some misconceptions about patients’ willingness to consent to student involvement.

Adverse events, incidents, medical errors and near misses sometimes happen in medical institutions. We show you how to deal with such incidents and discuss the legislation relevant to reporting adverse events, incidents and errors. In the UK, employees have a legal obligation to keep themselves and their co-workers safe. We discuss the different causes of workplace stress and teach you how to protect yourself from stress in seven easy steps. The course also explains how to protect yourself, your workplace and co-workers from injury and legal issues as well as how to maintain a healthy working environment. This is a course for anyone from business owners to managers, employees and employers of any organisation who want to learn about their duty of care. We help you develop a better grasp of best practices in the workplace when it comes to duty of care. Enrol today and start building a safe and healthy working environment while meeting your legal obligations to provide proper care.