BLOCK 5 UNIT 19 : CONCEPTS

BLOCK 5 UNIT 19 : CONCEPTS

1. ACCOUNTABILITY

   • General Social Care Council guidelines
   • Care workers = recognise own training needs
     • Makes care safer

2. FORMAL ACCOUNTABILITY

   • Explicit statements
     • Employment contract
     • Job description
   • Procedures
     • Keeping records
   • Penalties and Rewards
     • Disciplinary action / sacked
     • Promotion / Bonuses
   • Examining performance
     • Review meetings
     • Probation period
   • Investigative processes
     • Complaints procedures
     • Grievance and disciplinary

3. REAL ACCOUNTABILITY

   • Involving care users in planning and delivery
     • Planning - implementation - review - monitoring
   • Increase care user access to knowledge
     • Freedom of Information Act 2000
     • E.g. Finding out caesarean rate at a hospital
   • Actions
     • Listen carefully to service users / Prioritise their interests / reduce power imbalance / be honest
   • Lines of responsibility
     • Direct Payments
       • Worker is accountable to service user
   • Important = making care safer

4. PROTOCOLS AND GUIDELINES

   • Organisation specific
   • Important to involve service users
     • Problems = difficult in practice
     • Generally health & social care workers who create them
       • Don't focus on what service users need / want
   • Important = safe care
   • Purpose
     • Management
       • Protect management / risk management / litigation / insurance purposes
     • Staff
       • Under-skilled staff / extend nursing / training / staff support / team work
     • Improvements
       • Standardise care

5. EVIDENCE BASED CARE

   • Care is proven it works
     • Research
   • Problems if not based on evidence
     • Harm
     • Unnecessary interventions
     • Wasting resources
     • Not necessarily suited to an individual
       • Nor acceptable
     • Under powers care workers skills & experience
   • Benefits
     • Based on research that works
     • Service users have confidence in care
     • Workers up-to-date

6. KNOWLEDGE BASED CARE

   • Organisational
   • Practitioner
   • User
   • Policy community

7. INTERNET

   • Making care safer
     • Accountability
       • E.g. Ofsted reports
     • Protocols and guidelines
     • Finding research evidence
   • No access to internet or PC = problem