The term ‘Duty of Care’ means that you are responsible for the welfare of yourself and for the welfare of others too. If you ignore this, you are breaking the responsibility for the well-being of others.
1. 1Explain what it means to have a duty of care in own work role. Within my work setting daily morning checks are carried out to ensure that the inside and outside environment is safe for children to access and use before the children start their school session. The classrooms and communal areas inside and outside are cleaned daily after each session.
Toilet areas are cleaned regularly throughout the school day. Any spillages, wetting accidents, vomiting during the day are cleaned by the cleaners immediately. We have two school nurses on site daily throughout the schools duration and a doctor that will come on site once or twice a week. Any first aid or medical treatment is dealt with the school nurses on site.
If further treatment is needed, the school nurses will arrange for the child to be transported to the nearest hospital or the hospital of the parent’s choice.This would have been indicated on the medical forms that parents supply at the beginning of the year, especially if the child has a known medical condition/allergy or intolerance. One of the nurses will accompany the child until a parent arrives.Explain how duty of care contributes to the safeguarding or protection of individuals. As my role as a Teaching Assistant, I have a duty of care along with any other staff member in my setting, to raise any concerns about any aspect of our work.This includes raising concerns about potential abuse cases, any situations of neglect, inadequate working conditions, or poor practice by other staff.
We are all responsible for the safeguarding of individuals from harm. It is our duty to report any concerns of abuse we have which includes evidence or suspicions of bad practice by colleagues or managers, or by another member of staff within the setting or an individual’s family or friend. If in doubt you must speak to your line manager unless it’s them you are suspecting, in that case speak to the next person in charge.If we don’t report or if we ignore, we are neglecting our duty of care responsibility. Know how to address conflicts or dilemmas that may arise between an individual’s rights and the duty of care.
Although duty of care is important when working with children, there may come times when there is a conflict between this principle and another principle. This could be for example respecting the rights of the children and their families. It is important to deal with such situations with a balanced approach and to take into consideration which has the greater priority in the circumstance.
