Another important component of a care plan is to make sure that the information being held complies with current legislation.
In this lesson, we cover some of the key things to be aware of.
Mental Capacity
Any information regarding mental capacity needs to be recorded, showing that decisions are reached via a ‘Best interest’ route.
This needs to involve other professionals who know the individual and who can offer their professional perspective.
Our Mental Capacity Act course will provide some further useful information.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) or Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS)
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are a set of checks that are part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The DoLS procedure protects a person receiving care whose liberty has been limited by checking that this is appropriate and is in their best interests. A deprivation of liberty is when a person has their freedom limited in some way.
The Alzheimer’s Society provide a simple explanation about DoLS. You can access their webpage via this link.
You may find our courses on DoLS and LPS useful.
Risk assessment
Risk assessments need to be carried out to identify any hazards for an individual.
These need to be clearly recorded and reviewed regularly in line with good health and safety practices.
This HSE webpage provides more information on “Sensible risk assessment in care settings”.
You may find our Risk Assessment course useful.
Safeguarding
Any safeguarding risks or incidents need to be recorded and reported appropriately.
This may involve contact with your local authority’s safeguarding team.
You may also find our Safeguarding courses useful.
We have a specific safeguarding course for managers also.
Data protection
Information must be protected to meet the Data Protection Act 2018, which supplements the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
You will find more information about data protection via this government webpage.
You may also find our Data Protection course useful.
Equality and diversity
Protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 must be recorded and individuals must be supported appropriately to meet this legislation.
You will find more information about equality via this link to the government’s webpage.
You may also find our course on Equality and Diversity useful.
Accessibility
All providers of NHS care or other publicly-funded adult social care must meet the Accessible Information Standard(AIS).
– Care Quality Commission
The Accessible Information Standard (AIS) places a duty on publicly-funded care providers to give people who have communication difficulties information in a suitable format. This is specifically about people who may have a disability, impairment or sensory loss.
This means you might be asked to provide information in different formats.
Flip the cards to see some examples of accessible information formats…
You will find more information about AIS on CQC’s website via this link:
This is an example of an easy-read document produced by CQC called “Relationships and sexuality in adult social care services”
You can see the full document which shows what “easy read” means in practice.
You may also find our course on the Accessible Information Standards useful.
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