1.1 Explain what it means to have a duty of care in own work role

Qualification: Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care
Unit: Duty of Care in Care Settings
Learning outcome: 1. Understand how duty of care contributes to safe practice
Assessment criteria: 1.1 Explain what it means to have a duty of care in own work role

• Duty of care is the legal, professional and ethical responsibility of care workers to behave towards others in a certain way and in accordance with standards
• This means care workers must always work in the best interests of the care recipient
• To put it another way, care workers must not do anything (or omit doing something) that would be detrimental to an individual’s wellbeing
• Standards that provide guidelines for duty of care can be found here
• E.g. offering medication is part of a carer’s duty of care, as is them respecting an individual’s choice to refuse