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A procedure in health and social care is a written set of step-by-step instructions for how a specific activity is to be conducted, for example, in the case of medicines administration.
Unlike a policy, it is less about the overall attitude and approach. It will guide a staff member through each step, for example, when assisting service users with eating and drinking or administering medication.
Policies and procedures in health and social care are essential to protect the people you provide care and support for and to ensure your organisation is on the right side of regulations and the law.
If you are starting a new care service and looking to make your registration smooth and successful, or you want to ensure continuous compliance,Access Policies and Procedureshas all the expertly written, easy-to-use policies and procedures you need.
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Written by James Taylor
- How do health and safety policies and procedures protect those in social care settings?
- Why are policies and procedures in health and social care important?
- What policies and procedures are needed in health and social care?
- What is a policy in health and social care?
- What are procedures in health and social care?
- How are providers handling the policies and procedures burden now?
How do health and safety policies and procedures protect those in social care settings?
Health and safety policies and procedures put in place in social care settings protect those who work in and use the services by minimising the risks of injury, illness and harm. They also ensure that the environment is safe and fit for purpose, and that staff are properly trained and equipped to carry out their roles safely.
Whether it is a patient, family member, staff member, or another service user, individuals should feel confident that they are safe and protected at all times.
Why are policies and procedures in health and social care important?
Compared to other sectors the range of policies a health and social care provider needs is extensive. An increase in complexity of care or support typically means increased numbers or policies and procedures too.
In order to register as a care service in any part of the United Kingdom you will need to have rigorous policies and procedures in place. They must:
- Comply with current legislation, (such as The Care Act, 2014)
- Comply with the latest regulations from your nationalregulator for standards in health and social care(CQC in England, Care Inspectorate Scotland or Care Inspectorate Wales, RQIA in Northern Ireland).
- Reflect best practice in the area they cover
It’s important to note that policies and procedures need to be updated to reflect any relevant legislative or regulatory changes. For this reason, and the cost, expertise and time needed to assemble the right policies and procedures in the first place, many care providers opt fora digital policies and procedures solution.
What policies and procedures are needed in health and social care?
Health and social care services vary greatly in who they support and how, for this reason policies and procedures will vary from setting to setting and between organisations. However, in general health and social care settings will all need the following policies and procedures at the very least:
- Safeguarding and protection
- Equal opportunities
- Record keeping
- Confidentiality
- First aid
- Concerns/whistleblowing in health and social careand complaints
- Administration of medicines
- Health and safety
Find out more about theimportance of policies and procedures in health social careand why they matter for a variety of reasons.
You can easily, efficiently manage all your care policies and procedures with our software. Ready for a personal tour? We can set up a call today.
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What is a policy in health and social care?
Policies and procedures are used together to enable those working in a care setting, but to understand them properly it is important to disentangle the two and establish what each means separately.
In short,a policy in health and social caresets out what is to be done and why, and how the organisation seeks to approach specific areas.
For example, a Whistleblowing policy would outline (but not be limited to):
- What whistleblowing isand why it is different from a grievance
- Why whistleblowing might be difficult
- Why whistleblowing is important to protect service users, the organisation, and staff
- How we want to approach whistleblowing (e.g. how to encourage it, organisational culture)
- Examples of areas and concerns that could necessitate whistleblowing
- The ways staff can raise a concern internally and to whom
- How staff concerns should be handled by management/the organisation
- Recording processes
- Identifying/working with external bodies.
- Contacts for internal/external whistleblowing
What are procedures in health and social care?
A procedure in health and social care is the written set of step-by-step instructions for how a specific activity is to be conducted. For example, in the case of medicines administration.
Unlike a policy it is less about the overall attitude and approach. It will guide a member of staff through each step, for example when in assisting service users with eating and drinking or administering medication.
Policies and procedures in health and social care are important to protect the people you provide care and support for, and to ensure your organisation is on the right side of regulations and the law.
If you are starting a new care service and looking to make your registration smooth and successful, or you want to ensure continuous compliance, Access Policies and Procedures has all the expertly written, easy to use policies and procedures you need.
How are providers handling the policies and procedures burden now?
As I outlined to you above, policies and procedures in health and social care require a lot of time and expertise to produce. While lots of providers used to outsource this work to consultancies (and pay a fair whack for it), policies and procedures softwarehas taken off and is starting to take over!
Access Policies and Proceduresis a market leading policies and procedures solution, with all the documentation you need to implement and maintain regulatory compliance.Watch a short on-demand video demonstration of the software now.
You can even download the contents list of policies and procedures for domiciliary/community or residential care settings via the links below:
- Contents list for Residential Care
- Contents list for Domiciliary Care
Solve your care policies and procedures challenges, with Access Policies and Procedures.
Find out more
Policies and Procedures in a Care Home
To register your care service, you need to have a number of care home policy and procedures in place. These will be categorized into three groups and it’s advised that these should be uploaded in their groups, in a format where the maximum file is under 2MB. The three group categories are:
- Quality Management
- Good Governance
- Safeguarding
Care home policies and procedures examples of quality management policies include:
- Administration of medication other than oral and topical
- Care planning and personalised assessment
- Complaints
- Corporate risk management
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty
- Medication – homely remedies
- Management of medicines
- Infection prevention and control
- Quality assurance
- Safe handling and administration of medicines
- Service user risk management
- Topical medication application guidance
- Record keeping
Examples of good governance policies include:
- Business continuity
- Health and Safety
- Health and safety policy statement
- Staff induction
- Staff recruitment
- Staff supervision and spot checks
- Training and development
Examples of safeguarding policies include:
- Safeguarding audits
- Safeguarding children in an adult setting
Access Policies and Procedures
Access Policies and Procedures contain all of the policies and procedures your care service needs to register and run smoothly and legally. All of these documents are contained within a digital platform with a mobile app, which allows care staff to access and read the important information wherever they are, at any time.
This means your team will worry less about admin, they won’t ever be without the essential policies and procedures in care homes and this option is significantly cheaper than hiring consultants or using other policy and procedure writing services.
Learn more what kind of policies are included by downloading our England Residential Care contents list
Download list
Related policies and procedures resources
Learn more about the Care Quality Commission and the importance of staying up to date with all the policies and procedures when you're a care provider.
CQC New Inspection Framework
As a care provider, it’s crucial that you understand the new inspection regime and how these significant changes to the way they regulate and inspect may affect you.
This article has been created to help you understand more about the CQC's new inspection framework and the background to these changes.
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Your CQC inspection checklist
When it comes to CQC inspections, it’s important to remain calm and organised. The inspectors just want to see how your organisation operates on a day-to-day basis.
This guide provides you with a CQC inspection checklist to help you achieve the best possible rating and add confidence to you and your staff during your next CQC inspection.
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Medication policy in health and social care
If you opt to write your medication policy yourself, then you’ll benefit from the quick tips and resources included in this blog, starting in the section below.
However, it should be said that most providers either source their policies and procedures from an external provider, or increasingly, use policies and procedures software.
Read More
By James Taylor
Head of Content health support care
James is the Head of Content in the Health, Support and Care Division at The Access Group, and has been researching and writing about health and care in the UK for over a decade.
His specialisms include how social care businesses and markets work, and the use of data and technology in health and social care. James believes in turning complex and difficult information into practical, understandable answers for health and care providers, so that they can continue their important work more easily.
