If you own and operate a social care venture, you’re likely to face numerous challenges on a daily basis. This can make it difficult to optimise client care, let alone maintain a strategic outlook and run a legally compliant (and not to mention profitable) business.
One of the biggest challenges remains the lack of understanding surrounding the so-called ‘depravation of liberty’ which refers to a set of checks and legal standards that regulate the provision of care and ensure that any restrictions to an individual’s liberty are both appropriate and in their best interests overall.
In this post, we’ll ask how you can improve your employees’ knowledge on this subject and provide superior care to patients with conditions such as dementia going forward.
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- Focus on the Provision of Relevant Training
In simple terms, everyone on the front line of care provision should have a detailed understanding of the deprivation of liberty and the Mental Capacity Act of 2005, in order for them to safeguard the needs of individual clients and remain aware of the company’s core legal requirements.
So long as an employee has regular contact with patients and serves a key stakeholder within the industry, it’s recommended that you provide them with relevant training that provides an overview of the law and how this impacts on the delivery of care.
It’s also crucial to ensure that direct care providers have the necessary certifications and
accreditations, as this provides some additional protection from a legal perspective and should equip stakeholders with an ability to spot potential breaches of the deprivation of liberty legislation.
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- Liaise with an External Training Provider
Even if you have a core understanding of the deprivation of liberty and its implications, we’d recommend liaising with an external trainer that may have more up-to-date industry knowledge and can help you to focus on the overall management of your business.
Legal experts such as Browne Jacobson can also provide structured training and refresher courses, while offering an insight into relevant case studies and other resources that help to sustain your employees’ knowledge.
Ultimately, this type of partnership will help to manage and limit your liabilities for unlawful deprivation of liberty, in a proactive manner that sees you obtain the correct authorisation to take an individual into your care.
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- Invest in Online Training Over Time
Ultimately, the key is to create a sustainable training resource going forward, so that you can create a database of relevant information that your staff members can continually refer back to.
This is why you need to invest in online training platforms, which create such a resource and also allow for the sharing and distribution of knowledge company-wide.
This also allows employees to learn flexibly over time, creating a scenario where you don’t have to compromise on productivity in order to create a fully trained and compliant body of care staff.
