Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate

🔷 Unit ASCC-03: Duty of Care

Unit Code: H/651/1557
RQF Level: 2
Unit Aim:
This unit is aimed at those working in health or social care settings. It introduces the concepts of duty of care and duty of candour, and develops learners’ awareness of dilemmas, incidents, and complaints that may arise, and how to respond appropriately.

🔹 Area 1: Understand Duty of Care and Duty of Candour

📌 1.1 Define:

Duty of care
Duty of candour

Core Content:

Duty of care: Legal obligation to ensure the well-being and safety of individuals in your care by avoiding actions or omissions that could cause harm.
Duty of candour: Ethical and legal responsibility to be honest with individuals when things go wrong with their care, including apologising and explaining what happened.

Related Theory:

Deontological ethics (Kant): Acting in a morally correct way is a duty, regardless of consequences.
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 – Regulation 20 outlines the legal requirement of duty of candour.

Further Reading:

CQC: Regulation 20: Duty of candour
NHS England: Duty of Candour – Guidance

📌 1.2 Describe how duty of care and duty of candour affects their own work role

Core Content:

Ensures actions are guided by best interest and safety of individuals
Promotes open and transparent communication
Requires early reporting of errors, incidents, and harms
Encourages honest, respectful, and ethical practice

Further Reading:

Skills for Care: Duty of care resources

🔹 Area 2: Understand the Support Available for Addressing Dilemmas About Duty of Care

📌 2.1 Explain dilemmas that may arise between the duty of care and an individual’s rights

Core Content:

Examples of dilemmas:
- An individual refuses medication
- A person wants to engage in a risky activity
Balancing safety and autonomy is essential
Mental Capacity Act 2005 supports the individual’s right to make informed choices, even if risky

Further Reading:

SCIE: Managing risk and autonomy
NHS Digital: Your rights as a service user

📌 2.2 Describe what they must and must not do within their own role in managing conflicts and dilemmas

Core Content:

Must:
- Follow policies and risk assessments
- Document concerns accurately
- Seek guidance
Must not:
- Make decisions outside of scope
- Ignore individual rights

Further Reading:

NICE Guidelines: Decision-making and mental capacity

📌 2.3 Identify where to get additional support and advice about how to resolve such dilemmas

Core Content:

Line managers
Safeguarding leads
Advocacy services
Policies and procedures

Further Reading:

SCIE: Support for care workers

🔹 Area 3: Deal with Comments and Complaints

📌 3.1 Demonstrate how to respond to comments and complaints in line with agreed ways of working and legislation

Core Content:

Stay calm and professional
Listen actively and document
Follow complaints procedure
Offer reassurance and escalate appropriately

Relevant Legislation:

Health and Social Care Act 2008
Local complaints policy

Further Reading:

NHS: How to handle complaints

📌 3.2 Identify who to ask for advice and support in handling comments and complaints

Core Content:

Supervisor or line manager
Complaints officer
Safeguarding lead
Ombudsman (external)

Further Reading:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman: Making complaints

📌 3.3 Explain the importance of learning from comments and complaints to improve the quality of service

Core Content:

Helps identify service gaps
Prevents recurrence
Improves individual care and staff practice
Builds trust and accountability

Further Reading:

CQC: How feedback shapes care

🔹 Area 4: Know How to Respond to Incidents, Errors and Near Misses

📌 4.1 Explain how to recognise:

Adverse events
Incidents
Errors
Near misses

Core Content:

Adverse event: Unexpected event causing harm
Incident: Event affecting care or safety
Error: Mistake made (e.g., wrong medication)
Near miss: Event that could have caused harm but didn’t

Further Reading:

NHS Improvement: Learning from incidents

📌 4.2 Explain what they must and must not do in relation to adverse events, incidents, errors and near misses

Core Content:

Must:
- Report immediately
- Follow incident reporting procedure
- Support the individual
Must not:
- Conceal information
- Delay action

📌 4.3 Identify agreed ways of working in relation to reporting any adverse events, incidents, errors and near misses

Core Content:

Use appropriate forms/logs
Notify relevant manager
Follow the service’s policy
Document accurately and respectfully

Further Reading:

NHS England: Incident reporting guidance

🔹 Area 5: Deal with Confrontation and Difficult Situations

📌 5.1 Identify factors and difficult situations that may cause confrontation

Core Content:

Unmet needs or misunderstandings
Communication breakdowns
Emotional distress
Conflicting views

📌 5.2 Describe how communication can be used to solve problems and reduce the likelihood or impact of confrontation

Core Content:

Use calm, clear, and empathetic language
Active listening and validation
Avoiding escalation (e.g., no blame tone)

Related Theory:

Transactional Analysis (Eric Berne): Shifts in Parent-Adult-Child ego states affect interactions.

Further Reading:

Skills for Care: Difficult conversations

📌 5.3 Explain how to assess and reduce risks in confrontational situations

Core Content:

Maintain personal safety
Know de-escalation techniques
Consider risk assessments and individual care plans

📌 5.4 Demonstrate how and when to access support and advice about resolving conflicts

Core Content:

Know when to escalate to a manager
Call on colleagues for support
Record incidents appropriately

📌 5.5 Explain agreed ways of working for reporting any confrontations

Core Content:

Follow incident or conflict resolution policy
Use logbooks or incident forms
Maintain confidentiality and professionalism

Further Reading:

ACAS: Conflict at work