306: Promote and implement health and safety in health in health and social care (HSC 037)

Stress can be managed in many ways.

Very often, simply talking to someone about you feel can alleviate the stress. This could be in the form of offloading worries to a loved one or explaining to your manager why you will be unable to meet a deadline. This is a simple, yet effective, way to manage stress.

Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or meditation can be a useful way to combat stress as it allows you to take time to relax, reflect on the problems internally and maybe come up with some solutions. Again this is easy to do but can also be very effective.

Going on a stress management course can help you to learn techniques to manage your stress more effectively. Although it may be useful in the long term, this would not help with any immediate stresses as you would have to wait until the date of the training.

I tend to feel stressed if I am overloaded with work (both personal and vocational) and can see no way of meeting my deadlines.

I also feel stressed if I have inadvertently upset my girlfriend or one of my children.

There are several signs or indicators that yourself or somebody else is suffering from stress.

It may be a change in eating or sleeping habits, such as a loss of appetite, overeating, being tired all the time or insomnia.

Changes in characteristics, such as being easily irritated, getting angry for no tangible reason or having a lack of motivation can suggest that somebody is stressed.

Oversensitivity or tearfulness is another sign of stress.

James is 19 years old; he lives with his parents, twice a week he goes bowling or to the cinema with his support workers. They also go with him to the local college where he is studying Horticulture. At his last care planning meeting James expressed a wish to live independently with someone of his own age. His mother is against any change; she has dedicated her life to caring for him since he was diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. She is particularly worried that James will be at risk because he has limited experience of living independently. She is concerned he will make himself ill because he has limited experience of general health and safety in the kitchen and has no understanding about food safety. She will not discuss it with James or the social care workers. James is very angry with her.   

If food safety standards are not followed correctly in a social care setting, individuals could be put at risk of serious illness from infection or food poisoning. This can include vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps and dehydration. This poses a risk not only to the individual that that didn’t follow the standards but also their support workers and any other people that they reside with.

It could result in the person’s family being worried or anxious about their loved one and may cause them to seek legal recourse or want to remove the individual from the social care setting.

Support workers may feel guilt and staff morale could be lowered.

If an individual is unable to go to work, this could lead to financial implications or they may not be able to partake in an activity they have been looking forward to (such as a holiday) because of their illness.

As touched upon above it could lead to legal action against the service provider as legislation would have been contravened as well as company policies and procedures. This could also lead to disciplinary action and potential dismissal of employees.

James is 19 years old; he lives with his parents, twice a week he goes bowling or to the cinema with his support workers. They also go with him to the local college where he is studying Horticulture. At his last care planning meeting James expressed a wish to live independently with someone of his own age. His mother is against any change; she has dedicated her life to caring for him since he was diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome. She is particularly worried that James will be at risk because he has limited experience of living independently. She is concerned he will make himself ill because he has limited experience of general health and safety in the kitchen and has no understanding about food safety. She will not discuss it with James or the social care workers. James is very angry with her.