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Posted By Katiem
Hello there Everyone,
I'm looking for a bit of advice.
We are a multi sited social care organisation (residential care homes etc)My particular issue is that of first aid cover in such an environment. As far as I'm concerned one should comply with the First Aid Regs which directs what the employers should provide for employees, as far as suitable and appropriate first aid cover is concerned-risk assessment etc.
My problem is that it is difficult to make clear that the regulations are there to ensure appropriate first aid provision for staff and not primarily for the clients that use the service (although they are indeed affected by the work carried out)
For example, a service that provides care in the community, with over 50 members of staff, working on a one on one basis with a client..do they need to be a first aider for the benefit of the client? This of course would be the ideal, however we have over 6 /7 of such projects within our organisation.
What is the guidance within other such organisations. This could be never ending and training maintenance costs would be huge.
Where does it end end and how can I advise the staff regarding the appropriate level of first aid cover.
Many thanks
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Posted By Michael Hayward
The regulations only require an employer to provide adeaquate first aid provision for their employees, whilst at work. There is no obligation to provide first aid cover for non- employees although where it is offered you should consult with your insurers regarding adequate cover.
If your employees are out and about on their own, you might want to provide them with "traveling first aid kits for thjeir own use. The guidance note will tell you what should be in them
Cheers
Mick
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Posted By J Knight
Hi Katie,
While the previous reply is technically perfectly correct, you are likely to hit complications from CSCI. Care Standards state that you require a first aider at all times (Standard 42.2 iii). We have succesfully challenged that on the grounds of 1st Aid Risk Assessments, and by invoking some of the guidance in the ACOP to the 1st Aid regs; e.g. HSE recognise doctors and project 2000 nurses as 1st aiders. Other social & health care providers have also succeeded in challenging this, but it has been a fight in every case.
While 1st Aid at work regs don't require you to provide 1st Aid for service users, your common law duty of care and the care homes regulations and professional codes of practice do require you to be able to ensure an appropriate response in the event of a foreseeable health emergency.
What we intend to do is ensure that every establishment has at least 1 full first aider, on duty at the busiest times; this is HSE's recommendation to CSCI by the way. A suitable number of other staff get CPR and emergency aid training. In addition we train staff in things like epilepsy, choking etc if these are relevant to the people living in a particular home.
So in summary, you do not need a 1st Aider on every shift though you will have to argue your case with CSCI, but you do need to make a reasonable provision for your service users as well as for your staff; use RA to determine this provision,
John
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Posted By J Knight
Further to my last reply; in a community care setting what we do (and what my ex-employer, also a large national care charity also did) is issue our mobile workers with a small first aid kit and a set of instructions along the lines of 'If there's a first aid emergency get on the phone straight away, emergency services first, your line manager or on-call second; don't exceed the limits of your training in any first aid you offer'. Again, we tend to give basic first aid awareness and CPR to this type of employee as the cost of training them all up to full first aid standard would be a) prohibitive and b) unwarranted. The first aid kit is for their own use,
John
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Posted By Ken Taylor
It is also notable that in HSG220 'Health and Safety in Care Homes', the HSE say that 'Although the Regulations only refer to facilities for employees, it is recommended that you extend these to cover service users and visitors. You may wish to consider providing qualified first-aiders.'.
In addition to H&S at Work first-aiders, we provide basic 'essentials of first-aid training' to other care staff' to seek to ensure that there will always be persons on duty that can attend to an injured client until the emergency services arrive. I would not want to try to defend failing to do so.
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