Code of Practice 4: As a social care worker, you must respect the rights of service users whilst seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves of other people

Happy New Year readers! It's 2011 at last and we're still examining the code of practice and what it might mean to us - as social care workers or the people who recieve social care.  Code 4 includes:

1. recognising that service users have the right to take risks and helping them identify and manage potential and actual risks to themselves and others;
2. following risk assessment policies and procedures to assess whether the behaviour of service users presents a risk of harm to themselves or others;
3. talking necessary steps to minimise the risks of service users from doing actual or potential harm to themselves or other people; and,
4. ensuring that relevant colleagues and agencies are informed about the outcomes and implications of risk assessments.

CASE STUDY

Angela is 18 years old and has a mental health problem. She is also on strong pain relief medication for her arthritis. She is not supposed to drink alcohol whilst taking this medication.

Whilst attending a live gig Angela asks her support worker to purchase a beer for her. The support worker refuses and Angela is angry as she regards this as her choice. Later, the support worker and Angela use the Code of Practice for Social Care Workers, and in particular point 4:

 "As a social care worker, you must respect the rights of service users whilst seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or other people", to discuss their different perspectives.

Do you agree with the way this situation was handled? Have you experience of a similar situation, what did you do?