The social work profession is one that is widely considered noble and beneficial to wider society but often, the general public doesn’t really know what these members of this valued workforce actually do on a day to day basis and what principles they stand by.
In today’s blog, we thought we’d look at 7 of the main principles that social workers and other care providers stick by when offering quality care services. These principles, among others, ensure that people in the social work profession, like the ones at Portman Recruitment, are offering a good practice that’s in the best interests of their patients and done to a high standard.
Developing Professional Relationships
While a social worker is there to offer quality services they must also work hard to take appropriate steps to develop relationships with the person they’re working with, their families, other individuals and community organisations to work toward the goal of helping this person. All this professional relationship building is done to ensure the good general welfare of the individual client.
Assessing And Managing Risk
People who are using social work services should still be allowed to contribute to society, they have the right to take risks and make their own decisions, the social worker should be on hand to help them identify them and manage them. Part of their professional responsibilities is to ensure their clients will not cause any serious harm as a result of decisions made independently. The promotion of autonomy, independence, informed choices and decision making should be encouraged so long as it doesn’t affect themselves or another human being.
Ensuring You’ve Got Client Consent From The Person Being Cared For
Social workers offering social care should, at every turn, ascertain what the personal preferences and wishes are for every aspect of their care, whether or not that person can make those informed decisions on their own behalf. For instance, if the person receiving care cannot make decisions for themselves, the social worker should look to relatives or loved ones for informed consent.
Sharing The Appropriate Patient Information
Social workers should look to give out all the information, both confidential information and otherwise, that they can to the person receiving care and to their families. This allows a person, or a third party like social work colleagues and other care workers, to make informed decisions. Social workers should ensure people understand their rights and how they can exercise them to make complaints or for other issues. In addition, a social worker should ensure that this sharing of information is done with ethical principles in mind and done in a way that reflects ethical practices and has no conflict of interest attached to it.
Exercise Authority With Human Rights Principles In Mind
Care providers should use their role to ensure that the person receiving care has as much control over their lives as possible, that it is consistent with the rights of others and that they can safeguard the person to make sure their human rights are protected. Human rights should be the gold standard to which social workers operate, ensuring that each right is applied and that reasonable steps have been taken to ensure ethical principles and human rights are protected.
Ready To Become A Whistleblower
If social workers come across unethical conduct that doesn’t match predetermined high standards, they should be prepared to report it immediately. If ethical standards are not being met by social work colleagues, all available channels should be explored to ensure incorrect behaviour is punished and, if necessary, use public interest disclosure legislation and other whistleblowing guidelines.
Maintaining Clear And Accurate Records
Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure all records of a care providers time are clear, impartial and accurate. They should be traceable back to the person who offered the care services and should not hide things that may have gone wrong. A good system approach by the care provider is the first step to maintain trust between all parties and allows all parties to make decisions from one knowledge base.
Looking For A New Social Work Role? Contact Portman Recruitment
If you’re a social worker who is looking for a new role providing high-quality care services to people in your local area in the North West of England then get in touch with the team at Portman Recruitment today. We’re a hard-working bunch who understand the role of a social worker and work hard to ensure we’ve always got your back. We’d love to hear about how we can help you, take a look at our current jobs and see what we do for our candidates, we look forward to speaking soon!