The Care Certificate: Standards, Workbook and Reading List

This standard requires you to know your role-what your main responsibilities and duties are.

You should know what is expected of you but also what is not included in your role.

Personal development happens throughout your life. At work, it starts with agreeing your aims and objectives and thinking about your strengths and development needs. You then set goals so that you can meet your objectives and make the most of your talent.

You have a duty of care to all those receiving care and support in the service.

This means promoting wellbeing and making sure that people are kept safe from harm, abuse and injury.

Promoting equality and respecting diversity are central to life today.

To provide care and support that meets the needs of everyone you must understand what these terms mean and take account of them in your work.

Whether or not we are aware of it, we all live our everyday lives by a set of values that shape how we think and react. Values are beliefs and ideas about how people should behave which have been formed by our childhoods, families, backgrounds, cultures, religions, educations and relationships.

Whilst we each have our own values there are values which are important for working in health and social care. These are called the 6 C’s.

Care: having someone’s best interests at heart and doing what you can to maintain or improve their wellbeing.

Compassion: being able to feel for someone, to understand them and their situation.

Competence: to understand what someone needs and have the knowledge and skills to provide it.

Communication: to listen carefully but also be able to speak and act in a way that the person can understand.

Courage: not to be afraid of trying out new things or to say if you are concerned about anything.

Commitment: dedication to providing care and support but also understanding the responsibility you have as a worker.

Good communication develops your knowledge and understanding about people and the part played by other workers so that the best care and support possible can be provided.

It helps build working relationships where each person’s views are valued and taken into account.

Two important values when providing care and support are:

Privacy: giving someone space where and when they need it

Dignity: focusing on the value of every individual, including:

• Respecting their views, choices and decisions;
• Not making assumptions about how they want to be treated;
• Working with care and compassion;
• Communicating directly with the individual whenever possible.

What we eat is vital to our health and wellbeing and how we look, feel and function. It is important that people have a diet that is safe to eat and has all the nutrients they need. Food safety is essential when preparing and handling food.

This standard aims to make you aware of people’s experiences with and the causes of mental health conditions, dementia and learning disabilities.

While you may not be working in a role that directly supports people with mental ill-health, dementia or learning disabilities, it is important that you are aware about these conditions. This is so that any signs and symptoms that you notice are passed on to other workers and that you show compassion and understanding when you experience any behaviour that you find difficult to understand or respond to

Safeguarding is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and the actual experience of abuse or neglect.

Safeguarding balances the right to be safe with the right to make informed choices, while at the same time making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted.

 This includes taking the person’s views, wishes, feelings and beliefs into consideration in deciding on any action.

Health and social care organisations have particular responsibilities, but everyone has a part to play.

Child protection and safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: it is not only childcare workers that have a duty to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.

The information in standard 12 provides knowledge about the administration of basic life support.

The main reason for health and safety legislation is to protect people at work and those who are affected by work activities.

Confidentiality is a very important right of people who receive care and support. It is part of the relationship of trust that people have with us.

Information should always be shared on a need-to-know basis only - for example, with other workers involved in the person’s care. You should not share information with anybody else, even the person’s family or friends, without the person’s permission.

For example, a person may not want a friend to know about their health or if they have been unhappy.

It is also essential to protect private information from accidental viewing or hearing. For example, if you met another worker and chatted about your work you should consider whether others would be able to hear or if a personal letter was left in a public place where other people could read it.

Infection and infectious diseases in humans are caused when harmful germs, known as pathogens (or pathogenic micro-organisms), enter the body and grow. These micro-organisms are so small they can only be seen by using a microscope.

Infectious diseases, unlike other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, can spread from person to person. As with all illnesses, prevention is better than cure. Following agreed ways of working that stop the spread of pathogens can help to prevent and control infection.