mental health professionals duty to inform

#MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DUTY TO INFORM CODE#

Wherever possible, a nurse should arrange for emergency care to be accessed and provided promptly and should always take account of their own safety, the safety of others and the availability of other options for providing care. 'Always offer help if an emergency arises in your practice setting or anywhere elseġ5.1 only act in an emergency within the limits of your knowledge and competenceġ5.2 arrange, wherever possible, for emergency care to be accessed and provided promptlyġ5.3 take account of your own safety, the safety of others and the availability of other options for providing care'

#MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS DUTY TO INFORM CODE#

However, registered nurses, midwives and Nursing Associates should be aware that the NMC Code places a professional duty on them to provide appropriate assistance, within their sphere of knowledge and competence. Many people mistakenly assume that nurses have first aid training which would assist the injured person. Accordingly, if a nurse is at a road traffic accident they do not have a legal duty of care to offer aid to any person injured in the accident. The legal duty of care generally only arises when a practitioner has assumed some responsibility for the care of the patient concerned (see above). There is no legal duty to volunteer help in an emergency situation. There are two aspects that need to be considered: Legal duty The standards to be expected are not generally affected by any personal attributes, such as level of experience. When harm has come to a patient, the law examines who has a duty of care to that patient - and whether there was negligence - in order to attribute responsibility/liability for that harm.Ī newly-qualified nurse would be expected to deliver safe care in the same way as a more-experienced nurse when performing the same task. Failure to discharge the duty to this standard may be regarded as negligence. This is generally assessed as the standard to be expected of an 'ordinarily competent practitioner' performing that particular task or role. To discharge the legal duty of care, health care practitioners must act in accordance with the relevant standard of care. This can be basic personal care or a complex procedure. It exists when the practitioner has assumed some sort of responsibility for the patient’s care.

This is the case regardless of whether that practitioner is a nurse, midwife, Nursing Associate, health care assistant or assistant practitioner. Generally, the law imposes a duty of care on a health care practitioner in situations where it is 'reasonably foreseeable' that the practitioner might cause harm to patients through their actions or omissions.

Mental health professionals duty to inform