Abuse is a physical hazard due to this affecting the resident. This affects the patient physically due to the bruises or broken bones. This would then if the patient had dementia end up causing the patient stress and up making false story's as they don't remembering the correct story of what happened or maybe too scared to say the correct story or if they have had a stroke then they may end up becoming stuck in bed as the other side of the body now hurts.
Adaptations are a hazard because if the patient doesn't have the correct adaptations then they would/ may end up need extra help that may not be available to them when need. Which may mean the patient would have to stay and struggle on the own which may cause injury to themselves.
A chair lift is a hazard to the patient because it could be unable to be used or untested this could put the patient at a high risk of damage, if this was to happen to the one of the patients that has had a stroke then they may end up being left on their floor in pain as the patient may be paralyzed and unable to get himself up of the floor. if this was to happen to an older person with dementia then they may end up forgetting that the bed is broke and they may go back to the bed before it is fixed which may lead to more injury’s than are needed.
Beds are a hazard to the patient as if the bed is unusable and the patients haven’t been notified or if a patient with dementia forgets about the bed being broken then the patient may fall of and injure them self. This would then cause more of a hazard as if their patient has had a stoke then they may be paralyzed and not be able to get up so they would be left on the floor in pain which may cause the person more of a problem.
Stairs are a hazard to the patient as the patient maybe paralyzed and there are no rooms downstairs for the patient then they would need carrying upstairs and the staff may not be trained correctly to carry the patients down the stairs. So this could lead to bruising on the patient so then if the patient has dementia they may forget how they got the bruises an when their visitors ask they maybe come concerned and want answers from the staff, the staff member that is in charge of this patent may not be available to speak so false information may be passed on this may cause stress for the patient as they may not know how the injury has happened and they may think of ways it could of happened so they then stress about how it happed and of it was their fault or not.
There are also hazards to staff such as;
- Floor spillages
- Abuse
- Main roads
- Needles
- Medication
- Manual handling
Floor spillages can cause a hazard. This is a hazard female member of staff may end up falling over and injuring themselves and may end up putting their baby at risk. Floor spillages maybe a hazard for other members of staff as they may end up falling on the spillage on the floor and this could cause injury to the staff member which may lead to them needing time off work which they may not be able to afford.
Abuse maybe a hazard to the staff as the residents visitors may not be happy with care and may then start trying to cause a fight or may end up punching the staff member on at this time. Another way of abuse is that the patient may end up getting angry as they can't remember something and may think they are false accusing them so they lash out.
Main roads maybe a hazard as if they have a resident that has ran out in to the road then they may get hit by a: car, motorbike, cycle bike or a bus which may cause injury to themselves or the person driving the car.
Needles may be a hazard to staff as the staff member may not have been trained how to inject the residents with the injections correctly. This could lead to accusations that this was done on purpose; they should make sure every member of staff working in the residential care home should be trained in how to correctly inject needles.
Medication could be a hazard for staff as they may not know what medication is for which resident so they may end up giving the residents the wrong medication. Additional reasons maybe that they may have before starting this job been a drug addict if they have access to medication they may start taking the residents medication. They could make a sheet so that the staffs have to sign the sheet each time they administrate medication to the residents.
Manual handling is a hazard as they may not have the correct training or understanding of how to carry people or heavy items which may cause damage to the back or other body parts, this may mean they may need to take time off work to recover from the injury they have sustained. There are ways this could be stopped such as if the staff at the care home are sent on the correct training courses I.e. manual handling they would then understand how to complete the tasks needed.
There are also hazards to the residents visitors such as;
- Medicine
- Infection
- Equipment
- residents
Medicine is a hazard as if left unlocked small children may end up take them if they are in reach of the children as they may think the tablets are sweets and eat/ swallow the tablets in other cases the residents visitors maybe a ex drug addict and may then see the opportunity to get free drugs or they may sell drugs for a living and they may see drugs that they could sell.
Infection is a hazard as if a resident has an infection and passes the infection to the visitor and the visitor is pregnant then they may catch the infection which may lead to complications to their unborn child/children. Also if a visitor went in to the care home ill then they may end up passing on the illness to the resident’s
Equipment may be a hazard as young children may think off the equipment as toys and may break the equipment, the equipment maybe then end up breaking the equipment which maybe vital to the resident this may then mean that the patient is unable to be treated to its full potential.
Residents maybe a hazard as they maybe be abusive so they may then end being abusive to other residents visitors/ young people. The visitors / young people may not understand why the patient has become abusive they may think the resident is a visitor so they may end up fighting back with the resident.