Impact of Data Protection Act 1998 to Users

While I was working in a care home, I was introduced to Data protection act 1998. Data protection laws exist to strike a balance between the rights of individuals to privacy and the ability of organisations to use data for the purposes of their business. Tell people for which purposes the data is being collected. For a care home, keeping residents ‘personal and medical information is not only ethically right but also a requirement. A care home keeps a multitude of personal informal such as names, previous addresses, clients’ financial details and medical records. The nursing home has a legal obligation to protect and handle with care personal information about residents or clients. The act provides to individual a way of controlling information about them. Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about. The resident personal information must be kept up to date and secured. In the computer where most of clients’ data were, they have installed a firewall to prevent anyone to access resident’s information except authorize person who each has a password. Residents have a right of access to the information held about them and correct it if necessary. The information obtained is process fairly, for a limited period and used for the purpose stated. The person handling this information has to respect the client privacy, belief, religion and use this in a way that is adequate to the stay of the individual in the nursing home.

The other one was health and safety at work place act 1974. The Act lays down general principles for the management of health and safety at work. It promotes, stimulate and encourage high standards of health and safety in places of work. It protects employees and the public from work activities. Everyone has a duty to comply with the Act, including employers, employees and trainees. The main hazards encountered in a care home is injuring arising from lifting, biological hazards, electrical safety, gas safety, corridors, floors and stairs, drugs, water temperature. I had witnessed a risk assessment carried out by the employer and the purpose was to identify hazards and evaluate the effectiveness of control measures. There was a display of health and safety law poster in corridors, I undertook training on manual handling, and information about the safety of the resident was given during a session with the manager and other staff members.

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