Associates Guide | Search

Your expectation of Search

To meet Search’s responsibilities in relation to protecting both patients in their own homes and the agency worker, Search will:

Make sure all agency workers are suitably trained and are registered with their professional body and therefore understand their roles and responsibilities; have written policies and procedures in place to enable agency workers to meet the standards up held by Search
Provide training and development opportunities to enable agency workers to strengthen and develop their skills and knowledge
Put in place and implement written policies and procedures to deal with dangerous, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice
Promote Search’s codes of practice for agency workers and patients Search will check its professional candidates are suitable to perform the recognised skills and competencies to perform their roles and responsibilities within a patient’s home

This includes:

Using rigorous and thorough recruitment and selection processes focused on making sure that only people who have the appropriate knowledge and skills and who are suitable to provide health care are recruited to Search
Checking criminal records, relevant registers and indexes and assessing whether agency workers are capable of carrying out the duties of the job they have been selected for before confirming placements
Seeking and providing reliable references
Giving staff clear information about their roles and responsibilities, relevant legislation and the organisational policies and procedures they must follow in their work
Managing performance of staff and the organisation to ensure high quality services and care
Having systems in place to enable agency workers to report inadequate resources or operational difficulties which might impede the delivery of safe care and treatment within the patient’s home, to allow Search to inform the relevant authorities to address the identified issues

Whilst working in the service user’s home the agency worker will:

Ensure a risk assessment has been completed of the environment, especially in the area where treatment is to take place
Ensure you have right resources’ available to you to perform the treatment
Remember to obtain the patient’s permission to undertake the prescribed treatment, explain exactly what you are going to do
Ensure you are performing the correct procedure as prescribed by the relevant medical practitioner
Document on the care plan all activity undertaken with outcomes and report any significant changes to the relevant care professionals
Maintain and respect the dignity of the patient at all times
Remember it is the patient’s own home, therefore respect their property