Roles, Responsibilities & Accountability

Comprehensive vocabulary revision flashcards covering professional roles, responsibilities, care planning, care values, legislation, risk management, and safe working practice.

Role

The worker's job or function — the post they hold (such as an occupational therapist).

Responsibility

A duty the worker is expected to carry out safely and professionally as part of their role.

Accountability

Being answerable for your decisions, actions, and omissions to your employer, the service user, and your professional body where relevant.

Omissions

Failing to act when you should have — such as not reporting a hazard, not recording a concern, or not escalating a safeguarding disclosure.

Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)

Professionals from different disciplines working together to plan, deliver, and review a person's care.

Person-Centred Care

Care tailored around the individual's own needs, preferences, and choices rather than delivered to a standard template.

Policy

A statement of the organisation's approach and expectations — what it believes and requires.

Procedure

The step-by-step instructions staff follow to put a policy into practice.

Recovery (Four Components)

A four-part process involving treating (clinical interventions), monitoring (observing symptoms and responses), advising (health education and lifestyle changes), and coordinating (referrals to specialist agencies).

Rehabilitation

Support that helps a person regain skills, function, and independence after illness, injury, or other change.

Graded Activity

Building activity up in stages, starting at a level the person can manage, so progress is safe and confidence grows.

Equipment

A piece of kit provided directly to a person to remove barriers and restore independence (e.g., a walking frame or adapted cutlery).

Adaptation

A change made to the physical environment or provision that removes a barrier to independence or access (e.g., fitting a grab rail or widening a doorway).

Dignity

Respect, privacy, choice, and appropriate communication that upholds a person's worth, particularly during intimate personal care.

Consent

The person's agreement to care or treatment, given freely and with understanding.

Holistic Approach

Considering the whole person — their life, relationships, roles, and goals — rather than focusing only on their diagnosis or care task.

Care Planning Cycle

A five-stage repeating process: assess needs, plan and agree care, implement the plan, monitor and review, and amend if needed.

Anti-Discriminatory Practice

Meeting individual needs fairly regardless of protected characteristics or differences, and actively challenging discrimination.

Reasonable Adjustment

A change to provision, practice, or the environment that removes a disadvantage so a person with a protected characteristic can access the same service or opportunity.

Protected Characteristics

The nine characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Empowerment

Supporting people to take control of decisions about their own care and life through information, involvement, and control.

Advocate

Someone who represents a person's wishes and preferences when they need help to speak up.

Least Restrictive Approach

The option that limits a person's freedom and choice as little as possible while still managing risk.

Conflict Resolution Steps

Four professional de-escalation steps: stay calm, listen without interrupting, see both sides, and keep safe.

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

The primary legislation that underpins employer and employee health and safety duties in the workplace.

Hazard

A source of harm (such as a wet floor).

Risk

The likelihood that harm will happen, considered together with its severity.

Risk Assessment Formula and Bands

$\text{Risk rating} = \text{likelihood} \times \text{severity}$, where 1–2 is minimal risk, 3–4 is low risk, 6–8 is medium risk, and 9, 12, or 16 is high risk requiring immediate action.

Safeguarding Disclosure Procedure

The four-step response to an allegation or disclosure: listen calmly, do not lead or promise secrecy, explain that information must be shared, and record and report promptly.

COSHH

The regulatory framework governing the safe storage, use, and disposal of hazardous substances.

RIDDOR

The statutory framework requiring specified serious incidents, injuries, and work-related diseases to be formally reported.

UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 Principles

The legal data framework encompassing seven principles: lawfulness, fairness and transparency; purpose limitation; data minimisation; accuracy; storage limitation; security; and accountability.

Professional Accountability

Demonstrating professionalism by following the professional code, keeping up to date via CPD, meeting revalidation and registration requirements, and raising concerns when care is unsafe.

Revalidation

The periodic process by which a registered professional shows they remain safe and effective to practise, keeping practice current, reflective, and accountable.

NMC Revalidation Requirements

Professional renewal evidence including 450 practice hours, 35 hours of CPD with participatory learning, five pieces of practice-related feedback, five written reflective accounts, a reflective discussion, health and character declaration, and professional indemnity.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Ongoing training and education that ensures a care worker's knowledge and skills remain current, compliant, and safe.

Whistleblowing

Raising a concern about unsafe or unlawful practice, including escalating it beyond immediate management when it is not acted on.