PATIENT HANDLING Handle With Caution


The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents explores the importance of handling patients with care to ensure staff safety, as well as patient dignity.


The effective management of moving and handling risks is an essential part of the health and safety or risk management system.


Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as low back pain, joint injuries and repetitive strain injuries, are the most common occupational illness in Britain, affecting one million people a year.


The Manual Handling Operations Regulations (MHOR) 1992 (amended in 2002) recognise that lifting and handling patients can cause MSDs. Not only that, poor manual handling techniques also has the potential to cause injury and loss of dignity of the individual being moved.


Every reported injury in the health and social care sectors that involves the moving and handling of people represents a personal loss in quality of life and a dent in the effectiveness of an employer to meet intended outcomes.


The costs of a workplace injury are usually underestimated and include sick pay, arranging for and paying temporary staff, training costs and potentially defending legal actions. These are just part of a picture that ultimately affects staff recruitment and retention and can have wider detrimental effects on the quality of services, care staff morale and public opinion.


Every health or social care organisation should have a safer handling policy that sets legal requirements as a minimum standard to be achieved. The policy should detail the need for systematically identifying risk for all handling tasks and controlling it to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable. Staff health and motivation and patient care must be the central theme, each dependent on the other.


In situations where a risk assessment identifies the need to lift a


- 22 -


patient then this must be clearly documented to illustrate why lifting is the most appropriate means and how the lift should be carried out. The risk assessment must be based on a balanced decision-making process where one party’s benefit does not significantly increase the other party’s risk. This is essential to promote the independence and dignity of patients and protect the health and wellbeing of carers.


The policy must be clear and unambiguous to ensure that it is practical and measurable. A good policy will demonstrate the level of management commitment towards improved safety and be supported by a dedicated moving and handling budget. Signed and dated by the most senior person in the organisation, the policy should then be made available to all staff as a catalyst for change by demonstrating the organisation’s commitment to new practices and breaking old habits. For this to be achieved, it is important that the


Top Patient Handling Tips


• Conduct a safer people handling risk assessment.


• Ensure employees have the correct training in safer people handling and using hoists.


• Avoid people handling where possible.


• Encourage individuals to move themselves.


• Reduce manual handling risks by using equipment such as hoists and slide sheets.


• Always complete a pre-transfer assessment before completing a handling transfer.


• Always use efficient movement principles when undertaking any handling transfer.


• On completion of the task always evaluate and reflect.


policy clearly states the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the organisation. It is also important that staff are involved and consulted at appropriate stages in order to develop a supportive culture.


In order to move and handle patients successfully it is important to get the preparation right, as correct preparation is a vital part of good working practice for a handler. It is also important to figure out what you are planning to do, where you are moving the patient and why, as in doing this you can then begin to think about how the move can be achieved.


RoSPA promotes excellence in safer people handling through training that educates staff in the principles of safe moving and handling and facilitates a problem-solving approach, including when hoists and slings are used. In this way, training can contribute to excellence in care as well as reducing injury rates.


www.rospa.com www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40