Law & Ethics
Law & Ethics - The Legal Angle
This one day course is designed to help participants to:
- Understand the various laws, regulations and guidelines that relate to the field of infection control.
- Appreciate the ethical issues involved, and how these relate to the statutory obligations.
- Understand the standards of infection control that are expected, and how to keep their knowledge up to date in this fast-changing field.
- Understand where the legal problems tend to arise from, and why (with reference to actual case studies).
- Understand the powers and processes involved in the monitoring and maintenance of infection control standards.
The programme is arranged in four sections as follows :-
1. The legal and ethical framework
- basic legal and ethical principles in healthcare
- clinical governance and infection control
- professional guidelines and accreditation; what do they mean?
- standards; a practical tool or a practical dilemma?
2. What you need to know
- essential legislation
- legal penalties and professional consequences
- General Dental Council guidelines
- NHS Regulations
- Directives and European standards
- peripheral legislation and other issues
- the power to inspect and enforce. Who, when, why and how?
3. Practical implications
- case studies
- questions and answers; discussion session
4. The carrot and the stick
- addressing under-performance relating to infection control
- apathy, economics and motivation
- the importance of the team approach
- training and continuing professional development
