Where intimate personal care is delivered this will always be done sensitively and appropriately. Staff will be aware of the need to maintain privacy and dignity when dealing with intimate personal care needs.
Intimate personal care should be delivered within the process of needs assessment/care planning and detailed within the client’s plan. The client will be involved to ensure the personal care is appropriate for the specific individual.
Gender issues are significant in determining the appropriateness of the support and we will endeavour to ensure that the principle of same gender care is applied when meeting the intimate personal care needs of a client.
It is recognised that it is important for clients to have positive role models of males and females. Work other than that involving intimate personal care would routinely be carried out by staff of either sex, subject to the preference of the individual client and the appropriateness of the individual staff member.
Intimate personal care is taken to mean:
It is important that all of a client’s needs are considered when deciding on those staff who will be working with them. Some aspects of close personal care may have to be dealt with during any activity, and if the staff member working with the person is not the appropriate worker to deal with the specific need, then there needs to be someone available who is.
The manager of the service will have to take these considerations into account. The principle of same gender care is subject to the availability of staff of the same gender who are competent to deliver intimate personal care. It is acknowledged that at times there may be insufficient staff of the same gender to carry out the principle of same gender care.
It is therefore acceptable for the intimate personal care needs of male service users to be carried out by female staff members, if no male staff member is available. Where a female service user requires assistance in the areas of bathing, dressing, toileting and menstrual hygiene, the managers must ensure that female staff are available to provide this care.
Male staff may only work with female service uses in the areas of bathing, dressing, toileting and menstrual hygiene in cases of necessity or urgent need. The prime objective should be to avert this from happening.
We will work with any service user regardless of gender.
A client plan will be written up for any client requiring intimate personal care, detailing the level of support required and how it is to be delivered. If the service user does not wish for same gender care or same gender care cannot be provided or it is not considered to be an appropriate method of working, then the reasons why must be recorded. This record will specify which care tasks are being exempted from the principle, and name workers who will work on these tasks. The service manager will ensure they are aware of any situations that do not comply with the principle of same gender care and will monitor the delivery of such care.
Privacy is a fundamental right, and is of prime importance in the delivery of intimate personal care. Clients should not be in the position of having their needs met by staff because appropriate aids and adaptations, which would enable them to meet their own needs, have not been made available to them. Every effort should be made to ensure that equipment is provided that would reduce the need for physical assistance or staff presence during intimate personal care.
Meeting the intimate personal care needs of a client carries a measure of risk to both staff and the service user. The risks can include the following:
It is therefore important that safeguards are put in place to minimise the risk to staff and the client.
If, during the course of assisting a person with their intimate personal care needs, there are any changes in an individual’s appearance that may require attention, these should be noted, e.g. rashes, blisters, sores, lumps, and changes in colour and size of skin blemishes. These should be recorded and the client supported to seek medical attention.
In the event that any bruise or skin damage is noted, this should be recorded and brought to the attention of the manager. Any signs of suspected abuse will be recorded and reported immediately.
The manager of the service needs to ensure that staff are trained in delivering sensitive and high quality assistance to service users in the area of intimate personal care. This will generally take the form of being shown, by an approved competent member of staff, the correct procedures to carry out all areas of care appropriate to individual clients.
Training will be given in safe working practices, including areas such as hygienic practices, infection control, safe bathing, moving and handling.
It is emphasised that in this, as in all other areas of work, a prime aim of carrying out intimate personal care will be to develop the skills and abilities of the individual to enable them to become as independent in the task as possible.
Staff will have the opportunity to say if they are uncomfortable with a particular area of practice, or if they feel vulnerable in carrying it out. This does not mean that individual staff can abdicate responsibility for meeting clients’ needs that have been clearly identified and planned for. The manager of the service will offer staff the opportunity to discuss and clarify such matters in supervision meetings, and will offer training if this is required, subject to being satisfied that the worker has the potential to be competent in the work.
In order to implement same gender care, and in line with equal opportunities legislation, the membership of staff teams will be reviewed whenever a vacancy arises. Factors that will be considered will be the gender and cultural needs of the clients or client group.
This document was updated in April 2008
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Supported Lives is the trading name of Supported Lives Ltd (company reg. 5101897) and Supported Lives Services Ltd (company reg. 5660222). The registered address is: Rebecca House, Rebecca Street, Bradford BD1 2RX.
