Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Alarm Receiving Centre
- A staffed monitoring centre that receives alerts from personal safety devices around the clock and arranges an appropriate response.
- Amber / red alert
- Settings on a lone-worker device: amber signals that a worker has entered a potentially higher-risk situation and started a timed check-in, while red signals an emergency needing an immediate response.
- Blood-borne virus (BBV)
- An infection such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV that can be passed on through blood.
- Breakaway and disengagement techniques
- Trained physical skills that let a worker safely free themselves from being grabbed or held and move away from danger.
- Buddy / nominated contact
- A designated colleague who knows a lone worker's planned movements and check-in time and what to do if contact is not made.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009
- The rules setting out which incidents a registered provider must formally notify to the Care Quality Commission.
- Chaperone
- A trained person present during an intimate examination to support and protect the patient and the clinician.
- Controlled drug
- A medicine whose supply, storage and records are tightly restricted by law because of its potential for misuse.
- Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
- The law under which an organisation can be prosecuted if a serious management failure leads to a person's death.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- The UK law that sits alongside the UK General Data Protection Regulation and governs how personal information is handled.
- De-escalation (conflict resolution)
- Communication skills used to calm a tense or aggressive situation and reduce the risk of it turning violent.
- Duress alert
- A discreet signal sent from a personal safety device to summon help when a worker is threatened or in danger.
- Dynamic risk assessment
- The continuous on-the-spot judgement of risk by a worker in a changing situation, leading to a decision to proceed, adapt, or withdraw.
- Enhanced and extended access
- Appointments offered outside core surgery hours, such as evenings and weekends, to widen patient access to care.
- Equality Act 2010
- The law protecting people from discrimination based on characteristics such as age, disability, sex or race.
- GPS location
- Satellite positioning that pinpoints where a device, and so its user, is located.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- The main UK law placing a duty on employers to protect the health and safety of staff and others affected by their work.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting the fundamental standards that providers of regulated health and social care must meet.
- Hierarchy of control
- A ranked approach to managing risk that starts by removing a hazard and, only if that is not possible, works down through safer alternatives and protective measures.
- Information governance
- The framework for handling people's personal and health information legally, securely and appropriately.
- Lone worker
- Anyone who works by themselves without close or direct supervision, or who is out of sight and sound of colleagues, for all or part of their working time.
- Lone-worker device
- A monitored personal safety device or smartphone application offering duress alerts, audio recording, GPS location and round-the-clock escalation to a monitoring centre or responder.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- The regulations requiring employers to assess and manage the risks their work activities create for staff and others.
- Markers / alerts
- Documented warnings held against a patient or address, such as a history of violence or aggressive animals, used to flag risk before a visit.
- Near miss
- An event that could have caused harm but did not, by chance or because it was caught in time.
- Nominated Individual
- The senior person responsible to the regulator for supervising how a service is provided.
- Out-of-hours
- Periods outside normal contracted surgery hours when urgent primary care still needs to be available.
- Personal-attack (panic) alarm
- A fixed or portable alarm a worker can trigger to call for immediate help when threatened.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Registered Provider
- The individual or organisation legally registered with the regulator to carry on a service, holding overall accountability for it.
- Regulated activity
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the regulator to deliver.
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
- The law requiring certain workplace injuries, diseases and dangerous events to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive.
- Risk assessment
- A structured check identifying what could cause harm and what is being done to prevent it.
- Safeguarding
- Protecting people's health, wellbeing and rights and keeping them safe from abuse, harm or neglect.
- Sharps
- Needles, blades and other items that can cut or puncture the skin.
- Significant-event analysis
- A structured team review of a notable incident to understand what happened and what can be improved.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- So far as is reasonably practicable
- A legal test meaning a risk must be controlled unless the time, trouble or cost of doing so is grossly out of proportion to the benefit.
- UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- The UK's main data-protection law governing how personal information is collected and used.