Beyond the Audit: Episode 3

Positive Risk-Taking: How Safe Is Safe Enough?

Listen to Episode 3

“Is that really safe?”

A reasonable question. Slightly less reasonable when the concern is based entirely on someone living with dementia, rather than knowing anything about the person or what they can do.

In Episode 3 of Beyond the Audit, I look at positive risk-taking in adult social care and how easily our responsibility to keep people safe can become a reason to stop them doing things that matter to them.

I reflect on a dementia service with its own workshop and tools, the assumptions we make about people’s abilities, and why years of experience don’t simply disappear when someone receives a diagnosis. I also explore how leaders can support thoughtful decisions about risk without making “just in case” the basis of somebody’s entire life.