Just wondering if anyone has come across this. I work in social care. The people I work with have learning disabilities/challenging behaviour. Part of my job is that I am expected to drive using their cars. I am insulin dependent. My licence get renewed next year and really dont want to loose this for any reason. My arguement is if I should hypo and have a service user in back of car. I will need to stop and would need to get assistance as I cant hang around sitting there waiting for my bloods to come back up. Things may get lively and done fancy being on the end of that. If I am to go down that route and drive someone's car then will my licence cover this or should i dig my heels in and say no. Thanks
Driving other people around in their cars
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Squire Fulwood
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Yes I am covered to drive others cars, and have spoken to them but they seem to think all I need is mylicence and all is well, however if something does happen and I need assistance and is documented then I am on my own. Fair or what !!!!
azure
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That's probably just ignorance. If it was me, I'd stress that I could drive perfectly well, but explain the rules about driving and diabetes and that you'd need to test your blood sugar and wait to,drive if it wasn't high enough. Spell out how long you might have to,wait and what that would mean for the service user. Then see what they suggest.
Never underestimate how little people know about diabetes!
Seem to choose to ignore it in my work, was asked to drive anyway and dont tell anyone.
azure
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Well, definitely ignore that advice! You know what you have to do to drive so don't let anyone tell you differently.
I don't know what your job entails but could you think of a solution and present it to them as an idea - eg going out with another carer, or doing other jobs and not driving?
If they're saying you should ignore your diabetes and blood tests and drive when it's not appropriate, then I'd take that very seriously as they're potentially putting service users at risk.
azure
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Hmm - I sympathise. I used to work in Care. All I can say is don't be pushed into doing anything that's not safe - for yourself or service users.
If you're a member of a union, you could check with them to see if they have advice.
al_leister
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Diabetes aside, your insurance may cover you to drive other cars but not in connection with work unless specified on policy.
Squire Fulwood
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Most insurance policies allow a driver to drive another car but under third party rules. This means that if there is a problem then your insurance providers will only help if you can blame it on someone else. Your own vehicle and you are not covered at all. Apart from that, if there is any condition you have not notified your insurance providers of they will not pay out. Why should they. Maintaining your car is your liability.
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It's not just about being insured to drive other people's cars - it's also public liability insurance - honestly it's a mine field and you would be best to get some professional advice. I have a carer for my son - non agency employed direct and even though she is fully comp on her car I still had to take out extra insurance - not what your asking I know but like I say it's complicated. - does your agency insurance cover you for all eventualities?
Whenever I have used agencies in the past one carer in the home is fine but if my son who has challenging behaviour needed a carer outside the home I either had to be with them or have 2 carers just incase they had behaviour to deal with.
I agree with you that it could get difficult for you if you had a hypo - I say this from a good place but if you are worried about it I as a service user for my son would be worried about it also - not so if you felt confident you could deal with the situation though
Whenever I have used agencies in the past one carer in the home is fine but if my son who has challenging behaviour needed a carer outside the home I either had to be with them or have 2 carers just incase they had behaviour to deal with.
I agree with you that it could get difficult for you if you had a hypo - I say this from a good place but if you are worried about it I as a service user for my son would be worried about it also - not so if you felt confident you could deal with the situation though
Your employer should be doing a health and safety assessment regarding driving service users and their vehicles, not just for you but for everyone asked to do it. Take diabetes out of the equation, if you were not diabetic, you had an accident and you were injured what happens to the service user (saying they are not injured) who is available to contact. Any employee can take ill there needs to be a process in place.
Then there is also the cars your are asked to drive, who checks they are roadworthy, baring in mind if the police stop you, you as the driver are liable for fines and/or points. So is there a process in place for you to do a routine check before driving and if there is anything you think is wrong what is the process for refusing to drive.
By my recogning there should be a minimum of 56 procedures that need a written process.
I have written up several procedures relating to just this type of issue and they need to be checked every year to ensure that all bases are covered.
If your employer doesn't have these in place then they are in breach of health and safety at work
Then there is also the cars your are asked to drive, who checks they are roadworthy, baring in mind if the police stop you, you as the driver are liable for fines and/or points. So is there a process in place for you to do a routine check before driving and if there is anything you think is wrong what is the process for refusing to drive.
By my recogning there should be a minimum of 56 procedures that need a written process.
I have written up several procedures relating to just this type of issue and they need to be checked every year to ensure that all bases are covered.
If your employer doesn't have these in place then they are in breach of health and safety at work
