Key Handling Policy

Policy Statement

Key holding by staff is sometimes an essential part of providing high quality care to certain clients who are infirm or immobile or otherwise are assessed as having difficulty in getting to the door and letting in a home care worker.  In such cases it is far safer for the carer or nurse to hold a key to the home than for the client to leave a door unlocked or use a similar strategy such as hiding a key outside the house in a known place.

Such strategies represent obvious security risks.  Cavendish Homecare Professionals believes that carers and nurses should ensure the security and safety of clients and their homes at all times when providing nursing and care and that they must therefore take great care of a client’s keys.

Aim

The aim of Cavendish Homecare is to ensure that clients are protected and are safe and secure in their homes and that where keys are held by staff to effect entrance to the home, those keys are kept securely.

Policy

During the initial assessment when care is planned, the security of the home should be discussed and an agreement reached about how the homecare worker will affect entrance to the client’s home.  The carer or nurse may be asked to hold a key to the client’s home where the client would find it difficult to open the door for a home care support worker because of infirmity, disability, incapacity or mental state. Such a decision should only be reached where this represents the best way of getting into the home and where it represents the best way to ensure the safety and security of the client.

If it is decided that the carer or nurse should hold a copy of the client’s key then the permission of the client or their next of kin should be made in writing and a suitable entry made to the client’s Care Plan.  Key holding should never be embarked upon without the express permission of Cavendish Homecare’s management.

Staff who hold keys for the client should –

  • label the key with a code, never with the name and / or address of the client in case the keys get lost
  • keep the keys in a safe place at all times
  • inform Cavendish Homecare’s management immediately in cases of the loss or theft of keys
  • always knock on the door and announce themselves before entering a client’s home with a key

Staff should never –

  • agree to leave a key outside a house in a ‘safe’ place
  • attempt to effect forced entry to the home

Note

Some clients have a key safe box outside their home which is a secure box containing their key.  The box can only be opened with a combination or with a master key.  This avoids the dangers of a client hiding a key somewhere outside the house and means that the key is always available.  Staff who have to use a key safe box should take care with the security of the combination number and keep it confidential.

 

 

Date: January 2024

Version: 6 (Review)

Source: Expert Care Manager