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Risks are the possibility of harm coming to an individual under the care of a practitioner or within a health and social care setting. Empowerment is enforcing the right to be safe and of good health whilst still having control of their own lives. This includes all including the practitioners, service users, family members/ visitors, organisations and companies. 
When empowering individuals it is important to acknowledge that there could be many risks that follow. These risks will vary with each individual, which means practitioners need a way to manage who is under what risks and why. In the majority of settings this is done with a risk assessment and a care plan. The risk assessment acknowledges their weaknesses and what harm may come to them as a result of these weaknesses.  It acknowledges what things they have to be excluded from in order to stay safe and what they can do but require assistance or supervision. This is all kept in their confidential files and care plan to ensure no unauthorized personnel knows their private information. This means the service user can walk with pride knowing they are being well looked after in the ways that are right for them. 
Their care plan enforces person centered practice which is ensuring that they are cared for in a way that is tailored to their personal likes, dislikes preferences. This is one of the aspects that they have a lot of input with meaning they have to communicate properly with the service user to learn how they would like to be treated. This empowers them to feel included within the decisions and not just treat as someone who is spoken down to and told what they must do and when they are to do it.  However, sometimes not all of their wants can be met. This could be because a service user believes that they can complete a task without assistance but the specialists believe that it would endanger the service user or those around them. Within a setting they are encouraged to push themselves and be independent but to know their limits and know when to ask for assistance. The care plan will tell the practitioners when a routine procedure needs adapting to meet their needs.
A situation like this can often cause tensions between the service user and the practitioners as the practitioners have a duty of care to ensure the health and wellbeing of all within the setting; however, the service user still has the right to choose what they can and cannot do. Often this is resolved with a compromise to minimize the risk but still allow the service user to be empowered in doing as they wish. An example of this is when a service user moves into a care home and wishes to smoke indoors. This is something they have a habit of doing from when they were at home and have no intention of stopping. Smoking for them could be a stress relief, an addiction or even a way to still feel young as some people smoke for the aesthetic of it. A practitioner however would see the dangers that the smoke is causing to the service users body and would inform them of the harm they are doing to themselves. They would encourage them to try to quit smoking and inform them of ways they can be supported to stop. It is still the service users choice weather to smoke or not but the practitioner cannot allow them to do it indoors as this puts others at risk of second hand smoke as well as giving the room/ building an unpleasant smell. Not only this but it is a fire hazard and therefore causes risk to everyone in the building. To compromise they can allow them to smoke as long as it is outdoors.

NOTES is it positive risk taking. Before you allow them to take the risk make sure they understand the risk (diabetic eating chocolate) if they choose to take risk they need proof of consent - do they have the mental capacity to consent who could the risk affect practitioners, careers, organisation and user themselves if the risk affects all the duty of care is protect all of them Tensions could develop when the rights and wants of the individual contradict the duty of care of the practitioners or the health and safety procedures. The duty of care of the practitioner is to:- promote the rights of the individual; promote the health and well being of all within the practice; and promote individual safety and security. tensions could be caused if the expectations of a user may conflict with resources (staff two members of staff to have a bath, funding bills of having a lot of baths, equipment)
nhs (2020) 'Care and Support plans' [online] accessed on 11/11/2020 available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/help-from-social-services-and-charities/care-and-support-plans/

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