dental practice and equality Flashcards
what is diversity
to do with acknowledgement of alterity among people in terms of their community, culture, beliefs, life experiences, individuality
what is equality
do with fairness of opportunity and observing the rights of people so that their alterity is not discriminated against
what is equity
The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalance
Treating people justly does not mean treating everyone identically, if it disregards features of diversity that can place people at an unfair advantage in society
9 protected characteristcs in the Equality Act 2010
age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race and ethnicity
sex
sexual orientation
disability defintion
equality act 2010
“…has a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”
disability is based on
impariment
* Mental, or physical, or a combination
Is determined by the effect on the person
Need not be linked to medical illness
Does not require a known caus
May not be particularly visible
Can be fluctuating, recurring, or progressive
The law also applies to discrimination on the basis of past impairment
direct discrimination
treating people less favourably because of a protected characteristic
indirect discrimination
putting people with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage
associative discrimination
because of another person’s protected characteristic
perceived discrimination
when it is believed that a person has a protected characteristic
harassment
through violating a person’s dignity, or a degrading, humiliating, hostile, intimidating, or offensive environment
victimisation
detriment to a person who is making use of the Equality Act 2010 or is thought to be doing so
victimisation
detriment to a person who is making use of the Equality Act 2010 or is thought to be doing so
categories of discrimination
7
- direct discrimination
- indirect discrimination
- associative discrimination
- perceived discrimination
- harassment
- victimisation
- instruction to discriminate
pregnant women protected by
Equality Act 2010 imposes an obligation to ensure that pregnant women are not discriminated against.
e.g. instruction to discriminate
Excluding patients from your practice based on their protected characteristics is direct discrimination, and asking a receptionist to turn them away is instruction to discriminate
zero tolerance of any harassment to staff can be what
a defence
equality act allows employees to bring a claim against dentists for the actions of a third party (e.g. something a patient does).
So a sign detailing zero tolerance of any harassment of staff could be a defence.
changing our usual practice for a pt can be seen as
direct discrimination if they have a protected characteristic
and placing restrictions may be indirect discrimination
equal opportunities policy is needed
to defend against discrimination claims
without it virtually impossible to defend against discrimination claim, regardless of what took place, due to established precedent
Further, staff must be trained in the content of this Policy, as there is no defence if it is not followed or not known about.
