Impacts of legislation and national initiatives Flashcards
What are the impacts of legislation and national initiatives?
Having these laws and national initiatives in place can have many positive impacts for individuals who receive care, their families, but also for the care practitioners as it gives them a set of guidelines to follow when providing care, as well as ensuring they are treated fairly and don’t experience discrimination
What is a person-centred approach?
This means that patients/service users are treated as individuals and are given a say in their care and treatment. It involves learning about the individual’s care needs, drawing up individual care plans, and ensuring that their preferences are also taken into account
How does the Care Act ensure that a person-centred approach is applied by care workers?
Means that individuals are assessed to find out what their specific individual needs are so that care workers will know how to tailor the care to these needs, advocates provided so that individuals can understand these rights and have a say in their care and treatment so that the care can be person-centred, personal budget given so individuals can control the care they receive
What is empowerment?
Ensuring that individuals are encouraged to make informed choices and decisions so they can take control of their own life. Following the Care Certificate and values of care ensures that individuals are able to express their views and make choices about their care
Think about the Mental Capacity Act and the Health and Social Care Act. How do these laws empower individuals?
They ensure that individuals still have a say in their care and treatment - e.g. the Mental Capacity act says that care workers cannot assume individuals lack capacity due to medical conditions and must try to involve the patient in their care decisions and support them (advocates, etc.). Health and social care act has a principle of no decision about me without me - so people have power to choose their care provider and treatment
How does the Equality Act ensure that accessible services are available?
The Equality Act ensures reasonable adjustments must be made to health, social care and child care environments to accommodate disabilities whether these are mental, physical, or sensory
Give examples of adjustments a hospital could make to ensure it is accessible for individuals with disabilities
- Providing information for patients about treatments in different formats (large print, braille for visually impaired patients)
- Accessible access through wheelchair ramps, automatic doorways, widened corridors, and lifts
- Providing access to translators for those whose first language is not English so they can be supported when given information about treatments
- Medical advocates for those who have learning difficulties to help them understand their rights and about different options
How does having laws in place such as the Human Rights Act, The Equality Act, The Care Act, etc. ensure that people whose rights have been breached can do something about it? What could the person do if they felt their rights were breached?
If someone experiences poor care, discrimination or their rights are not met they are able to take the care provider to court so they can have the rights restored. The care provider would then be fined or the individual could receive compensation
What are the other benefits of legislation apart from the benefits for individual patients or service users?
There are also benefits of legislation and national initiatives for the care practitioners and organisations. For examples having these systems in place:
- Raises standards of care (e.g. by carrying out inspections of schools or health and social care services, organisations such as Ofsted and the CQC can ensure that good practice is identified and areas for improvement are addressed)
- Provides clear guidelines for practitioners to follow (for example, if they believe an individual lacks mental capacity, or when handling a patient’s personal information. The care certificate also ensures that staff receive adequate training so they understand their roles and responsibilities).
What does legislation ensure adverts and interviews for new staff avoid?
Discrimination
When interviewing potential applicants, what should the company/organisation do to ensure everyone is treated fairly?
- Interviewers should avoid personal questions about the candidate which are not relevant to the job role and could be seen as discriminatory (such as whether a woman plans on getting pregnant)
- Ensure that the interview takes place in an accessible location for those with disabilities
- Ask people if they have any specific needs/requirements prior to interview (but don’t ask directly if they have a disability)
- Having an interview panel that is diverse to reflect different backgrounds and cultures
What its an organisational policy?
As a result of these laws and national initiatives, care providers must produce policies to guide staff about how to provide the best quality care. The policies must also be available to service users so they are aware of their rights and the standards of care they are entitled to
What is a policy?
A Policy is a set of written guidelines which set out what responsibilities care workers have (for ensuring adequate care is provided)
What examples of policies do you think schools, care homes or hospitals should have in place to ensure high quality care is provided?
- Confidentiality policy
- Anti-bullying policy
- Safeguarding policy
- Data and GDPR policy
- Equal opportunities policy
- Health and safety policy
- SEND policy (school settings)
- Complaints policy
What information should be included in a school’s anti-bullying policy?
Information about the different types of bullying and how to spot signs that a pupil might be being bullied, how the school will try to prevent bullying from happening (through education programmes, etc.), how the school will respond to allegations of bullying (communication with parents, mediation, exclusion), responsibilities of head teacher and other staff members and guidance of who to report bullying to, recording information about bullying incidents, information about outside organisations where they can get support if experiencing bullying, etc.
