LO3 - Legislation and National Initiatives Flashcards
What is legislation?
Legislation is a collection of laws passed by Parliament. These laws state and protect the rights and entitlements of individuals and organisations.
The Care Act
—> Way in which local authorities should carry out carer’s assessments and needs assessments.
Purpose:
- Continuity of care
- An independent advocate available
- Adult safeguarding
The Health and Social Care Act
—> To enable patients to have more control over the care they receive.
Purpose:
- ‘No decision about me without me’
- Public health
- Healthwatch
The Equality Act
—> Makes direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of a protected characteristic illegal.
Protected Characteristics:
- Age - Disability
- Sex - Religion or belief
- Race - Gender reassignment
Purpose:
- Encourages positive action
- Covers victimisation and harassment
- Makes direct and indirect discrimination illegal
The Mental Capacity Act
—> Provides legal framework to protect and empower those who are unable to make some of their own decisions.
Purpose:
- Support to make own decisions
- Unwise decisions
- Best interests
The Children Act
Purpose:
- Aims to protect children at risk of harm
- Children have a right to an advocate
- Paramountcy principle
The Data Protection Act
Purpose:
- Used only for the purposes for which it was intended
- Accurate and kept up to date
- Kept for no longer than is necessary
The Children and Families Act
Purpose:
- Parental leave
- 26 week deadline for the family court to rule on care proceedings
- Introduced EHC Plans (SEND)
The Human Rights Act
—> Sets out rights to which everyone is entitled to.
Purpose:
- Right to life
- Right to freedom of expression
- Right to respect, privacy and family life
What are national initiatives?
National initiatives guide providers of health, social care and child care environments and practitioners about their roles, rights and responsibilities.
The Care Certificate
—> Sets out the minimum standards that should be covered in induction training before workers are allowed to work without direct supervision.
For ‘unregulated’ job roles!
E.g. required for health care assistants
Standards:
- Duty of care
- Communication
- Health and safety
- Handling information
Ofsted
—> Carries out inspections that rate child care settings and schools from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’.
CQC (Care Quality Commission)
- Registers and licenses care services to ensure essential standards of quality and safety are met
- Carries out inspections to monitor that the care provided continues to meet the standards required
EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
The EHRC has a website that provides information, advice and guidance about discrimination.
Information - Definitions of different types of discrimination
Advice - How you can decide if what happened was against Equality Law
- Suggests ways to sort out the situation with the person or organisation
- Produces factsheets about discrimination based on the nine protected characteristics
- Advises on how to make a discrimination complaint
- Provides information about how to take a case to court
- Provides contact details for a telephone equality-advisory and support-service helpline
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)
—> Assesses new drugs and treatments as they become available.
Considers whether a drug or treatment:
- Benefits patients
- Will help the NHS meet its targets
- Good value for money and cost-effective
- Should be available on the NHS
