Principles of Health and Social Care Practice - Essay Example

Principles of Health and Social Care Practice Task1 L01 A principle refers to a rule or a law that must be, or can be attractively followed, or always is to be followed, or is an unavoidable consequence of something. Several laws have been enacted which forbid discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age disability or gender (Bernard, 2010, p. 57). Treating some people as more privileged than others, stereotyping or making assumption about people, are discriminatory practices. A care worker must prevent that as well as guard the users giving independence, respect, and autonomy. 1.1 Principles of support are applied at ABC Care Home. In health as well as social care practices there are five important principles that must be observed. They include: confidentiality, promoting anti-discrimination practice, rights, communications, and appreciating individual beliefs and identities. ABC is one of the exceptional care homes that apply the principle of support. Here we treat people with due respect to dignity, individuality, independence, individuality rights, choice, confidentiality, and support and attention. Promoting anti-discriminatory practice is very important because cities and towns are becoming more ethnically diverse and multicultural (Alcock, Daly, & Griggs, 2008, p.54). Person information confidentiality is a right of each individual including service users. It is a legal requirement within the data protection to keep confidentiality of the personal records. Promoting as well as supporting the rights of people is very important. Promoting effective communication (the ability to communicate with colleagues and service users) is a vital portion of being a care worker. Acknowledging individuals personal identities and beliefs is very important. In a multicultural and a multi ethnic society, it is important and fair that care workers are aware of cultural differences of people, respect them and assist keep their individual identities. 1.2 The procedures that are adopted in ABC Care Home. It is always the responsibility of the staff to keep the procedures to guard the health and social care users. They have the responsibility to guard clients, the public, patients and colleagues from the peril of harm (Basford & Oliver, 2011, p.101). They should work precisely so that they can be in a position to guard them from harm. They should see to it that their behavior does not place patients and clients at peril; even they must be concerned about their health aspect as well. They have to guard the consumers of the services from safety and health issue, to guard the disable, people’s right from illness and infection and from abuse (create a harmless environment). The safety and health work dangers at ABC can be in form of a wet or slippery flow, rearrangement of furniture and equipment, hanging electric wires, dirty facilities and sharing of objects that may contribute to infection (Alcock, May, & Rowlingson, 2008, p.72). Respecting and valuing others is a fundamental courtesy. Nonetheless so as to reinforce our values of our society, we have always laws that stipulate the ways in which the entire populace must be treated. These laws influence the way workers behave towards others within the place of work. The NHS demands that workers behave in a more professional manner, to their colleagues and clients. As a result, NHS has enacted useful Acts relating to equality such as employment equality, partnership, gender recognition, human rights, sex discrimination, disability and racism that also offer legal protection to everyone concerning health and care system (National Health Services, 2012, p. 102). Everyone is duly protected from any form of vulnerability, psychological or metal, and financial issues that may make them prone to potential abuse or harm. 1.3 A Person-Centred approach at ABC care home. The person-centered approach has the intention to support relationships through offering an emphatic, accepting, understanding and genuine therapist, carer or counselor relationship. This care model is based on the initial therapeutic work by Carl Rogers that emphasizes on guarding the personal rights of clients as well as making decisions in a way that best suits or achieves their unique needs. It is very important to observe a trustworthy relation with users of services in a social and health setup (Edwards, 2012, p. 233). Initially it was a simple approach towards care. However, today it has turned out to be an integral portion of social and health care services particularly in the UK. This approach is not only a followed system but also what is required either psychological, or physical, of a person. Within this system each and every user’s interest is taken into account and every user is uniformly preferred. In this approach, workers are usually asked their consent concerning his action as well as to the user (Moon, 2008, p. 53). At ABC home specific patients are assigned to a particular care worker, therefore it enables him to partake in few choices with regard to a patient. The individual is recognized as being at the inner core of their own care. To understand the actual matters and issues of the client, active listening is a good instrument, therefore, the care worker can come up with working together techniques. This is in accordance with NHS legislations of Equality and Human Rights Acts. The benefits of this model include: the capacity to reach individuals from different financial and ethnic backgrounds, increased client satisfaction, and more effective case results. 1.4 Ethical dilemmas and conflict in ABC care home A circumstance in which rules as well as principles are not able to ascertain which action is either right or wrong. It is a situation in which people are rejecting to obey ethical morals (Evans, 2012, p. 69). It leads to conflicts amid staff, workers, families, and users among others. Dilemmas may occur in a social and health practice when social care workers do not obey the law and the codes of conduct. It may be the imprecise options for clients. Inappropriate reporting by social worker this perhaps could result from strict regulations and legal boundaries. There are times when staff may be absent or go out, even confidential information are at times leaked from the location. Dilemmas as well as Conflicts that may come up between individual’s rights and the duty of care could be staff having a variation of opinion. For instance if the staff of various agencies working in one working setup, there is more opportunity of conflict, this is due to absence of understanding amid the two (McLean, 2010, p. 94). This will cause the suffering of carers and users. Dilemmas could understand when to get more assistance concerning adult safeguarding and protection. For instance, if you did not bring the case to the notice of social services the adult could go on suffering abuse. Further dilemmas would understand when to interfere with confidentiality and share information. In view of the sensitive nature of social and health care at times, the NHS keeps ethical policies and guidelines to be followed by the entire practitioners. Moreover, these guidelines are not static but can be changed perpetually to suit the changing needs of the population. Task 2 LO2 The impact of policy, legislation, regulation, codes of practice and standards on ABC policy and practice 2.1. The implementation of policies, legislation, regulations and codes of practice A policy must be applicable to everyone, covers the entire Issues of confidentiality, as per the Data protection Act as well as what will be action should it be breached. It must include accountability as well as constantly monitored and reviewed (Henderson, Martin, & Charlesworth, 2012, p. 77). A full procedure must be available to the entire workforce. Accurate instructions must be given to employees concerning policies implementation. All legal issues must be discussed in policy. The laws that are used as enforceable by the government, so as to save all people from discrimination include the following: Health and Social Care Bill 2011; Health and Social Care Act 2012; Sex Discrimination Act 1975; Building the National Care service – (presentment in White paper 2010); Equity Pay Act 1976; Employment Rights Acts 1996; Race relations Act 1976; Disability Discrimination Act 1995; Human Rights Act 1998; Protection from Harassment Act 1997; Disability Rights Commission Act 2000; Mental Capacity Act Code of practice (2007); and Employment Equality Regulations 2003. The Health and Social Care Act show the perpetual evaluation of the legislations to suit relevant and particular varying cultural, financial and ethnic backgrounds of the populace. It serves as the widespread legislation guiding the field of Health and Social care within the UK (Departments of Health, 2011, p.5). It maintains policies concerning providers of health and social care, professional accountability as well as the field’s organization. In this Act are particular policy standards offering a superior voice for patients, an additional patient-centered model of care as well as standards on reorganization of services of health and social care to prevent inefficiency. The outcome of this Act has been more accessibility of care as well as improved social and health care efficiency (Department of Health, 2012, p.7). Code of Practice In health and social care the code of practice for the care worker outlines the responsibility of employers with regard to the care worker. It requires that employers must hold firm the standards as stipulated in their code; as well as their support to live up to the codes and must take action when care workers do not live up to the standards. The codes fundamentally reflect the practice on hand. The reason behind workforce regulation is to guard as well as promote the interests of the carers and users of care service. The code is set to complement the procedure and policies concerning staff legislation and employment. 2.2 local policies and procedures Although the UK legislation offers guidance to health and social care all through the region, depending on populace needs in a locality local policies and procedures can be developed. Local policies and procedures offer the basic infrastructure for a quality system consisting of all the aspects relating to health and social care (Holland & Hogg, 2004, p. 124). Having no appropriate policies and procedures in place, makes it impossible to maintain the quality improvement efforts where they should. Policies and procedures offer the base for the preferred results, the way to deliver health and social care, as per the national legal and policy stipulations. To begin with, it is necessary to go by the National Minimum Standards as well as introduction of document control prior to any policies or procedures. At ABC care home this includes: a header having the draft number; a title of policy and procedure; an approval date as well as the approving authority; a footer, stating the area of policy; a review date as well as revision number; and a copy is accessible to every member of staff. In the policies and procedures development, it must be remembered that it must be: client focused, helpful for the users in question (e.g. staff, service users, and management), must comply with the legislative and accreditation requirements, must improve the service quality, and must be available to all concerned parties (Tingle & Bark, 2011, p. 45). The main policy contents include: the aims; objective; rationale; fairness and consistent procedure; health, welfare as well as safety issues; and monitoring and review. NHS remains the reference point both through its policies and procedures and for consultation in case of customization of the policies and procedures. 2.3 The impact of policy, legislation, regulation, and codes of practice on ABC care home. The major impact of writing procedures and policies, codes as well as other supporting documents or guidelines, is that the organization is operating smoothly, efficiently and improves as time passes (Lishman, 2007, p. 33). If policies and procedures as well as other regulations and laws are not as per plan, an organization and workers are usually unconvinced that they are working as per the professional bodies and legal guidelines. The beginning point in the process involves specifying what is to be expected from its staff. The requirement and what must be done in such circumstances is stated by the policies and procedures. Through suitable policies and procedures it becomes very simple to gauge the quality of services and practice, even during inspection times. Service quality can simply be shown by the organization via displaying all the supporting documentation. The aim of the legislation, evaluation policy, and codes of conduct or practice is to see to it that standards are relevant, current, and clear to practitioners and clients and make sure the ethical and safe care of all individuals is met. Task 3 LO3 The theories that underpin health and social care practice. 3.1 The theories that underpin health and social care practice The field of practice of health and social care has various learning theories that apply to it. The Behavioral theory solely concerns observation. It majorly focuses on direct observation. The theory is also referred to as the S-R learning model because it is learning considered to be a product of the stimulus circumstances (S) and the related responses (R). The process of learning is relatively easy not only in human beings but also in animals. These theories are more employed in psychology and education. It is also employed together with related theories such as cognitive theory. The social theory of learning concerns learning that consists of consideration of the individual characteristics of the learner, the environment, and behavior patterns. Initially focus was on the behaviorist features and role models imitation, then focus was directed on cognitive considerations (e.g. the self attributes and the learner internal processing) (Jones & Atwal, 2009, p. 204). Cognitive theory consists of many sub theories. It is majorly employed in counseling and education. It is based on the changing and learning in the cognition consisting of perception, memory, interpretation, and thought. Cognitive learning, an extremely active process under individual direction, consists of receiving the data, decoding it based on personal knowledge and after that reorganizing the data into a new way. The Psychological theory is dissimilar from the others. It concerns overall emotions and motivation rather than responses. It emphasizes the significance of unconscious and conscious forces in guiding behavior, experiences enduring effects, and personality conflicts. As studies indicates negative emotions are significant to recognize as well as assess interactions in nurse-patient-doctor-family, and this theory can be useful in this regard. The Humanistic theory concerns the positivity and probability. Every person is unique and wants to go in a positive manner. It always applies to health providers because they concentrate on caring as well as patient centeredness. However, this orientation is increasingly under challenge by the stress points in medicine as well as health care on technology, science, cost-efficiency, bureaucratic organization, for-profit medicine, and time pressures (Levin, Overholt, Melnyk, Barnes, & Vetter, 2011, pp. 21-2). 3.2 Social processes impact on users of health and social care services Social processes are basic in social relationships and are established because of the interaction among people (Stretch & Whitehouse, 2009, p. 43). Some of the processes that happen amongst people or teams in health and social care are as follows. Accommodation referring to the adjustment of people or teams in which social and health care people begin to accommodate others should there be limited carers or services (King's Fund, 2011, p.11). Assimilation is a social process referring to the penetration of people or teams, who share ideas, memories, attitudes and emotions of other individuals or teams during their course within health and social care setting. Another social process is competition. Sometime, particularly in case of an inadequate supply of anything say the services desired by users, the competition begins amongst users. Competition is closely followed by the social process of conflict. At times people in place of competition for the objects or services begins competition with the other individual causing them to be rivals so it leads to conflict among them. Moreover, intermixing is another social process where dissimilar people spend time as well as mix with societies that have dissimilar beliefs and values (Hearnden, 2008, pp. 49-53). People with dissimilar cultures, values, religions, social class backgrounds influence one’s beliefs and values. Finally, co-operation is a social process where a number of users work together in a practice to care for each other as opposed to depending solely on the carer. 3.3 The effectiveness of inter-professional working The inter-professional care situation happens as a health services provision to patients where few health providers work together to offer quality care in healthcare location or environment (Webb & Tossell, 2006, p. 89). This form of care has several advantages including an improved health care provision, enhanced healthcare results particularly in case of multiple disease conditions and poly pharmacy. There is insignificant opportunity of competition and conflict, as everybody does their roles and properly employing clinical resources. More benefits include simpler recruitment of caregivers as well as lower turnover rates of staff. Inter-professional care refers to the provision of full health services to patients via multiple health caregivers working together to achieve quality care. Inter-professional care can and is always implemented to help in health care system renewal as well as enhanced sustainability (Wallace & Davies, 2009, p.39). Studies in Health care systems show that inter-professional care is capable of offering far reaching benefits. Some of these benefits include improved patient care and safety, improved provider satisfaction as well as superior organizational efficiency. Moreover, it can contribute in sustainability and innovation. Inter-professional care profits coming out of research indicate that communication increases whereas medical errors decline. A research in emergency department indicated that medical error declined from 30.9 to 4.4% (Trodd & Chivers, 2011, p. 46). Less communication and coordination in such an environment means more medical testing and augmenting costs. Another research study reports that, with a team of professional working together in big hospitals the opportunity of unexpected cardiac emergencies possibly decreases up to 50% (Wallace & Davies, 2009, p. 42). Task 4LO4 Contribute to the development and implementation of health and social care organizational policy. 4.1 Own role, responsibilities, accountabilities and duties In a health and social care setting there are a number of roles as well as responsibilities of a worker. They concern the employer and the client or the people during working (Day & Wagens, 2006, p. 45). There are various types of individuals with varied choices, preferences and nature with which as a care worker ought to coordinate with. Care and support plans are there to help one in dealing with such type of circumstances and individuals. Thus it is vital to read, comprehend and follow those support and care plans. In my work or role the aspects of key principle as well as ethical practice come in handy. Often respect as well as prioritize public confidence and trust and be accountable for the work quality. Often be responsible for keeping standards and enhance skills and knowledge. Support them throughout their course, and lead them to live independent and open. So as to offer quality care listening is important as it assists understand them (Harlen, 2005, p. 207). Some of the responsibilities of a worker towards persons you support are given below. Their interests and rights must be guarded. Build trust as well as maintain their confidence. Their behavior does not result into harm to anyone. They must keep distance from any form of harm or damage. These constitute some of the ways in which you can keep professional boundaries. You have to be reliable. Do not make inaccurate relationships with others, promote and protect the people surrounding you. Often be trustworthy and honest. You must often follow the written or laid down policies and procedures as well as cooperate and collaborate with the people surrounding you (Mendelstem, 2009, p. 104). Avoid discrimination against anyone and maintain accurate and clear records. Often attempt to improve your skills and knowledge. If there is a concern you should endeavor to inform the higher authorities before it is late. 4.2 Own contribution to the development and implementation of health and social care organizational policy Organizational policy within a health and social care setup can be developed by incorporating the named contents (Pereira, nagarajah, Win, Joachim, & Wjesuriya, 2008, pp. 397-399). Scope Context and Policy Statement, the process for development, the implementation plan, the monitoring and review. A full policy proposal plan was submitted together with Guidance and Procedures Document and Policy Protocols. Scope Context and Policy document contains the type of agencies, services as well as peoples put in the documentation. It also includes the services alongside other legal contents that must be mentioned within the document. There should be a clear statement concerning policy, policy protocols, as well as guidelines and procedure. This followed by Process for Development. During development of a policy there are a must include identifiable resources such as the national audit report, acts, inquiries, local requirements as well as in case of an occurrence what measures and steps ought to be taken. Process for development is followed by Implementation. During submission of policies an implementation plan must be attached. This must enhance consideration of the requirement for the way objectives and aims will be obtained, what will be the development and learning plans and Proposal, the way the documents are employed, the way to monitor as well as review the policies and ultimately the performance standards. Finally, this policy’s implementation plan comes in. The way this policy will be implemented as well as who will be assuming the lead responsibility. What will be the learning and development opportunities? 4.3 Recommendations to develop own contributions Social workers must perform as well as manage their tasks with full attention and responsibility. They must often show professional behavior and positive attitude towards their work. It is essential to constantly improve social work skills and knowledge. This is achieved through attending constant professional development programs. The workers in health and social care must be aware of the client’s body language and be able to recognize the circumstances and client situations (Rushton, 2005, pp. 509-511). It is incumbent on health and social workers to possess strong and helpful (meaningful) contacts within the field. They must encourage users to develop their own support system; as well as guide them to assist themselves and others when need be. Health and social care personnel must develop trustworthy and flexible relations with users, colleagues and families. Health care setups must offer such environments to the personnel where they can express innovative and constructive ideas/opinions to assist others (Pereira, nagarajah, Win, Joachim, & Wjesuriya, 2008, pp. 395-398). Reference list Alcock, C., Daly, G., & Griggs, E. (2008). Introducing Social Policy, 2nd edn,. London: Pearson, P. 54. Alcock, P., May, M., & Rowlingson, K. (2008). The Student's Companion to Social Policy, 3rd ed. . 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