Ethical Principles That Underpin Social Care Practice - Assignment Example

Reflective Portfolio Table of Contents A. Introduction 2 B. Framework of Legislation, Codes Of Practice Influencing Social Care 3 I. National Care Standards Commission Regulations and Standards 3 Ii. White Paper Document _ Valuing People 4 Iii. Mission Statement 4 Iv. Care Quality Commission 5 C. Values and Ethical Principles That Underpin Social Care Practice 6 D. Reflective Report 7 E. Conclusion 11 References 12 A. Introduction The older people are the most respected people in the society. However, they are at times ill-treated by their families. As a result of this government as well as private health care and social organisations are set up that tend to play a key role in providing care and support to the elderly people. To make the best use of the funds as well as for the provision of the best care at care homes the public care body introduced numerous policy initiatives. This is made more visible by the National Health Systems (NHS) Plan as well as the reaction of the government towards the Royal Commission on the Long Term Care. The reason behind this has been the helplessness of the residents, the impacts of the demographic changes upon the number of the old people requiring residential care such as subsidy. It has further been noted that there is high cost associated with such care. Therefore, it is quite important to comprehend the key aspects of such health care provisions (Personal Social Services Research Unit, 2001). With the partnership among the local authority and the NHS, the social care related services are generally provided in Cambridgeshire. It has been evident that the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust aims at serving the older people with all the necessary health as well as the social care related support that can be made available at one place (Cambridgeshire Country Council, 2011). However, it has been noted that there is discrepancy in the provision of the services to the people under the NHS scheme. Free NHS care is provided on the grounds of eligibility criteria of the people. The seriously ill people are supposed to pay for the care that they want to access. Therefore, this kind of inconsistency may affect the efficacy of the social and the health care providers which need to be checked soon (Community Care, n.d.). B. Framework of Legislation, Codes Of Practice Influencing Social Care I. National Care Standards Commission Regulations and Standards It is worth mentioning that the care homes for the older people need to meet the National Minimum Standards that have been identified by the National Care Standards Commission in order to determine if the care homes tend to meet the needs of such standards, as well as work for the welfare of the people living there. The standards tend to verify that whether the care homes consist of the individuals who may work at unique and complex situations. In addition to this the individuals need to possess specific skills and knowledge that may be required to deliver individually tailored as well as all-inclusive services. There are various themes that support the drafting of the National Minimum Standards for the care home of the elderly people. The regulators are supposed to comply with the various themes that have been drafted. While applying the standards it is important for the regulator to prove that the policies, the activities the facilities as well as the services that the care centre provides will deliver positive results. While applying the standards the inspector may ask for evidences that prove that the care homes are meeting the needs of the service users and their changing needs are taken care of. Since it is the manager along with the staffs who are responsible for looking after the old age people in such care homes, therefore in implementing the standards the regulators may look for the evidences that tend to show that the managers as well as the staffs of the particular health care organisation have achieved TOPSS requirement which is understood as The National Training Organisation for social care (Department of Health, 2002). Ii. White Paper Document _ Valuing People It has been noted that some people with learning disabilities may lead complete as well as gratifying lives; however others may not be able to do so and thus may encounter discrimination and other social issues in their lives. The White Paper places the commitment of the government to progress the life of the people possessing learning disabilities. It is through Valuing People program that assist in comprehending the opportunities provided by the government to the children as well as the adults possessing learning disabilities in order to live an independent life (TSO, 2011). Iii. Mission Statement It can be mentioned that there are greater number of the domiciliary care services in the UK for the older people. The care can be provided as well as funded by the state directly such as the external agencies at times or may be purchased directly by the families through state funding or privately (Equal, n.d.). One of the domiciliary that provides highest-quality of the care for the elderly people has been the Home Instead Senior Care. It is an independent provider of the health and social services to the elderly people based in the UK and are also a part of worldwide organisation. The individuals get the care at the comfort of their homes. It has been noted that the services at this home care organisation is quite flexible. It consists of personal care that includes eating and medication, dressing, shopping, bathing, home assistance that covers all the aspects of the routine housework and various types of meal preparation and others (Home Instead, 2011). The organisation is in Garston that serves whole of the Liverpool and is a family owned business. It came into effect in the year 2007 by Mr. Brian Powell and Mrs. Janet Powell. It is to be mentioned that the mission statement of this domiciliary has been to alter the way the care to the elderly people is provided in the UK. Its mission is to make the people feel the care that is provided to them instead of just receiving the care (The Best Of, 2011). Iv. Care Quality Commission In England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates the health and social care. Various social care organisations offer the care to the individuals such as private companies, local authority’s voluntary organisation as well as NHS. Therefore, CQC tends to control the care provided by these organisations. It aims at providing quality care to all the individuals, be it at hospitals, care homes or at people’s personal homes. Those individuals whose rights have been constrained under the Mental Health Act are protected by the CQC (CHS Group, n.d.). C. Values and Ethical Principles That Underpin Social Care Practice There are various practical issues for instance assisting the older people to stick to their present treatments, numerous types of information that needs to be provided to provide a valid consent, the elderly people’s right to confidentiality and the discussion relating to where the elderly people would prefer to spend their entire life (Wiley, n.d.). It is quite important for the elderly people to make choices when accessing the health care organisation for themselves both on clinical as well as ethical grounds. It can be comprehended that the introduction of the cost at the decision making process related to the health care of the elderly people based upon the illness can be considered as an unpleasant practice. It can further be argued that introduction of the cost in the health care setting of the elderly people can be considered as necessary for the fulfilment of the broader objectives (Gunning & Holm, 2009). It is to be mentioned that all the professionals do have their codes of professional ethics as do the social workers. These codes possess certain values that are deemed as core to that particular profession. It is quite important for the health care organisation to communicate well with the elderly people and thus respect to this group of people’s decisions. It is quite important to value the elderly people. Majority of the elderly people tend to face numerous health problems as well as sensory impairments. It is to be remembered that all such patients need to be treated as most respectable individuals. However, the older people are stereotyped instead of treating them as individuals. This can be called as unfair discrimination. There are various ethical principles that need to be kept in mind in relation to the older people. It is at first important to treat all the aged people equally. Application of the sound ethical principles such as to act in the best interest of the patients, to avoid any harm and to show empathy towards them, to respect the older people’s autonomy as well as the confidentially are quite important. Further, the ethical guidelines that concern the care of the elderly people need to focus upon various issues. It is quite important to be person-centred as well as holistic since this group of individuals face multiple problems and possess various needs. The care of the older people also needs to focus upon promoting the quality of life, promoting their ability to exercise control and individuals independence. The concerned health care organisation needs to be quite sensitive upon the issues related to justice and must not distinguish unfairly in matter of age. The different cultural values also need to be respected and thus those societal factors that tend to affect the individuals behaviours as well as the attitudes towards the older people need to be acknowledged. It is worth mentioning that the values above are important for all the patients, however ageism tends to make the people think differently in comparison to how the younger generation is treated (British Medical Association, 2009). D. Reflective Report I am working as a team leader in renowned public health care organisation that takes care of the elderly people in the UK named Home Instead. As a team leader, I am supposed to lead the team who works under this independent organisation. It is to be noted that the elderly people are not identical group and can be assumed that their needs are numerous. The old age people can be segregated into three groups namely entering old age, transitional phase as well as frail older people. It has been found that the role of health care is quite different for all the three group of old age people. It has come to my notice that the entering old age people can be explained as the people who have entered into their 50s. This people generally tend to be active and independent and even at their old age they remain the same. Therefore, the role of the health and social care policy here has been to promote living a healthy life and thus extending healthy active life while compressing morbidity. Similarly in case of the transitional phase the role of the health as well as the social care policy has been to identify the problems that arise because of the crisis and thus provide solution in order to prevent the crisis and thus reduce the dependency. I understood that the frail older people are at risk because of health problems. In this scenario, the goal of the organisation is to identify the problems and thus respond to them. The organisation where I work as the team leader takes care of all the above aspects and ensures that the elderly people stay healthy and free from any kinds of diseases. The organisation works in partnership with the National Health Systems (NHS) in order to take care of the older people. We at Home Instead applied all the principles and standards as prescribed by the NHS. Our organisation emphasises upon promoting independence, rights of the individuals, communities and families and well being. The services at this organisation are provided not considering the age, and the basic focus is upon the clinical needs alone. We don’t use age in our eligibility criteria in order to restrict the old age people to avail our services. Due attention is paid towards the ethics and values of the elderly people in our organisation. In addition to this ours organisation as well as the NHS applies the same procedures in order to promote good practices and for responding to the bad, poor and dangerous practices. We at this organisation focus upon the Tuckman theory of group formation. The Tuckman theory is mainly concerned with the way the team tends to tackle the task from its initial formation to the completion of the task. On the flip side Belbin theory focuses upon the formation of the groups as well as the identification of the teams who might work properly in a group cohesively (TeamBuilding, n.d.). As a team leader, I ensure that my followers work as per the pre-determined standards. While working on a group we assure that the complex issues related with the elderly people are tackled easily and the decisions has been considered in a collaborative manner. While working in group I ensure that team members recognise, promote as well as preserve the rights of the individuals who are taking our services. We engage ourselves in continuous learning from various backgrounds across various sectors. I ensure that my teammate’s act within the limits that has been specified or defined as per their roles and thus take responsibility of their deeds. I ensure that my team mates are well aware regarding their job purpose and the complexity that the job consists. I have noticed that working in a group or co-operative working requires the time investment as well as huge resources for it to be effectively implemented for the benefit of the older people. However, working on the group tends to provide better and consistent results to the users of the service. The sharing as well as the formation of the knowledge becomes possible when working in groups. However, it is quite important for the group to work for the common goals of the organisation. Home Instead seem to have recognise the importance of the elderly people and the care that is required by this group at their age. Therefore, we at this organisation work cohesively to serve the needs of these groups. In brief, we all work with full dedication to achieve the goals of the organisation that has been to serve the elderly people with due respect and care. E. Conclusion The study has been quite effective in understanding the importance of the elderly people as well as the various organisations that tend to serve this group of people. This study helped me to comprehend the various principles and codes of conduct for the health care organisation. It threw insights onto the ethics as well as values in the provision of the health care to the elderly people. I arrived at the conclusion that the health care organisations play a vital role in providing specialised as well as individualised care to the elderly people. However, certain organisations tend to discriminate in providing such care in terms of cost associated with such services. Therefore, in this context the ethics has a role to play. The health care organisations must not discriminate on the basis of age in providing any services. In addition to this the cultural as well as the societal values needs to be taken due care of. The effort needs to be made to transform the lives of the elderly from vulnerable to highly respectable and thus the quality of their life needs to be improved. It is important to show empathy towards this group of people and thus pay attention towards the elderly people possessing the learning disabilities. It has been noted that various government programs are initiated in order to support the elderly people with learning disabilities. However, it is the responsibility of the citizen and not only the health care organisations to take care of this group of people and work for the betterment of this group. References British Medical Association, 2009. The Ethics of Caring for Older People. John Wiley and Sons. Cambridgeshire Country Council, 2011. Older People. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/social/older/ [Accessed May 24, 2011]. Community Care, No Date. Elderly People. Resources. [Online] Available at: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/09/29/104087/elderly-people.htm [Accessed May 24, 2011]. CHS Group, No Date. Care Quality Commission Reports. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.chsgroup.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=Care-Quality-Commission-Reports [Accessed May 24, 2011]. Department of Health, 2002. Care Homes for Older People. Care Standard Acts 2000. Equal, No Date. The Triangle of Care- Domiciliary Care for Older People. Introduction. [Online] Available at: http://www.eurocarers.org/userfiles/file/goodpractice/triangle_of_care.pdf [Accessed May 24, 2011]. Gunning, J. & Holm, S., 2009. Ethics, Law, and Society, Volume 4. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Home Instead, 2011. Tailor Made, One-To-One At Home Care. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.homeinstead.co.uk/About_Us.do [Accessed May 24, 2011]. Personal Social Services Research Unit, 2001. Care Homes for Older People. The Homes and Their Services. [Online] Available at: http://www.pssru.ac.uk/pdf/chop1.pdf [Accessed May 24, 2011]. The Best Of, 2011. Home Instead Senior Care Information. Welcome to Home Instead Senior Care. [Online] Available at: http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/liverpool/business-guide/feature/home-instead-senior-care/61439 [Accessed May 24, 2011]. TSO, 2001. Valuing People: A New Strategy For Learning Disability For the 21st Century. Where Are We Now. [Online] Available at: http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm50/5086/5086.pdf [Accessed May 24, 2011]. TeamBuilding, No Date. Team Building Exercise. The Effect Team Building Exercises Have on the Corporate Sector. [Online] Available at: http://www.teambuilding.co.uk/team_building_exercise_team_building_theory.html [Accessed May 24, 2011]. Wiley, No Date. “The Ethics of Caring for Older People, 2nd Edition”, British Medical Association. Read More