Benecia Rodrigues
P1 Explain the importance of promoting equality and diversity for
individuals with different needs
M1 Analyse the impact of preventing discrimination for individuals with
different needs
D1 Evaluate the success of promoting anti-discriminatory practice for
specific individuals with different needs
Equality means ensuring everyone in your setting has equal opportunities,
regardless of their abilities, background or their lifestyles 1. In a health and care
setting this means everyone should have equal access to the services they need
and personal needs they require. For example, everyone has the right to register
with a doctor but a seriously or chronically ill person will need more of the
doctor’s time. Individuals would also have personal or religious belief where
certain individuals can only eat certain food or have to pray at a certain time,
they would feel unvalued if their setting did not accommodate these beliefs and
this might slow down their recovery 2, leading to future implications; however if
this needs are met then the individual would feel valued which would improve
their confidence and mental health. Diversity means appreciating the differences
between people and treating people’s values, beliefs, culture and lifestyle with
respect3. For example, a diversity in religion, some individuals have different
views on who they worship or what they eat or don’t eat on certain days such as,
some Christians do not eat meat on Fridays. Similarly, you must also respect and
value differences such as age, gender and disability 4. In a health and social care
environment, it’s crucial that equality and diversity are at the heart of what you
do. You should always strive to ensure that an individual's needs are met and
they have equal access to the services as others. This is particularly important
for adults in need because of their age, illness or disability; this will enable them
to take adequate care of themselves5. Diversity and equality can be promoted in
different ways such as building a culture of fairness and inclusion where
individual’s culture preferences are matched and everyone has access to similar
goods and services despite their ethnicity, religion, age or gender. Moreover, the
environment should identify and prevent unconscious biases and be aware of
indirect discrimination6; this would make the individual feel comfortable and
good about themselves.
Promoting equality and diversity is primarily concerned with preventing
discrimination. Discrimination is when someone has a prejudice against a person
or a group of people leading the individual into treating them differently. This
might be for reasons such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, social class, religious
beliefs, secular beliefs, family structure, sexuality, ability, health, disability,
address (where they live), dressing style or appearance 7. There are four types of
discrimination, unfair, direct, indirect and positive discrimination. Unfair
1
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/promoting-equality-diversity-health-social-care/#:~:text=Equality%20means%20ensuring%20everyone
%20in,cultures%20and%20lifestyles%20with%20respect.
2
file:///W:/Students%20Access%20to%20Health%20and%20Social%20Care/MR%20KUTTEN%20YR13%20-LO-D%20UNIT%205%20COVER/BTEC-
National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
3
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/promoting-equality-diversity-health-social-care/#:~:text=Equality%20means%20ensuring%20everyone
%20in,cultures%20and%20lifestyles%20with%20respect.
4
file:///W:/Students%20Access%20to%20Health%20and%20Social%20Care/MR%20KUTTEN%20YR13%20-LO-D%20UNIT%205%20COVER/BTEC-
National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
5
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/promoting-equality-diversity-health-social-care/#:~:text=Equality%20means%20ensuring%20everyone
%20in,cultures%20and%20lifestyles%20with%20respect.
6
https://marshallelearning.com/blog/practical-steps-promoting-equality-workplace/
7
file:///W:/Students%20Access%20to%20Health%20and%20Social%20Care/MR%20KUTTEN%20YR13%20-LO-D%20UNIT%205%20COVER/BTEC-
National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
, Benecia Rodrigues
discrimination is when a person is treated unfairly compared to someone else 8.
For example, when an individual is not taken care of due to their ethnicity. Direct
discrimination is when someone is rude, hostile or offensive to someone because
they see them as being different. For example, someone who is overweight is
called names. This form of discrimination is easy to prove because it is heard or
witnessed by other people9. However indirect discrimination is harder to prove 10.
For example, a GP surgery requires patients to provide proof of address when
registering. This applies to all new patients regardless of their protected
characteristic. But Gypsies and travellers are less likely to be able to provide a
proof of address and therefore they will find it more difficult to register. This is a
fair rule, however it has a negative effect on this particular group of people 11.
Positive discrimination is when a decision is made in a person’s favour because
there is something different about them12. For example, taking care of a woman
can only be a women’s responsibility therefore the employer would decide to
hire only women for this role. Moreover, understanding discrimination and
promoting diversity would allow individuals to have better knowledge about
different cultures, religions and understanding that everyone is unique; doing
this would reduce discrimination and individuals would be treated equally. For
example, an individual might face discrimination due to their culture
preferences; understanding diversity would allow people to understand that the
society is made off different and unique people therefore they would treat them
equally which will benefit the certain group as they would feel valued which
would improve their confidence and self-esteem.
Discrimination can highly effect service users’ behaviour and wellbeing. For
example, it can result in the individual withdrawing themselves from social
activities leading to depression, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, a decrease in
confidence level, mental illness, injury and death, feeling unable to work and
may end up living in fear and losing a sense of who they are. This would not
allow them to improve their wellbeing as they might be reluctant to seek support
and treatment. It is important to prevent discrimination so service users can
receive a service of equal quality, which meets their personal needs and help
them to improve their wellbeing13. If the service users are not discriminated
against, then they would feel confident enough so seek help in order to improve
their wellbeing.
In a health and social care setting service provider should promote anti-
discrimination. Anti-discrimination is a way of ensuring that all people are treated
equally. Anti-discriminatory practice is guided by ethical principles. These are
principles or ways of working that are based on moral beliefs and judgements 14.
This can be done through legislation, codes of practice, charters and active
promotion in the workplace. For example, the Equality Act 2010 legally protects
people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society 15; this allows
individuals to build up their confidence and express themselves. There are
8
file:///N:/BTEC-National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
9
file:///N:/BTEC-National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
10
file:///N:/BTEC-National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
11
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/health/discrimination-in-health-and-care-services/health-and-care-services-what-are-the-different-types-of-discrimination/
indirect-discrimination-in-health-and-care-services/#:~:text=It's%20not%20just%20individual%20staff,on%20how%20to%20treat%20you.&text=If%20they
%20decide%20to%20do,this%20could%20be%20indirect%20discrimination.
12
file:///N:/BTEC-National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
13
file:///N:/BTEC-National-in-Health-and-Social-Care-Unit-05-web-ready%20(1)%20(1).pdf
14
https://classroom.google.com/c/MTQ0MTk2MzEzMzQz
15
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance
