This assignment is Unit 5 Task 1 which includes Learning outcome A, B and C. This is a
good example of a written assignment and merit level.
Providing support for individuals in the community
Within this assignment, I will be talking about Unit 5 where this is about meeting individual needs
and support needs. I will be writing about all learning outcomes A, B and C and linking each one to 3
case studies. Everything I talk about must be used when working within health and social care to
successfully meet an individual need.
A1- promoting equality, diversity and prevent discrimination
Equality is where everyone is treated equally and fairly. When working in health and social care,
equality is very important as it gives everyone equal care that meets their needs. To show equality a
professional will need to consider the patients beliefs, cultures, religion, gender or age. For example,
if a patient is Muslim in a hospital, you cannot feed this patient pork as its against their religion. This
is where you must respect the patient’s beliefs, religions, if this is not considered it will make the
patient feel uncomfortable and they would be scared to get care again. An example of where
equality is shown, is a traveller goes into a GP and the doctor invites the whole family to all decide.
This is respecting their culture as they believe all the family must be part for important decisions.
An equality act 2010 was introduced to protect you from discrimination. Discrimination is where
someone is being prejudice against a person due to age, race, gender and many more. This act
protects people from being discriminated. The protected rights are age, race, sex, gender
reassignment, disability, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy and
maternity (equality act 2010)
Diversity means a range of differences such as cultures etc. To value this you must respect
everyone’s cultures, religion or beliefs. With working in health and social care you must respect
different cultures/beliefs, if not then it would be much harder to meet the needs of the patient.
Britain is a multicultural society; this is where many different cultures or ethnic groups lives in one
area. This is very important for working in health and social care as many employees came from
different backgrounds and many patients are from different backgrounds. Whilst working in
healthcare you will give many skills and experience about different cultures/ religion. This is a good
learning opportunity for the professionals and add life skills. Overall, you must be respectful of
diversity to work within health and social care. At the end of the day, each patient should receive the
same amount of respect.
Discrimination is where someone is being judgement or prejudice against a person or a group.
Discrimination should not be used when working in health and social care settings, as it treats people
unfairly. There are four types of discrimination which are:
Unfair discrimination is when someone being treated unfairly compared to someone else. An
example of this is when someone has not got the job due to their age when someone else did.
Direct discrimination is when someone is rude to someone else due to a different such as race.
Indirect discrimination is when someone is supported in front of others but unsupported or rude in
private with you.
Positive discrimination is this is when something is made for a person because they are something
different about them.
,When working in health and social care, it is important to prevent discrimination as it is cruel, and
everyone deserves equality. Being discriminated against is very painful and can lead to any effects
such as: stress, mental health, fear of getting help or many more issues.
We must prevent discrimination when working in health and social care as it treats everyone fairly. If
discrimination is used, then the service user may feel uncomfortable and be fearful seeking help
again and will not get the necessary help needed.
We can use methods to prevent discrimination such as advocates. These are people who speak for
you if you are unable to. This can prevent discrimination by having someone speak for you helps you
get your point across and be less vulnerable. Within an advocate the person may feel helpless and
the service giver may not understand and could discriminate. Another method to prevent
discrimination is through access, this means adapting the environment. An example of this is
adapting corridors and doors to be widen for wheelchair users. This method is very important as it
helps people with impairments feel comfortable with the environment around them and feel accept
in society. Another method is diet, to prevent discrimination we need to respect their beliefs which
could include diet. The final method is support, this means having the availability for carers,
translators and any other support services. These helps prevent discrimination and mad ethe person
feel include and safe.
The impact of preventing discrimination is making the service user feel comfortable with seeking
help, build self-esteem, self-confidence and improve the overall service. All professionals need to
show this to help service users and improve healthcare. Within discrimination the patient will feel
free and comfortable leading to building better relationships and better communication. Overall, this
will improve the whole experience between service user and the professional. An example of this is a
person goes into a sexual health clinic where they are not discrimination against their sexual
orientation but are giving the right care needed, this is seen in case study 1. This is an example of
preventing discrimination to help the patient gets the right care needed.
Anti-discriminatory is where an action is taken to stop discrimination, this is used to overcome
prejudice and promote equality. There are three national initiative which are: conventions,
legislations and regulations. Conventions are agreements that overcome problems. Legislation is a
law that applies to everyone. A regulation is a rule that is followed by an organisation such as NHS.
When working in health and social care they would use five words to prevent discrimination these
are: understanding, involving, information, asking and priority. Understanding is showing empathy
and involving is reassuring. Information is where the service giver tells information about what she is
entitle to and asking is giving the patient the choice of care. Priority is what is priority so what should
be done first (anti-discriminatory practice 2016). This allows people feel in touch of their care and
life. Positively, this allows independence and making them feel safe as possible. This is preventing
discrimination and being heard. However, negatively if a patient cannot speak for themselves, they
may not be able to get an advocate due to funding or another reason. This leaves the patient feel
unsafe and scared. This would need to be solved to have a better outcome.
There could be many difficulties with anti-discriminatory practice such as if a professional does not
see the important where they cannot promote anti-discriminatory. Every professional will need to
see how this is so important as they cannot work with health and social care. Another difficulty is
limited funding so many nurses and doctors will not have time to ensure anti-discriminatory practice
and make sure the patient feel safe. Due to stress and pressure nurses may overlook some
problems. Overall, there is many successes with anti-discriminatory practice as all services uses this,
however it is down to the individual to promote this. This is down to whether the professional has
, the right personal attributes to promote anti-discriminatory practice. To successes promote anti-
discriminatory practice you would need to include skills and personal attributes and empathy
theories. For example, having empathy, people skills and good communication skills will promote
anti-discriminatory practice and make the patient feel more comfortable. However, with anti-
discriminatory practice there still much needed to improve such as bullying, this still happens to this
day and it goes against the equality act and discrimination. Without the success of anti-
discriminatory practice, this will make the patient feel uncomfortable and causing many problems
such as mental health. However, when anti-discriminatory practice is promoted successfully this
improves the care given, build better relationships and gain more confidence. An example of
successfully promote anti-discriminatory practice is carers give the right care to everyone in the care
home, no matter what their race or gender is but are treated equally. An example of not successfully
promote anti-discriminatory practice is a child is being bullied due to his race and is indirect
discrimination against by his teachers.
In case study 1, Patrick has been tested positive for HIV where he needs to see many health services,
he should not be discriminated to his sexual orientation. The equality act protects the characteristic
of sexual orientation. Any health professional should not discrimination as it protected by the
equality act. However, he might be kicked out of his martial arts class due to his conditions, this is
direct discrimination, and the teacher should not be doing that. However, he is shown equality by
being reassured that he can get treated the same and access all the facilities. All the information is
protected by confidently. The couple had been offered to a choice of counselling this is equality and
treating them the same and respecting their wishes. They have been offered support service which
are counselling this is a method of anti-discriminatory practice. However, they are also discriminated
against by the landlord may kick them out due to their condition. This should not happen due to
human rights, the right to have shelter. The professional in this situation should promote anti-
discriminatory practice such as the sexual health advisor suggesting them to adapt by using condoms
and giving support.
In case study 2, Brenda suffers from mental health which should not be discriminated against. From
her condition she might be discriminated as some people can view her as vulnerable. The method
that is the professional used in her case is using an advocate. This is someone who speaks up for
Brenda and preventing discrimination. However, this advocate is not available all the times due to
funding so some appointments Brenda may feel vulnerable or be discriminated against. She is
working with many different types of professionals and all should show equality and prevent
discrimination. She expressed that she feels too many people know about her situation from this she
may feel discriminated against. As she was abused in her past, her wish to get females however due
to funding this may not be possible. She may feel discriminated against or feel scared. A method to
use for anti-discriminatory practice is giving Brenda the support that she needs.
In case study 3, Alice is being discriminated against for her alcohol intake, she been told that she
must stay away from others because of how she smells. This is unfair discrimination as compare to
others she can not be near people. She feels like she is being judge from others making her feel
uncomfortable within her class. However, the manager thinks she not discriminated Alice however
putting her away from others is still discrimination. As she finds personal expression hard to
understand she feel her G.P does not understand her needs. Due to this Alice has got an advocate to
help her understand and for the G.P to understand. A method of promoting anti-discriminatory
practice is support services. She is getting support from a shelter accommodation and a counsellor.
This will help her improve and feel better.
