Darcie Rushmore
UNIT 5 – Meeting individual care and support needs.
P1 – Explain the importance of promoting equality and diversity for
individuals with different needs.
In this assignment, I will be discussing equality and its importance, diversity, and discrimination. I will
then relate these to my chosen case studies. I will be writing about Valerie B.; Valerie is 24 years old
and was admitted to the hospital after her surgery for her appendix which burst before she made it
to the hospital. The surgery was complicated due to her being obese. She also has mental health
problems and low self-esteem. She also has a hearing impairment and is a vegetarian. I am also
writing about Aisha H.; Aisha is 82 years old and was admitted to the hospital to recover from
pneumonia. She also has vascular dementia and delusions where she hears voices. She is a practising
Buddhist who has no family and lives alone.
Equality
Equality in the health and social care sector is making sure that everyone’s needs are met no matter
their disability, beliefs, or abilities. It is also making sure that everyone has equal access to the
services they need to all have the same opportunities. Everyone must be treated with the same
amounts of respect and fairness no matter their differences or circumstances. The equality act in
2010 created nine big equality laws that made sure no one could be treated differently or be
discriminated due to their certain different personal characteristics. It makes sure that employers
know how to treat their employees. The nine protected characteristics are sexual orientation, Race,
age, sex, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, religion and beliefs and marriage
and civil partnership. It is important that health and social care practitioners promote equality so
that everyone’s needs can be met which leads to everyone being able to have a happy and enjoyable
life. If everyone treats people fairly and everyone is respected, it will make it easier for everyone to
get along and to live side by side.
Valerie – As Valerie is obese, she should not be treated any differently because of this. As she
struggles with her personal hygiene the health and social care practitioners can give her aids to use
to help her with this. This is promoting equality as even though she is obese, she has the same
opportunity as everyone else to stay clean. As she is vegetarian, the health and social care
practitioners show her equality by respecting her choice and helping Valerie to plan meals to suit her
and to help her stay healthy. Health and social care practitioners should also respect Valeries spiritual
beliefs and not treat her any different even if they do not agree with it themselves. Valerie is also
unemployed however she should still be able to have opportunity to have the same services as any
other person and she should not be treated differently because of her having universal credit.
Valeries weight should not be a reason for her to be treated differently or unfairly and when helping
her manage her weight, the practitioners should treat her fairly and go about it respectfully. If Valerie
is not treated with equality for these factors, her self-esteem and mental health could decrease even
more. This is why it is important to show her equality so that Valerie can gain confidence in herself
and get the help she needs to live happily.
Aisha - Due to Aisha being unable to live alone, the hospital is showing her equality by allowing her
to stay in the hospital until they can find her a care home. This allows her to stay safe and get all the
services she needs to do that. She should not be treated differently due to her age as this is a
protected characteristic of the equality act. Health care providers should make sure to respect Aishas
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beliefs and provide her with food that is vegetarian and not eggs or fish. They should also never treat
her differently due to her religion and by them keeping her prayer books close to her, Aisha will feel
respected. As Aisha has dementia health care providers may not see her as smart or may not respect
her as much as others or treat her poorly because they think she will not remember. This would be
them showing her a lack of equality as they would not be giving her the support she needs. Aisha
also deserves to be happy so her being provided with things she enjoys such as music and yoga
videos, is her being shown equality as their giving her the same opportunity as everyone else to be
happy and enjoy life. The health care providers should make sure that they are clear with what they
tell her and give her explanations of what will happen so that she can understand and not get
overwhelmed by the new situation. It is important that Aisha is being shown equality as it will help
bring confidence and she will feel welcome and comfortable being in the hospital. This will also help
her feel calm so that she does not worry about what is going to happen.
Diversity
In health and social care there is a lot of diversity. This means there is a big range or variety of people
with differences. This could be someone’s culture, age, gender, or disability. These people should
have these differences valued and should not be discriminated because of them. Accepting and
respecting people’s differences means that health and social care providers can understand the
people receiving the service and can create relationships to make them feel more comfortable. Being
open to understanding other people’s cultures can lead to opportunities such as new treatments and
experiences that they can learn from to improve the service that they provide.
Valerie – Health and social care professionals can promote diversity by understanding and learning
about Valerie’s beliefs. This will enable the service provider to form a connection with Valerie so that
she feels respected and so that her situation and needs can be understood better. Valerie should also
not be treated differently due to her socioeconomic status as she is unemployed and receiving
universal benefits. The service providers should try to understand her situation and not treat her any
differently or reduce the standard of Valerie’s care because of it. However, someone’s socioeconomic
status is not a protected characteristic of the equality act, so it is not illegal to treat people differently
because of it.
Aisha – Health and social care providers should promote diversity by making sure they are respectful
about her being a Buddhist. This will help Aisha to feel respected if her service providers are
interested and understanding of her beliefs. It will also help them to form a connection so that her
treatment can be tailored to her personally due to knowing her better. As Aisha is an elder, the
health and social care professionals should show diversity by making sure that they treat her with
the same respect as they would do for a younger person. As Aisha has different needs to younger
people, they need to learn how to treat her so that she still has independence and keeps her
confidence while still giving her the correct care tailored to her.
Discrimination
Discrimination In health and social care is when service users are not being treated equally due to
their differences. These differences could be age, gender, religion, or disability. Discrimination can
lead to people being at risk of abuse or discriminatory language and health and social care providers
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should know the importance of avoiding this. There are different types of discrimination that occur in
health and social care.
Direct discrimination is when a person is being treated unfairly compared to another person for a
particular reason.
Indirect discrimination is when there is a policy or rule that applies to everyone however, it may have
a bad effect on some people because of who they are and their differences.
Unfair discrimination is when a person is treated differently and unfairly compared to another
person.
Positive discrimination is when a person has something different about them and a decision is made
in their favour.
Health and social care providers must make sure they promote anti-discrimination which is when
they prevent people from experiencing unfair treatment due to their differences which then helps to
create an inclusive environment. It is important to promote anti-discrimination as it helps people to
feel confident and empowered by their differences. It also helps to create harmony within society
which makes it safer for everyone.
Valerie – Health and social care practitioners can promote anti-discrimination by ensuring that they
are not judgemental of Valeries religion and beliefs so that she is not treated any differently because
of it. Valerie should be supported in her situation and even though she likes to be isolated they
should help her express herself so that she can give her preferences on the treatments and her care.
Also, they should make sure that they give her all the information she needs to be able to make
those choices herself therefore, promoting independence and confidence. Valeries health and social
care providers should make sure they consider her dietary preferences and giver options of foods
that she feels comfortable eating. It is important that anti-discrimination is promoted for Valerie as
discrimination could cause her mental health to decline further as she may feel judged or
uncomfortable which can lead to her being unhappy. Also, if she is being discriminated against, she
may isolate herself even more which would make it hard for the health and social care providers to
communicate and share vital information about her care. If they cannot communicate with her, they
would be unable to provide care centred to her personally.
Aisha – Just like Valerie, health and social care providers can promote anti-discrimination by
respecting Aishas religion and not treating her any differently because of it. This is important because
if they make an effort to respect and understand her religion, they can get to know her more
personally so that they can make her care more centred towards her. As Aisha is a Buddhist, she has
certain beliefs about her diet. Health and social care providers should make sure they give a range of
food choices for her that match the foods she eats. Due to Aisha being in later adulthood at 82 years
old, they should not treat her differently or see her as incompetent so that they can help promote
her independence as much as possible.
P2 – Explain the skills and personal attributes necessary for professionals who
care for individuals with different needs.
Health and social care professionals should have certain skills and personal attributes that
will help them to give the best care they can. Skills refers to the ability to do something well
and personal attributes refers to qualities that make up an individual’s personality.
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In December 2012, compassion in practice was launched. It made sure that the 6 Cs became
the standard way that nurses, midwifes and care staff should treat service users so that they
can deliver the highest quality of care.
The 6 Cs
Care – Making sure that the needs of a person are met and that they are given what they
need when in care.
Compassion – Making sure that you are aware of people’s needs and to have a desire to give
them the best care.
Competence – The ability to understand a person’s needs, combined with the expertise and
knowledge to deliver effective care to meet those needs.
Communication – To exchange information between two or more people that helps to
provide care and support.
Courage – The personal strength and vision to do the right thing for the people being cared
for.
Commitment – The determination to improve care and meet the needs of people.
Valerie – Health and social care providers show care to Valerie by making sure they
understand her needs so that they can give her the best care. By giving her the medicine
ramipril, they are showing her care as the medicine will help her to be happy and to improve
her self-esteem. They have shown her care by helping her to wash by giving her aids to use
or by referring her to cognitive behavioural therapy. These are both ways that her needs
have been met to help her. To show Valerie compassion, health and social care workers must
make an effort to make sure that they know and understand all of Valerie’s needs. This
shows that they are making an effort to give Valerie the best care they can. For example,
encouraging Valerie to change her clothes if spoiled is them showing respect and kindness to
her as they do not want her to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed by this. To have
competence, Valeries health care providers must make Valerie feel comfortable so that they
can talk to her to understand her better. By doing this, they can know exactly what she
needs and how to deliver that care the best way they can. This could be things such as
knowing exactly what medication to give her that would improve her mental health the best
or knowing how to gently approach personal areas such as how Valerie may need to lose
weight and giving her ways to do this. Valeries health and social care providers will use
communication when talking between other staff that help Valerie so that they all
understand her needs and her as a person. They must ensure that they are talking about her
in a respectful way to benefit her and to improve her care. As Valerie may not understand
certain things such as why she needs to lose weight, it may be difficult for her health and
social care providers to talk to her about such issue. It may also be difficult to have
conversations to Valerie about it as she likes to isolate herself and can be withdrawn.
Because of this they must show commitment to be determined to work with her through it
