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Health and social UNIT 5- meeting individual care needs FULL COURSEWORK
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FULL COURSEWORK DOCUMENT- DISTINCTION Focuses on Patrick, Brenda and Maria- meeting individual care needs
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BTEC Health and social careUnit 5: Meeting individual care and support needs- LAA
Importance of Promoting Equality, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination
Equality and Diversity
Equality is ensuring individuals or groups of individuals are treated fairly and equally and no less
favourably, specific to their needs, including areas of race, gender disability, religion or belief, sexual
orientation and age. (equalityhumanrights.com) In a Health and Social environment treating people
as individuals by taking in account their different beliefs and preferences is crucial. It is important
that all laws such as The Equality Act are not broken and therefore in any health and social setting
equality policies must be set to ensure that everyone is treated equally. This means everyone should
have equal access to the services they require to meet their personal needs no matter where they
live or how they chose to live their lives. Service providers should consider different beliefs and
abilities with every individual they come across even if they do not share these. Patients may feel
under-valued if their beliefs are forgotten about or not treated the same as others, for example if
patients need to pray at a certain time and a hospital did not accommodate these beliefs, they
would feel like they are not being treated equally and it may take them longer to recover. Promoting
equality in health and social settings such as doctor’s surgery’s and hospitals is important so patients
can happily use these services without feeling uncomfortable or like they are not being treated
fairly. Without equality in these places people would not use these services when needed, leading to
people that are ill not to recover as quickly as they could with help. However, equality in the health
and social sector is not the same as everyone receiving the same service. For example, everyone has
the right to have access to a local doctor’s surgery, but a seriously ill patient will have priority access
as they will need more of the doctor’s time and attention.
Diversity is about recognising that everyone is different in some way, it also means valuing the
differences between people. (Cambridge dictionary) In a health and social environment to meet the
needs of other people it is important to value the different cultures and beliefs of other people.
Diversity should be supported when creating an individual care plan to meet their needs, this will
enable service users to feel valued and respected. If you are unwilling to accept or ignore the
cultures and beliefs of others you will be unable to meet the needs or understand them. All
differences including age, gender and disability must be respected and valued, this is a legal
requirement for all health and social care organisations. Religious and cultural attitudes should also
be treated with dignity when dealing with individuals no matter if the service provider’s beliefs do
not match to the consumer. It is important that diversity is promoted within health and social care
settings as many places are now multicultural. Service providers treat a diverse range of people and
need to be able to understand different people’s needs. Britain is a multicultural society with a huge
variety of backgrounds. This has an impact on the health and social care economy, as health
professionals will treat and even work alongside people from diverse backgrounds and every one of
them will believe in different beliefs and behaviours. This will help them understand different
traditions and therefore be able to suggest a range of different treatments to suit their cultural
backgrounds. The best health professionals are able to be open to other people’s life experiences
and differences, and value their diversity to form good relationships.
,Use of equality and diversity with Patrick
Patrick Green is a 26 year old homosexual male and has recently been tested positive for HIV, along
with his partner James. One health professional that has shown equality and diversity is the GP, it is
important that the GP shows equality and diversity as Patrick needs to feel accepted and
comfortable discussing his sexual health. The GP is helping to create a treatment plan that will be
suitable to fit into Patrick and James lifestyles, which is promoting equality as GPs always try their
best to come up with treatments that the patients agree on and are happy with. The GP needs to
treat Patrick with respect due to his differences even if the GPs beliefs are different to Patricks.
Equality and diversity are also promoted when talking about confidentiality as this is required from
all health professionals and all patients expect it so by keeping Patricks conditions private to him, he
does not have to worry about other people knowing and treating him unfairly such as the landlord
due to his sexual health problems. The GP is not going to talk about Patricks conditions to others just
because he is homosexual or has HIV so is treating him equally to all other patients. Patrick needs to
feel accepted and comfortable when talking to his GP about his sexual health therefore treating him
equally will allow Patrick to build a trust worthy and positive relationship meaning he will not be
embarrassed and happily talk about the conditions, so he can receive the best treatment possible. If
equality and diversity is not shown by the GP Patrick may have low self-esteem and feel anxious
when discussing his issues and may not feel comfortable discussing everything so may not receive
the right amount of help or medication and may withdraw from treatment.
Use of equality and diversity with Brenda
Brenda is a 58 year old women and suffers from mental health and severe asthma. Brenda requires
help by many health care professionals to ensure she has a good quality of life. It is important that
Brenda is treated with equality and diversity due to her mental health problems as she will require
lots of help and support. Brenda should not be taken advantage of due to these mental health
problems and should still be treated the same as any other patient. One health professional that will
promote equality and diversity for Brenda is her advocate as she is speaking on behalf of Brenda and
helping her make the best possible decisions for her future but also listening to what Brenda wants.
This is treating Brenda equally as she is not being forced into any Care Plan just because she has
mental health problems, and her advocate is taking on any views and opinions Brenda has. Whether
it is the right or wrong decision to improve her health as it is still Brenda's life and she has final
decision of what care and medication she wants to receive, and cannot be forced into any treatment
she does not want. The advocate spends time with Brenda to ensure they have a trust worthy
positive relationship and they will respect Brenda's choices which promotes diversity as the
advocate can recognise Brenda is a bit older and has differences so she is taking the time to listen
and respect her. Brenda may also forget about the treatment she is having and what she is being
offered and may find it difficult to make decisions due to her mental illness so the advocate will be
able to keep track. If Brenda did not have the advocate getting access to help may have been hard
for her and she would have been forgotten about. Without equality and diversity being shown she
would not receive the best treatment that suits her and would feel ignored as she would have
nobody to listen to her. This may lead to a lack of confidence and Brenda feeling misunderstood or
confused about her conditions and how she can get better and her illnesses could get worse and she
will not know where she can get the help from.
,Use of equality and diversity with Maria
Maria is a 34 year old women who lives with her 96 year old mother who has dementia. Maria’s
mother is a first generation immigrant from Italy and due to her dementia does not remember much
English therefore only speaks Italian. Equality and diversity should be shown due to her mother
being Italian as she still deserves equal help even though she is an immigrant. Services should be
adapted so Marias mother is treated equally. Marias GP shows equality and diversity as they are
suggesting other treatments and giving recommendations of other health professionals for both
herself and her mother, and focussing on what will work best for them. Maria has been directed to
see other counsellors to discuss other methods of helping her sleep at night which shows they want
the best possible help for Maria. The GP has also suggested that Maria’s mother could be placed in a
nursing home so she can receive specialist dementia care, however Maria did not want her mother
in a care home so they have suggested alternatives which is suited to Maria needs more. This is
promoting equality and diversity as they are listening to what Maria doesn't want and suggesting
alternative methods of treatment and respecting her views which all health care professionals
should do to ensure the patients feel like they are being treated equally to other patients. Even
though bilingual community care assistants aren't always available, the caregivers are not just giving
up and forgetting about Maria and her mother just because they are Italian, they are treating them
the same as they would treat any other patient. If equality and diversity wasn’t shown to Maria
whilst seeking for help then she would not have been suggested alternative treatments and her
mother may not receive the right care off health professionals meaning that Maria will have to
spend more time with her. This means that her sleeping problems will continue and she will also not
be able to perform well at work, which could result in her losing her job and not receiving a regular
income. With the help and support Maria will be able to return back to work and will not have to
worry about her mother as she will be in good care of the health professionals.
Discrimination
Discrimination is treating a person or a particular group differently. This would result in treating
them in a worse way than you would treat other people because of their skin colour, sex, sexuality,
culture, beliefs, ability, health, family structures etc. There are four main types of discrimination:
Unfair Discrimination- When a person is treated unfairly compared to someone else. Such as being
withheld from something or having reduced opportunities. For example, when someone is not
considered for a job because they are older than another candidate, despite having the same
qualifications and experience.
Direct Discrimination- This is when someone is rude, hostile, or offensive to someone because they
see them as being different. These differences could be age, disability, gender reassignment,
pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sex orientation etc. For example, when someone who is overweight is
called names. This form of discrimination is seen or heard by others.
Indirect Discrimination- When a healthcare or care provider has a practice, policy or rule which
applies to all its patients and clients, but has a worse effect on some people than others because of
who they are. For example, a manager may appear to be supportive and friendly towards a member
of staff, but may show disrespect for their ideas by dismissing them in a jokey way. This is harder to
prove as some people will react different because of who they are.
Positive Discrimination- When a decision is made in a person's favour because there's something
different about them. For example, you may have better chance of getting a job due to a disability as
people feel like they should give you a chance.
, (Pearson BTEC health and social care)
The importance of Preventing Discrimination
It is crucial to prevent discrimination, so that everyone receives a service of equal quality, which
meets their personal needs it also ensures that everyone feels like they can get the help when they
need it and not feel unwelcomed by health professionals. Some of the possible effects of
discriminatory practise are things such as loss of self-esteem, stress and loss of confidence.
Individuals can be put at risk due to discrimination as it can lead to malpractice and abuse. It is
important for care workers to avoid discriminatory behaviour and language towards patients in
order for them to feel valued and welcomed to get the help and support they need.
The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider
society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to
understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which
it’s unlawful to treat someone. This helps prevent discrimination against age, disability, gender
reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex
and sexual orientation. This enables people to feel protected in a workplace environment so they
can feel they are treated equally no matter what their differences may be. The equality act includes
116 pieces of legislation in one act so it is much easier to follow rather than the previous laws.
(legislation.gov.uk)
Care services can adapt to meet individual needs and to make sure discrimination doesn’t occur.
Things such as access, diet, support, the use of advocacy services can be altered to fit personal
needs. The environment can be adapted so access can be made easy, examples could be having wide
corridors, ramps, disabled toilets, lifts, wide automatic doors, counters and signs at wheelchair level,
no obstacles or clutter, hearing loops. Some people’s diet may need to be different due to religion or
medical conditions which people cannot control. Appropriate resources and information are
provided in wide range of formats and languages to reflect local cultures, with advocates,
translators, interpreters and carers available to help. Patients may also have an advocacy service
therefore they can speak on behalf of them this may be due to illness, disability or lack of
confidence. (Pearson BTEC health and social care)
Preventing Discrimination and Patrick
Patrick may face direct discrimination throughout his life due to people seeing him as different
because of him being homosexual. Direct discrimination is when someone is rude, hostile, or
offensive to someone because they see them as being different. Patrick can easily prove this
discrimination if it occurs as it is heard or witnessed by other people. Due to Patrick’s sexual
interests it’s important that care givers do not discriminate against Patrick if they see him as
different. Patrick may now face unfair discrimination due to being HIV positive as now he is not being
accepted as a member of the martial arts club. Unfair discrimination is when someone is treated
unfairly compared with someone else. For example not being considered for a job due to
differences. In the future Patrick may suffer unfair discrimination due to his HIV when applying for
jobs. Patrick is currently experiencing discrimination at the moment as he is no longer being
accepted in the martial arts club, however he has been reassured that he will retain access to all
facilities and be treated the same. Patrick has also been reassured by Simon that his information will
remain confidential and will not affect his status at the centre. Even though Patrick has been
reassured he may feel pressured to leave the martial arts club due to not feeling welcome.
Discrimination can lead to losing sense of who you are and he may even feel reluctant to seek
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