Positive working practice enables health and social care workers to meet the specific needs of clients.

Positive Working Practice

Positive working practice enables health and social care workers to meet the specific needs of clients. Each area of work needs to ensure that it meets the needs of all individuals. This means that everyone must have access to all these services regardless of their abilities.

Positive working practice becomes a great asset when considering how it can be applied to help those with additional needs. Before this was implemented, it was a common for individuals with additional needs to be expected to fit in with the rest of society. This meant that their needs were not being met. No real effort was put into concluding if the treatment they were receiving was beneficial to them or not.

In recent years, this has been changed. Services provide a more patient orientated examination. Meaning the patient is directly involved in every decision made. This left all decisive action down to them, ensuring they got the treatment they needed and felt comfortable with.

Looking at this from the perspective of someone with additional needs, you can conclude that this method would make them feel in control of their condition. Rather than someone telling what they think should be done, they decide. This is effective because after all, the individual is the one with the condition and not the service providers. They will have a better understanding of what will work for them and what will not.

Because of the more active role in the decision making process, individuals will have a better understanding of what will take place. This ensures people with additional needs are not being talked at; rather they are having an involved discussion with another person on equal terms.

What if the individual is not mentally capable of making decisions regarding their wellbeing? How can health and social care providers provide services that meet the needs of clients that are not mentally capable of making decisions about their wellbeing?

Decisions in such scenarios will be made by trusted family members or relatives. This ...

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Decisions in such scenarios will be made by trusted family members or relatives. This ensures the decisions made have the interests of the client in mind. However, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 allows doctors to overrule decisions in certain scenarios. It can be disputed that this is marginalise those with mental conditions and will make the decisions made by relatives invalid. Although, you could also argue that these decisions are based on fear and a lack of medical knowledge, and not the needs of the individual. It is a difficult subject to consider and opinions will differ depending on the perspective.

This largely depends on which model of disability is being considered. Relatives will try to take a more holistic approach, but will falter when trying to take into consideration medical aspects of the scenario. Such disputes are common because the service user will not be able to give their decisive opinion, leaving others to deduce what they believe is best for them.

The implementation of Positive working practice is not limited to decision making. It also ensures that the services provided are readily available to everyone. This means that should someone decided on a particular service; it is guaranteed that they will be given access to this service.

This can prove difficult for health care services to achieve. This is because individuals will have very different needs and views concerning what methods should be taken. Meaning that they will have to be as flexible as possible to ensure these needs are met.

The purpose of positive working practice is not to overpower individuals and provide services they need to everyone. Rather it is implemented to ensure that services are readily available should anyone choose to use them. People working in health care are encouraged to provide care in a manner that assists clients as opposed to doing everything for them.

This can be related to the care palliative patients receive. Care plans are assembled using the input of health professionals and family members. This allows the health care professionals to provide the medical care required, whilst doing so in an atmosphere that makes the client feel comfortable and dignified. Clients are also challenged to do what they are physically able unless they or family members have stated otherwise.

It is common in health and medical areas of care for individuals to be treated using methods that promote normalisation. Applying my knowledge of positive working practice will prove beneficial when dealing with those with additional needs. It will enable me to provide care in a manner that respects the rights of the patients. Though my interaction with patients will be limited, I can still apply positive working practice into all aspects of care. This could include actions such as allowing wheelchair bound patients to transport themselves if they are able, not controlling it for them.

I will also have to ensure I take a holistic approach to my treatment of patients. This is a method of that is learnt through experience and would not be something I could achieve without any prior experience. If I were to assume what could help a certain individual before I actually come into contact with them, I will not be implementing a needs-led approach to my care. Therefore, it is important that I apply my experiences into to future care so that I can make improvements when required.

Bibliography

Mental Capacity act 2005

http://www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/legal/Pages/MentalCapacityAct.aspx; date accessed: 12/5/2011

David Wright 1b Unit 26: Caring for individuals with Additional Needs