Asses the effects on those using the service of three different discriminatory practices in health and social care settings.

by lissa012 (student)

Student : Lissa Williams

Teacher : Brian

Unit 2 : Equality, Diversity and Rights

M1 – Asses the effects on those using the service of three different discriminatory practices in health and social care settings.

BBC Panorama Ash Court Care Home

‘I used a spy camera to catch a care home thug beating up my mother’

Jane Worroll decided to investigate, why her elderly mother Maria was having trouble sleeping while at a residents at the Ash Court Care home in Kentish Town, North London.

Filipino workers abused and discriminated 78 year old Maria Worroll that had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and needed full time nursing care.

Maria Worroll had been at Ash court a 62 bedroom private care home in Kentish town for almost a year. She was physically abused by workers at the ash court, where all her rights and dignity was taken off her; every action made against her went against her rights. Maria suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common cause of dementia. With the help of her daughter Jane, using a camera to record all that went on, Maria’s misery was put to an end, and she was removed immediately from the care home, with further actions for the staff workers.

Potential Negative Effects

Loss of self-esteem/self-worth

Low self-esteem can result from various factors, including bullying. Discrimination can lead to people losing their-worth or self-esteem. Due to the way Maria was treated her self-esteem/self-worth would be effected because she’s been empowered mainly because she’s old and vulnerable, which can also be known as age discrimination, a person with low self-esteem will experience negative self-identity, which brings a feeling of worthlessness and depression. In a health and social care setting, the workers should ensure that an individual’s self-esteem is maintained. Maria also has Alzheimer’s disease, so there was already a progressive loss of brain cells so she’d feel even more sad or depressed by her increasing memory loss.

Loss of dignity/feeling devalued

This is a preview of the whole essay

Loss of dignity/feeling devalued

Dignity (choice) is a term used to signify that a being has an innate right to be valued and receive ethical treatment. Maria’s dignity was completely ignore in Ash court care home, she had restricted opportunities and her rights and her feeling of being devalued was not taken into consideration, instead she was not treated equally and was discriminated against. Maria should have been enabled to make her own choice about the way she wants to be treated, this policy wasn’t implemented. The care workers at Ash court came home were oblivious to Maria’s daughter, Jane’s request about not feeding her mother fish, pasta or sweet tea as she disliked them, this shows that Maria’s choice was ignored and her right to be valued and receive ethical treatment. Another example of Maria’s dignity not being valued, instead of having a female nurse to undress her as Maria didn’t like being exposed, her needs were attended by Jonathan Aquino, who slapped and manhandled her.

Other effects that may have occurred; restricted opportunities, as all types of discrimination may lead Maria to not using health and social care provision and this can lead to poorer health. Disempowerment (make a person or group less powerful or confident) Maria may be willing to fight against being disempowered, however many do not and they lose the will to fight against discrimination, as a result of this, they may become depressed & devalued, which in turn may lead to more health issues.

Little personal energy due to stress
Estrangement from society
Low self-efficiency (being no good at things)
Withdrawal and depressions is linked to learned helplessness
Expected to be rejected or excluded
Loss of motivation to achieve

Residential Care

Residential care is where a person leaves their home to be cared for in a safe and secure home environment. People who use this type of care may not be able to live on their own and maintain their heath but they do not necessarily need nursing care. Abuse can happen on a personal level, perhaps from one resident to another, or from one resident towards carer, or from carer towards residents.

Jonathan Aquino

Jonathan Aquino, 30, was caught when Jane Worroll suspected her mother Maria, 80, was being mistreated and hid a camera in her bedroom; he was caught slapping Maria around her thighs and her face. Sentencing Aquino to 18 months in jail, Judge Henry Blacksell QC told the nurse he was guilty of a ‘dreadful breach of trust’. The footage has now been turned into a film investigating the threatening world of Britain’s elderly care homes, which was shown last night on BBC’s Panorama.

Speaking outside court, Jane Worroll said: ‘Nobody as vulnerable as my mother should ever have to suffer or endure the unprovoked attack and mistreatment she has experienced at the hands of her supposed carers.

‘Had it not been for my actions, this abuse may never have been exposed, as I do not believe the existing safeguarding measures provide adequate protection.

Baby P

Peter Connelly also known as ‘Baby P’ was a 17 month old British boy born 1st March 2006 who died in London after suffering more than 50 injuries over an eight-month period, by his mum and step dad. During which he was repeatedly seen by Haringey children’s service and NHS health professionals.

In November, Connelly's new boyfriend, Steven Barker, moved in with her. In December, a noticed bruises on Peter's face and chest. His mother was arrested and Peter was put into the care of a friend, but returned home to his mother's care in January 2007. Over the next few months, Peter was admitted to hospital on two occasions suffering from injuries including bruising, scratches and swelling on the side of the head. Connelly was arrested again in May 2007.

Injuries to Baby Peter's face and hands are missed by a social worker after the boy is deliberately smeared with chocolate to hide them.

On the 3rd of august 2007, Baby Peter was found dead in his cot, Dr Jerome Ikwueke, a GP who saw Baby Peter 14 times before his death, is suspended by the General Medical Council.

Two social workers, who dealt with Baby Peter, Gillie Christou and Maria Ward, lose their claim for unfair dismissal. They had argued they were sacked unfairly by Haringey Council following his death, but a tribunal found the authority acted reasonably because of failings in the care they provided.

Baby P was neglected, social workers and doctors failed to take authorities when clear evidence, showed he was in danger. With the medical evidence indicating that Baby P had been deliberately harmed by someone, a prosecution for wilful neglect could, theoretically, have been possible if further supporting evidence had been available against his mother, but that possibility was undermined by the social services report, which was sent to police as part of the investigation and which praised the mother's relationship with her son.

Winterbourne residential care home

BBC One's Panorama showed patients at a home near Bristol, being slapped and restrained under chairs, having their hair pulled and being held down as medication was forced into their mouths.

Winterbourne residential care home is a care home which victims with severe learning disabilities were being abused by care workers. One victim was showered while fully clothed and had mouthwash poured into her eyes, the abuse was so bad that one patient tried to jump out of a second floor window, was then mocked by staff members.

Potential negative effects

People with learning disabilities will find it hard to differentiate the way they’re supposed to be treated and how they are treated, or they may not know their rights. In this case, the patients at winterbourne were discriminated against simply because of their disabilities, the care workers saw that as an advantage to empower and marginalise them, were they feel they aren’t a part of the main group in society. The patients self worth and self esteem will most certainly be effected, they did not have the rights to be respected as well as their dignity, core beliefs, choice and privacy, instead they were physically and emotionally abused, with being defenceless, this would of made them feel worthless and useless as they couldn’t physically retaliate because they were made to feel that their care workers were superior to them.

Other effects that may have occurred could have been negative behaviour, aggression or crime can be partly caused by this type of discrimination. In addition to the discrimination taken place against the service users (disabled people) they already may find it hard to control their moods, but with built up anger and frustration from the way they were treated could cause further problems to the way they behave towards other health and social care professionals.

When people have mental health issues they are not always able to see things clearly. They may have low self-esteem and feel that they must be in the wrong; it is always their fault. This is what may have affected the patients at the winterbourne residential care home.

Eleven care workers were sentenced after admitting 38 charges of neglect and abuse. Six were jailed for between two years and six months, while the others received suspended sentences.

"We cannot undo the pain, the suffering and humiliating experience endured by people with learning disabilities, and we most certainly cannot leave it to the monolithic bureaucratic machine to ensure that such abuses never occur again."

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