Ethical principles –
There are principles or ways of working that are based on moral beliefs and judgements. Key ethical principles are:
Justice
Autonomy (maintaining or increasing the independence of service users)
Beneficence (taking actions that benefits service users)
Non-maleficence (not doing harm to service users)
If these ethical values are applied to all individual then equality and rights should be met. The care value base is built upon ethical principles and places the service users at the heart of provision.
Putting the child at the heart of the service provision –
Actively promoting equality and rights puts the service user at heart of provision which keeps them in the mind at all the key points of service. The key principles that each setting must adhere to are :
Providing service users with active support
Promoting anti-discriminatory practice
Empowering service users.
Providing service users with active support –
Active support, involves taking the appropriate action to support a service users when they need assistance or guidance. The main forms of support could be summarised as:
Service-related advise and guidance (access, rights etc)
The provision of service-related information (medication, appointments, care planning etc)
Physical support (dressing, eating, watching, moving etc)
Social support (entertainment, friendship, listening ear)
Mental health support (coping strategies, encouragement, confidence building).
Promoting individuals’ rights –
The promotion of individual rights takes many forms and includes the needs to help service users express their needs and preferences. Many individuals can and do express their needs and wants quite forcefully and are very able to speak up for themselves but there are other individuals who will need help and support. Service users who might need help to express their needs include those who:
∙ Are ill
∙ Are frail
∙ Having learning difficulties
∙ Use a second language.
Also whatever the need of assistance, the support comes in the form of good communication. To support individuals to express their needs you will need to:
∙ Keep service users informed
∙ Ask questions
∙ Use a preferred methods of communicating
∙ Listen
∙ Not make assumptions
∙ Ask for help from others if necessary.
Offering choices + ensuring well-being –
Active promotion of equality and individual rights can also be demonstrated in the way we work individually with our service users. For example, offering people a choice related to their care and treatment can make a huge difference to the way people feel and respond to service. Choices around food, clothing and personal care are key to the service offered by health and social care assistants. As you can imagine, choosing your own clothes for the day and the food you want to eat at mealtimes are central to feelings of well-being and a sense of control over your daily life.
Promoting anti-discriminatory practice –
All health care workers have a responsibility to promote anti-discriminatory practices. This can include informing service users of their rights, challenging discriminatory practices and keeping themselves up-to-date with current legislations and policy guidelines to help ensure the best possible service is provided.
Balancing a persons rights with the right of others –
Balancing the rights of one individual with rights of another can be difficult to achieve but certainly not impossible. In the main, the health care worker needs to develop good negotiating skills and an open communication style. Balancing rights is often about dealing with conflict and tensions.
Dealing with conflicts –
Dealing with conflict and tensions is all part of the daily work of a health and social care professional. In some cases, the tension might be between a service user and a carer or between two service users. In addition, there is also the possibility of tension occurring between services. No matter what the situation is, a resolution must always be found if the person at the centre of the care process is to receive a high quality provision. In the main, there is only one way that staff at any level can learn how to deal with issues arising in their daily work in a positive and successful manner. This is through staff development (training, education and workplace experience). Dealing with conflict requires a range of skills including:
- Seeing all sides of an argument
- Being willing to listen and take action
- Taking action quickly and not leaving things to fester
- Not taking sides (but the service user must come first)
- Looking for quick, but appropriate, solutions.
Unit 2: Assignment 2.4 (B)
The codes are the first statutory codes of practice for social care workers and their employers. They provide a clear guide for all those who work in social care, setting out the standard of conduct that workers and their employers should meet. They also mean that service users, carers and wider public will know what standard of conduct and practice they can expect.
There are two codes:
The code of practice for social care workers – this sets out the standards of professional conduct and practice required of social care workers
The code of practice for employers of social care workers – this sets out the responsibilities of employers in the regulation of social care workers.
The codes play a key part in regulating the social care workforce and in helping to improve levels of public protection. Adherence to the codes will be a condition of joining the social care register. Social care workers who breach the codes could be removed from the register, while employers who break them could face sanction. The codes apply to anyone working at any level in any social care setting. Over time, one million-plus social care workers in the UK will be invited to register with their relevant social care regulatory council.
This will be one of the following:
The general social care council in England
The care council for Wales
The Northern Ireland social care council
The Scottish social services council
The codes also apply to all employers in private, voluntary and statutory sectors. Whether you are a social care worker or a social care employer, you need to comply with the codes. Individual social care workers should take personal responsibility for ensuring they adhere to the code of practice for social care workers. Everything in them can be put into straightaway.