Many people also have been racially abused in health and social care settings and the act Race Relations Act 2000 has been put in place in order to protect racial equalities and ensure that no person is discriminated against on the ground of their race and this act also promotes good relations between people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Many individuals are also discriminated against because of their disability, therefore the legislation put into place to protect people from being discriminated against because of their disability is the disability discrimination act 2005, this act also protects people with HIV, this act applies specifically to to the public sector in order to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities and also to eliminate discrimination.
The act Data Protection Act 1998 covers confidentiality. Every organisation or workplace must have a confidentiality policy. Confidentiality procedures must be strictly adhered to in order to protect an individual’s health status from becoming known by unauthorised people which could lead to humiliation or even loss of dignity. Although there are times when confidentiality needs to be broken and this is the only time confidentiality is not covered by the Data Protection Act 1998 is when the individual is harming themselves, hiding abusive or potentially abusive situations or if the information threatens the life of an individual these are the only 3 times confidentiality can be broken.
The codes of practise and charters are put in place in order to guide health and social care professionals on their roles, rights and responsibilities. They also help those using services what to expect, support and behaviour wise from health and social care staff. Majority of health and social professionals have a charter or code of practice, which they are obligated to follow in order for everything to run smoothly. The codes of practise also give the service users a right to complain if the health and social care professionals are not treating them accordingly.
Managers in health and social care have a responsibility to support and guide professionals in their employment to ensure that they promote equality, diversity and rights.
Policies and procedures should always be available for health and social care professionals to read if they are unsure about anything or they should at least be informed of where the policies and procedures can be found, an example of this in practise is if a lady walks into a random ward in a hospital because she wants to use the toilet and in the policies only patients of ward can go to the toilet and the lady is arguing with the ward manager because she feels she should be allowed to go to the toilet, therefore the ward manager could get the policy and read it out to the lady to reinforce the fact she cannot go into the toilet because it’s for the patients of the ward and this example also leads to the work practice as the staff must abide by the policies and procedures at all times.
The purpose of organisational policies and procedures is to ensure that the organisation and its employees comply with the law. Each health or social care provider should have the following policies in place: recruitment health and safety confidentiality and record-keeping service user involvement complaints procedures staff development and training. Employers should ensure that they use fair and ethical methods of interviewing and hiring staff and those equal opportunities are monitored and reviewed as necessary. Induction of new staff should ensure that the relevant induction standards are used and that training covers the practical implications of confidentiality, such as how to record, report, store and share information. Staff should understand their role in relation to the policies and procedures of each workplace.
Many times in health and social care a patient has an advocate who is supposed to speak on their behalf but instead express their own views as some people who are vulnerable may not be aware of their rights and they need a person to ensure that they receive what they are entitled too although the advocate needs to remember to speak on the patient’s behalf.
In health and social care settings there must be policies and procedures in place that staff must be aware of by either putting up notices or providing training. Policy and procedures are no use if health and social care professionals do not know them, therefore workplace is vital. Health and social care professionals then have to abide bye the policies and procedures at all time to ensure that people using the services are aware of them too. Beryl S 2010 Health & Social care Level 3
