POSITIVE CARE ENVIRONMENT

AS and A Level Healthcare

Health and Social Care…Unit 3 Imama Khatoon

Candidate Name: Imama Khatoon

Candidate Number: 4342

Centre Number: 27240

Unit 3 Positive Care Environments

Health and Social Care

Contents Page

Ao1…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 3

Ao2…………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 7

Ao3…………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 11

Ao4…………………………………………………………………………………………………Page 20

A01

For this assignment I will be looking at how organisations create a positive care environment. I will be discussing the barriers which could prevent a service user from gaining access to a service. I will also be looking at the legal rights each and every service user has in health care settings and how legislation plays a part in this. I will examine the importance of the care value base in care settings and how it can help create a positive care environment. Creating and maintaining a positive care environment requires care practitioners to be open minded as the values and beliefs of service users will differ from their own, therefore they need to have an understanding of the diverse society we live in.

Britain today is a multicultural society. It has a mixture of diverse ethnic groups where residents reflect a wide range of national, cultural, racial and religious backgrounds and mixtures. British governments have taken - and continue to take - steps to tackle problems of discrimination and disadvantage through pioneering such things as race relations legislation which makes racial discrimination an unacceptable, and illegal, practice, and through policy to redress disadvantage.(2)

Britain's ethnic diversity, with its range of and unique mix of cultural identities and heritages, defines and adds value to contemporary Britain. For example, the Muslim communities in Britain make a vital and vibrant contribution to every aspect of life from sports and the arts to business and even politics. Here are just a few examples of ethnic diversity in the UK: different gender, racial minorities, religions, age groups, social class and disability. (2)

Multi cultural society has had a long history. Particularly as the result of British colonisation of the Indian subcontinent and the West Indies. However people of African Caribbean and Asian origin were already present in the centuries before Britain obtained its colonial empire. For example, the Roman armies which invaded Britain in the first century AD included many black soldiers.

Many of the black people who arrived in Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came to work as soldiers, servants and sailors. Others were brought forcibly and kept as slaves until slavery was abolished in Britain in 1838. the economic and military needs of Britain have been important factors influencing immigration to the UK. The end of both World Wars saw an increase in the black population in Britain, as people from Commonwealth countries and America who had fought for Britain settled here.

Looking at British society which is immense in diversity it is seen in health and social care sectors as being an important part that people are treated equally and promote rights to ensure everyone’s needs, for examples laws have been passed to protect people in hospitals, care homes, children’s homes, Day Centres and GP settings. For this assignment I will be focussing on elderly care. I will need to understand that no matter who you are everyone is entitled to a high level of care and professionalism. To ensure this acts have been set out set by the government by which we must abide, I will explain this later.

For this assignment I have chosen to focus on the rights children in early year settings. The care setting I have decided to look at is called “Stimpson Avenue Primary School” I will be focussing on the policies and procedures the care practitioners use whilst working with service users to ensure a positive care environment. This unit consists of four key areas. These are the individual rights and values of service users, barriers to access, how to create a positive environment and how society promotes service user rights.

Discriminating is treating people differently on the grounds of their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or nationality. There are two basic forms of discrimination, these are direct and indirect. Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than another in a comparable situation because of their racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. An example of direct discrimination is a job advert, which says "no disabled people need apply." However, in reality discrimination often takes more subtle forms. That’s why indirect discrimination is also covered. (2)

Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would disadvantage people on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation unless the practice can be objectively justified by a legitimate aim. An example of indirect discrimination is requiring all people who apply for a certain job to sit a test in a particular language, even though that language is not necessary for the job. The test might exclude more people who have a different mother tongue. (2)

Other forms of discrimination are victimisation discrimination and harassment. Victimisation harassment is when a person is treated less favourably than others in the same circumstances. This for instance could be for staff to refuse a child a nursery place because his or her parents have complained previously about racial discrimination at the nursery would be unlawful. Whereas harassment is when an individual is spoken to in an inappropriate manner. For example a teacher might interact with white children far more he does with black children. This could leave the black children feeling marginalised which may lead to a low self esteem.

Any type of discrimination explained above can cause service users to feel a low self-esteem which may result in depression, worries and anxieties. However organisations must follow their code of conduct so that service users are not discriminated against and this also creates a positive care environment.

Equality is giving everybody an equal opportunity, no matter who they are. Everybody should have an equal chance to compete for, or gain access to resources and opportunities. As follows are some of the factors that contribute to equality to individuals in society. Equality means the even distribution of wealth and equality. Women and men must have the same rights, obligations and opportunities in all areas of life. Sexual discrimination is not to be tolerated and society is to be built on essential and basic values such as respect, understanding others, quality of life, and positive self-image. Equality also requires a society that is free of violence and the active participation of each gender in working towards equality.

In order to promote a positive care environment it is essential that carers are aware of the rights service users have and many rights are supported by legislations. Service users have the right to effective communication which is supported by the Code of Practice, therefore care practitioners must ensure when speaking to service users they use language which service users understand and avoid using to much jargon.

A service user is a member of the public who is receiving or obtaining care from a health and social care service. Service users are divided into 4 categories, these are: Early learning years

People with an illness

People with special needs and

The elderly

A care practitioner is a professional who provides practical help, support and care to service users. They give direct care in a range of care settings for example a care assistants working in a residential home would help a service user with their daily routine, including getting up, dressing, bathing and providing food.

A positive care environment requires care practitioners to be friendly, polite, helpful, welcoming and sympathetic. It is also very important for them to show empathy towards their service users in order to gain their trust. Service users must be able to confide with care practitioners and therefore it is important for care practitioners to be aware of confidentiality and take it seriously. Care practitioners must show respect towards their service users and treat them equally yet according to their needs.

A good care practitioner should have good interpersonal and communication skills. They need to be understanding and have respect for people’s different beliefs and cultural backgrounds. However if care practitioners approach service users inappropriately and negatively by not valuing them it can result in conflict which means the service users wont feel valued and may feel down on themselves.

A care setting is a place where service users can find support, care and treatment. For example hospitals, day centres, social services, residential care home and nurseries; however the settings vary depending on the service user and their needs. For example if a service user is ill then they might go to a hospital for a check up, a test, diagnosis, medication, or drug therapy etc. however for instance if an elderly person is too old and can no longer look after themselves then they will be referred to a residential home were care practitioners will ensure they receive a high level of care and are provided with food and water and other needs.

Human rights are something we all share. Whether you are a child, adult, service user or anyone. They are about recognising the value and dignity of all people. Human rights are about respect, fairness, justice and equality.

There are a number of basic rights that people all over the world have agreed upon, for example, the right to life, freedom from torture, other cruel and inhuman treatment, free speech, freedom of religion and rights to health and education.

Human rights are the same for all people, everywhere, male and female, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of their background, where we live, what we think, or what we believe. Respect for human rights help bring strong communities, based on equality and tolerance in which everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

The Care Value Base supports all this. The care value base is a set of guidelines about the beliefs regarding the right way to treat service users. Care work aims to improve a client’s quality of life by meeting their Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Social needs (PIES). The care values are based on a set of shared values which the whole of our society agrees on. Such values are made legal by the human right act, which became the law in the UK in 2000. The Care Value Base consists of the following main features:

Promoting and supporting individual rights
Maintaining confidentiality
Promoting anti-discriminatory practice
Acknowledging individuals personal beliefs and identities and
Promoting effective communication

Promoting and supporting individual rights

Service users have a right to their own beliefs, lifestyle and choices. Nobody has the right to damage the quality of other people’s lives as rights come with responsibilities. All care practitioners must make sure of this when dealing with service users. Service users also have a right to be given equal opportunities. Care practitioners have to ensure that all the service users are given equal opportunities. If one service user is given a better opportunity then another, it may cause a problem. All the service users must equally develop their self-confidence and boost their self-esteem to ensure that all clients are given the same chance to succeed. This is supported by the care value of equality.

Maintaining confidentiality

If a service user has a personal problem and they need to talk to someone, they have to be able to confide in a care practitioner. The care practitioner must ensure that they keep this information secret and respect the service user as an individual as this will boost their confidence and they might feel that the care practitioner can help them with any future issues that may occur. However in some situations if personal information is shared with others service users may be put at risk and their self esteem can be affected. Therefore there are many legal requirements to keep personal records confidential. This is supported by the care value of maintaining confidentiality.

Promoting anti-discriminatory practice

All service users have the right to be treated fairly, without discrimination or prejudice regardless of their background or social status. Car practitioners have a duty to promote anti-discriminatory practice in their professional lives. Anti-discriminatory practice means developing ways of working that recognise the needs of people from diverse backgrounds, including those who come from minority, religious or cultural backgrounds and actively challenging the unfair discrimination that people have experienced and counteracting the effects that unfair discrimination has already had on people.

Acknowledging individuals personal beliefs and identities

Care practitioners must respect individuals’ values, beliefs and religion as these are part of their identity. A person in care must not feel stereotyped or discriminated by care practitioners. Therefore the care values must at all times be followed by care practitioners in a care setting. If care practitioners undermined them, the service user may feel isolated, depressed or show their anger. If carers fail to do this they could feel themselves being warned by the manager.

Promoting effective communication

Service users need to be supported by effective communication. Effective communication is very important so that service users and care practitioners can understand each other clearly and both know what is happening and what needs to be done at certain times.

By applying care values and by maintaining the care value base care workers/practitioners can make sure they treat all the service users equally, fairly and that all of their individual rights and needs are met. The care value base provides a framework for care practitioners so they can achieve best practise by not neglecting, discriminating or mistreating the service user. The care value base provides clear guidance on how to provide high quality care to all service users on a consistent basis. They protect the service user from neglect and discrimination and provide the care practitioner with a set of rules and principles which will help them achieve good practise.

The UK today is a very diverse, multi-cultural society. This means that within health and social care settings care practitioners come into contact and work with abroad range of people all with different backgrounds, needs, beliefs and religion. All of the service users will have different problems and needs because no two service users are the same. Care workers must make sure that all service users receive a high standard of quality care based on positive and respectful care relationship.

Individual users have a range of rights that are established in codes of practice and legislation. These involve: ▪ To ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Individual users have a range of rights that are established in codes of practice and legislation. These involve: ▪ To be treated as an individual

▪ To be allowed access to information about themselves

▪ To be cared for in a way that meets their needs and takes account of choices

▪ To be respected

▪ To be given privacy

▪ To be treated equally and not be discriminated against

▪ To be able to communicate using preferred methods

▪ To be treated in a dignified way

▪ To be protected from danger of harm

▪ Service users’ rights as established by the GSCC code of conduct.

Care workers have certain responsibilities whilst working with service users and are expected to work with service users in a way that demonstrates the values set out in the relevant codes of practice. This includes respecting the individual rights of service users. In order to do this, you will need to provide active support to service users to enable them to communicate their needs, views and preferences

A02

In order to gain access to a service, service users often need to be referred. Organisations and care practitioners work on the system of referrals. Referrals are classified into three categories these are:

Self referral
Third party referral
Professional referral.

Self Referral

Third party referral

Professional referral

A self referral occurs when the service user applies directly for access to a care service. This usually happens either by the service user turning up at a care service in person, making a phone call, writing a letter or filling in a form. For example, at a school, a parent might ring up the head teacher to make an appointment about their child’s progress or a single parent might contact social services to make an enquiry about their benefits.

A third party referral takes place when one person applies for a care service on behalf of another individual. The individual applying on behalf of the other person is not a professional carer. It is normally a family member or a friend. For example an elder sister of a 5 year old child might be looking to apply for an admission at a local nursery or a neighbour worrying about child abuse might contact NSPCC. As you can see in both these situations the individuals are non-professionals and are obtaining access to a care service on behalf of another person.

A professional referral is very similar to the third party referral however the person who applies on behalf of another is usually a health or social care professional. This for instance could be a social worker who is referring a child to a certain school due to special educational needs and the need of extra help in their education or a student might have a low attendance in their class which means that the school will need to contact the Education Welfare Office.

Access to statutory social care and social work services both for children and adults can be self-referral or third-party or professional referral. First, the referral will usually be taken up by a duty social worker whose job it is to clarify the situation and decide what is needed.

There are very few statutory early years’ services available. Those that do exist tend to impose strict eligibility criteria and receive more professional referrals then self- or third-party referrals. However, a wide range of early year’s services are provided by independent and private sector organisations. Access is mostly by parents applying direct to a service provider, such as a private nursery, self-employed childminder or local parent and toddler group. A child will usually be offered a place if there is a space, if the child is considered suitable and, in the case of private operators, if the parents can afford the fees.

Barriers to Access

A potential barrier to access is something which prevents or stops a service user from receiving a high level of care and a positive and care environment. It is a barrier that afflicts us under certain circumstances or only troubles some of us. These barriers could be physical and sensory, for example effecting people with disabilities, older people and those with responsibility of young children. Below are some examples of the barriers to access and ways which these barriers can be overcome.

Transport

Barriers that only afflict under circumstances, for instance, could be, public transport, this could act as a barrier. If public transport is needed irregular public transport acts as a barrier. Some people with special needs might not have access to a car. People with physical disabilities have special needs, for example the access to the vehicle must be lower, allowing people on wheelchairs to access the vehicle easily. To provide a positive care environment, organisations should build schools near to houses and roads that can access the service either by public transport or by car.

Location

Location could also be a barrier. Some schools are located in the city or on the countryside which means- that they might be located several miles away from where the service users live. This is particularly true for people living in rural areas. Moreover, some specialist services required by some service users are only provided in a limited number of regional schools. For example a child who is sight impaired might be attending a certain school however may find it difficult to reach the destination. Therefore getting to the location may involve a long journey, this may be very difficult for some people especially those people who rely on transport. However an organisation promoting a positive care practice would make their service available to all people and locate their organisation somewhere which is accessible to all. Also most organisations do tend to offer transport services to those that may not be able to make it to the school due to any reason. This bus takes and returns service users safely to their homes making it easier to reach their destination.

Opening time

Another barrier that can afflict service users could be the opening times of school. The general main opening time of most schools is from 8:30-3:30 however this varies from school to school. Reasons why this might be a barrier is because some parents or guardians may have difficulties to drop and pick up their children from schools during these hours maybe because of work or other personal reasons. To provide a positive care environment some organisations provide breakfast in school and after school clubs which means that students can access the school several minutes before school starts and can stay a while after school is closed.

Language

Language is yet another potential barrier for the service users from access to a service. If a service user can not take part in a particular activity because English is not their first language then the consequences of that might be that they feel discriminated against as they are being left out of the group. This may result in them being marginalised and social exclusion. For example within a school based setting a child who is from another background may not be able to join in group discussions due to not understanding what is being said and therefore wont be able to give a response to what is being asked. To provide a positive care environment the organisation would help the child by allowing them to join in and give them extra help to help them understand what is being said better as well as to express themselves. The school will also provide the child with an LSA who will speak the same language as them which might then help them with their understanding of English.

Labelling and stereotyping

Labelling and stereotyping are potential barriers that are rooted in the way that people think and feel. If someone is stereotypical against someone before even getting to know them then this could make the service user feel undervalued socially excluded during a group activity and marginalised. This could lead to psychological problems. For example, a student who is being treated differently due to his colour might be labelled as a troublemaker who doesn’t work. The child might be left out during class discussions by the teacher ignoring his opinions. An organisation promoting positive care practice would have polices in place to prevent any forms of discrimination from happening and strict procedures in place if an incident does occur.

Discrimination

One last barrier could be unfair discrimination. This is when someone is treated unfairly then others and not given the same amount of respect. This can affects service users as their self esteem could drop rapidly and they also may loose their trust in the care workers. Sexism is discrimination on the bases of gender. Anti-Semitism is discrimination on the basis of religion or faith. Treating one person less favourably then another is an example of direct discrimination. If a school refuses to accept someone they weren’t of the Christian faith, this would be an example of discrimination however, if the school did accept a disabled person, not on the Christian faith, but had a policy that all students must attend Christian worship each week, this would be an example of indirect discrimination. Less favourable treatment may result in long term emotional and psychological damage. However to overcome this staff are trained well and also organisations follow certain policies and procedures by law. To provide a positive care environment care practitioners should treat the service users equally and fairly regardless of their race, culture and the way that they dress.

Lack of disabled access

Lack of disabled access is a potential barrier for the service users to access a service. Not all schools have disabled access and facilities for students with disabilities. If a service user is disabled and is not able to join in with a particular activity then this may result in them feeling marginalised as they are being prevented from accessing social resources or enjoying equal rights in society. They would also feel very socially excluded from the group as they are being denied access to full citizenship and participation in normal social and economic activities. They would also feel much disempowered as their ability to make their own choices and decisions is being undermined by other people who aren’t disabled. For example , a child who is disabled and in a wheelchair may not be able to take part in P.E. lessons or if a school doesn’t have lists and has lots of stairs then a child may not be able to attend their lessons as they cant get to them. An organisation promoting a positive care practise would have lots of disabled access available to children who have any disabilities.

Physical Features

As said before physical features of the setting itself could be a barrier to access, making it difficult for service users to access goods or services. The design or construction of the building could become a barrier for certain people. Examples of this can be staircases, doors and gates, toilets and washing facilities. An alternative term used to describe this is lack of access. To provide a positive care environment care practitioners and organisations could build ramps, have wide doors, lifts if the service is not on the ground floor, handrails in the toilet and low door handles so that wheelchair users can reach the handles. Because of the law, Disability Discrimination Act 1995, all of these things are necessary.

Cost

Cost is yet another factor that can be a barrier to access. Certain schools make parents pay for fees and this can be difficult for people who cannot afford it. For example a child who has special needs might require attending a certain school where costs for certain facilities are expensive.

Barriers to access in the early years

There are also other barriers to access in the early year sector which tend to occur for a number of reasons, some of which have already been stated above.

There is a shortage of state run nursery education and day nursery places. Although there is no charge for state run services in most cases, lack of places could prove to be one of the biggest barriers. In theory at least, everyone has the opportunity to pay for private childcare services. However, in practice this ‘choice’ is only available to those who can afford it.

Also not all areas are well provided with pre school services, so again location as well as transport can represent significant barriers. Parents from a minority culture can struggle to find care that meets their needs in terms of religious observance, language and cultural practices.

The government has produced a National Childcare Strategy (1) designed to increase the overall level of early year’s provision. However, for the most part parents will still be expected to for these services.

Evaluation

By overcoming barriers organisations create a positive care environment because it promotes equality and offers access for everyone. The service user’s needs and rights are then also acknowledged and changes are made to accept them into the care setting. Overcoming barriers also builds a positive care environment because it shows anti-discrimination. If a school had more then 1 floor and no lifts they would be discriminating against those who are unable you use because they have a disability.

All the barriers listed above could cause the service user to end up being marginalised.

A03

For this assignment I need to look at how organisations promote a positive care environment. In order to do this I have conducted a questionnaire which I will hand out to care practitioners as well as service users at the setting I am looking at. I will distribute at least 12 copies of the questionnaires to different people to gain better feedback. Below is a copy of the questionnaire I have made for the service users and on the next page I have provided the questionnaire for the care practitioners.

Questions for an interview with a care practitioner

Gender?

Male
female

What is your age?

-18
18-25
25-30
30-35
35-40
40+

Relation to the child?

........................................................................................................................

How many children do you have who come to this particular school?

............................................................

What year are your child/children currently studying in?

.....................................................................

Are you satisfied with the learning your child/children receives from this organisation?

Very satisfied
Quite satisfied
Not very satisfied
Not at all satisfied

Do you think the care and support your child/children receive can be improved?

If yes, please explain you think the organisation can help to make improvements

.............................................................................................................................................................

Do you know how to make a complaint?

.............................................................................................................................................................

If yes, have you ever made a complaint against this organisation?

.....................................................................................................................................................................

Do you think this environment is safe for you child?

If no, can you explain why?

Thank you for completing this questionnaire

Questions for an interview with a care practitioner

Which of the following settings are you currently working at?

Hospital
Day Care Centre
Residential Care Home
Nursery

If other - please state............................................................

How long have you been working at this setting?

............................................................

Which service user group do you work with?

Early learning years
People with an illness
People with special needs
The elderly

If other - please state............................................................

Do you have additional responsibilities?

What policies and procedures do you provide in your care setting?

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................................................................

Which of the following legislations have been put in place by your organisation?

The Sex Discrimination Act
The Race Relations Act
The Disability Discrimination Act
The Data Protection Act
Mental Health Act
NHS & CC Act
The Human Rights Act
The Health and Safety Act
The Children Act
The Community Care Act
The Care Standards Act

What methods do you use to promote service user rights?

..................................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................................................................

Do you know what the complaint procedure is?

How often do you receive complaints?

Always
Never
Rarely
Often
Never

Thank you for completing this questionnaire

As said earlier in this assignment I obtained my questionnaire results by asking 12 people a set of prepared questions. I did this so that everyone was answering the same question and it made it a fair test. Also asking 12 people was less time consuming as it gave me more time to carry out a one to one interaction with a care practitioner as well as to gather more information about the policies and procedures used in the setting. As you can see below are the graphs I created to show the results from the feedback I got from the questionnaires.

Results of the feedback from the care practitioners

Results of the feedback from the service users

I decided to distribute the service user questionnaires to the parents or guardian of the children, because the children wouldn’t understand the questionnaire as they were still in early learning years. In order to hand out the questionnaires and gather feedback from respondents I waited outside the school at the end of the day whilst parents and guardians came to pick up their child. I then asked them if they had a few spare minutes to carry out this questionnaire. Below are tables which show the responses I got from 6 of the respondents who carried out the questionnaire.

What is your age?

The table above displays the age range of the respondents who answered this questionnaire. As we can see all of the people who took part in this questionnaire were above 18 years of age. 1 of the respondents was aged between 18 and 25. 2 of the respondents were aged between 25-30, 1 of them was aged between 30-35, another 1 of the respondents was aged between 35 and 40 and the last respondent was aged over 40 years which meant the ages were very much dispersed and as I spoke to people from different age groups..

Relation to the child?

From this table we can see the relation between the respondents and the children. All respondents were primary carers of the service users as they were all family members and close to their children. Most of the care takers were either parents or guardians of the children however as it was a nursery setting I visited this was normal as most parents tend to pick up and drop off their children at school.

How many children do you have who come to this particular school?

This table shows the number of children the respondents had who came to this particular school. As we can see 2 of the respondents said they 2 children who were currently studying at this school whereas the other 4 respondents said they only had one child who came to this school.

What year is your child (children) currently studying in?

The table above shows what year the child (children) are currently studying in. by looking at the table we can see that most of the children are in early learning years. 3 of these children are in Nursery, another 3 are in Year 1 and 2 of them are in Year 2.

Are you satisfied with the learning your child receives from this organisation?

As you can see the table above displays how satisfied the respondents were with their child’s learning. All the respondents said they were very satisfied with what their child achieved from the school as well as the effort they were making.

Do you think the care and support your child/children receive can be improved?

As we can see above all the respondents said that they were fully satisfied with the care and support provided by the organisation and there was no way with which it could be improved.

Do you know how to make a complaint?

This table represents whether the respondents knew how to make a complaint. As we can see all the respondents had a small idea of how to make a complaint however 2 of the respondents didn’t know at all how to make a complaint. If I link this table with the ‘age ‘table I can see that respondent 3 was a young adult and respondent 5 was aged above 40. This could mean that maybe lack of experience could have been the reason for not being sure about how to make a complaint

If yes, have you ever made a complaint against this organisation?

This table displays whether or not respondents had ever made a complaint against the organisation before. As we can see all the responses here were the same as all of the respondent who said they knew what a complaint was, also mentioned the fact that they had never made complaint against the organisation.

Do you think this environment is safe for your child?

From the table above we can see whether respondents felt their child was safe in the environment or not. 5 respondents felt that the organisation was a safe environment for the children however one of the respondents said they were not fully satisfied with the environment. The reason for this was that they were not satisfied with the location of the setting as there wasn’t a zebra crossing or traffic lights in order for the children to cross to the other side of the road.

Evaluation of the results

As we can see the feedback from the care practitioners as well as the service users was very straight forward. Whilst carrying out the questionnaires I ensured I didn’t mention any names due to confidentially reasons. When speaking to service users I felt that although I questioned a minimum amount of 6 people, by talking to people from different age groups I gained a wider understanding of how satisfied service users were with the organisation and the support the care practitioners provided to their children and what improvements could be made if there were any. I can also see how the staff follow policies and procedures to create and maintain a positive care environment.

A positive care environment is an environment where a service user is safe, secure, respected and treated with dignity. However it cannot be entirely relied on the views and behaviour of care practitioners organisations have a responsibility to help create a positive care environment. There are many ways in which this can be achieved. This might be through policies and procedures which help give guidance to care practitioners about how to treat service users fairly and how to give them equal rights. Legislation is a vital way of maintaining a positive care environment as well as maintaining the values of the service users as individuals. All these aspects incorporated together can lead to a positive care environment.

In order to run a safe and secure environment, the carers have to be able to keep the clients and the staff free from any problems that may effect or upset a service user. Staff must also follow their own Codes of Practice and know what to do in case of emergency to protect all the service users.

The care setting that I have chosen to look at has policies and procedures in place to ensure a positive care environment. It is essential for care homes to have policies and procedures about how they ensure that the residents are treated freely from discrimination. The policies and practices of the home ensure that physical or verbal aggression by service users are understood and dealt with appropriately.

Policies are detailed statements, which are to be followed by all care workers under any circumstances, which are provided by the care service. Without these policies the setting would have a negative environment, which could then also lead to further prejudice and discrimination. Also there are procedures, which are written rules which care workers must also abide by.

Whereas a procedure is written instruction about what must happen in a certain situation. Care organisations write procedure manuals to give employees specific instructions on how to implement the organisation’s policies. Many organisations have policies in place to make the setting a more positive environment.

The 3 policies I have decided to look at are the equal opportunity policy, the bullying policy and the health and safety policy. I have chosen to look at these policies as I feel that they are very important in early year settings and they also relate to my chosen setting.

Bullying Policy

The aim of the anti-bullying policy is to ensure that pupils learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied. Bullying is anti-social behaviour and affects everyone; it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Only when all issues of bullying are addressed will pupils be able to fully benefit from the opportunities available at schools (9).This policy ensures that all disclosures of bullying are taken seriously by the school staff.

This involves investigating the incident as well as dealing with it appropriately. Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 Head teachers have a legal duty to draw up procedures to prevent bullying amongst pupils and to make other staff, parents and pupils aware of these procedures. Schools raise awareness of bullying through giving children the opportunity to discuss issues related with the topic during PSHE lessons, tutor times and assemblies within the academic year.

This policy tries to encourage victims of the bullying to stand up and tell someone about it so that it can be sorted. Children can get help and support from their form tutor or a member of staff they might trust. They might prefer to talk to another pupil or some children will find it easier to discuss this with parents. All of these people can give continuous support to help restore their self-esteem and confidence.

Staff can also help the child who has actually bullied the other child by explaining the effects of bullying and the impact it can have on others. Staff usually tends to overcome the situation by discussing with the child what had happened and discovering why the child had been involved. They then try to establish the wrong doing and inform parents or guardian’s who may then be able to help the child understand the situation.

This policy promotes a positive care environment and practice by preventing any discrimination that might take place within the school and by explaining the rights and responsibilities that every individual student has. The policy also promotes effective communication as it allows the child who has been a victim of bullying to come forward and discuss the situation with someone who can then help then overcome it. it also helps those who have bullied another child as the staff can then explain to them the effects of bullying, and keep them from doing it again rather than punishing them as this would only make things worse.

Equal opportunity policy

This policy has been put in place as it helps to make sure that service user within the organisation are treated equally regardless of their background which could include their gender, race, appearance, ethnic origin, culture, disability, marital status, family commitments, sexuality, age or religion. The organisation has to include equality of opportunity in all aspects of the service. The service user must always be treated the same and have same access to services (10).

The equal opportunity policy applies to every member of staff who might be a part of the school as well as the parent, carer and child. The aim of this policy within a school setting is to ensure that all children achieve the greatest possible progress and develop their talents to the highest within the curriculum. It also ensures fair and equal treatment for everybody within the organisation. This includes valuing the needs and beliefs of each individual and giving them an equal right to dignity and respect. It also involves giving access to the full range of activities available, including visits and trips outside the school. All of these together create a happy and secure environment.

The staff also monitors activities on a regular basis to ensure that every child has the freedom of choice, time for discovery, and support, when it is necessary. During play staff also encourages the children to respect and value each other. They discourage the children from making hurtful and unkind remarks about other children within the setting. On contrast staff also challenge and deal with inappropriate practices and attitudes promptly. They do this by recording any seriously inappropriate, racist or sexist comments that might be made by children or even staff, including those doing voluntary work (11).

This policy promotes rights of the user because it makes sure that the care practitioner allows each and every service user to be given an equal chance. The care practitioner must value the service user’s beliefs and empower them to make decisions. This will make the service user feel better within themselves and also feel cared for.

Behaviour policy

The policy prepares children at the school to become full and active citizens in an ethnically and culturally diverse society. The school challenges stereotypes based on gender, race and ability and will provide equal access and educational entitlement for all pupils. The school believes that positive behaviour and self esteem are of high priority and the children receive a set of clear guidelines to follow.

The policy tries to get the children to act in a responsible and sensible way that helps to ensure them to work and their peers to work as well. There is a strict guideline by which all of the students are made aware of and are expected to follow. Students are rewarded if they follow these rules and those who do not follow them are punished and disciplined through the regular procedures and then further consequences are taken if the child continues to misbehave.

Health and safety policy

The policy promotes a positive care environment by making sure that the students which behave by the rules and meet the expectations of the policy are rewarded and this makes them feel valued. It promotes an anti-discriminatory practice by challenging all stereotypes and prejudice and it respects equality and diversity between the students. It also teaches the students about their rights and responsibilities and that if they do not act in a responsible manner that respect their peer’s rights then they will have to face the consequences of their actions.

This policy not only requires care workers and service users to keep themselves or others out of danger. The law is also there to protect the public from these dangers. Whether it’s just visitors, doctors, nurses, social worker or anyone that comes into the building. The health and safety policy clearly sets out how you manage health and safety in an organisation or care setting. This could include having signs, when washing the floors, having electrical equipment tested before use, putting things away after use, wearing gloves when dealing with personal issues and other basic daily issues.

When visiting my chosen setting I managed to get hold of some of the policies and procedures that were used within the setting whilst working with the children. I have attached these at the back of the assignment.

Codes of Practice

In a care context, codes of practice are sets of rules or guidelines that aim to ensure that care staff implements specific policies, procedures or pieces of legislation. Codes of Practice a drawn up by individual care organisations by bodies such as the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission as part of their remit under the law.

The Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission both produce codes of practice that outline sets of procedures for implementing equal opportunity policies in employment. These codes of practice do not, in themselves, impose any legal obligations on employers. However failure to observe the guidance within them may result in breaches of the law where an employer’s or employee’s action or failure to do the something falls within any of the specific prohibitions of the Race Relations Act or the Sex Discrimination Acts. For example, employers must take steps that are outlined in the codes of practice to prevent their employees committing acts of unlawful discrimination.

Codes of conduct are guidelines for professional and ethnical practice that are produced and issued by the regulatory bodies of the various care professions. They aim to define principles of best practice, serve to protect service users’ rights and ensure that they receive the highest possible standards of care. The United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Health visiting and Midwifery (UKCC) code of conduct is an example this kind of professional guideline. All registered nurses are required to be aware of the work within the ethnical framework of the UKCC code of conduct. Other care professions that run a registration scheme, such as doctors, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, have similar codes of practice. Professionals who fail to follow, or who deliberately breach their professional body’s code of conduct can be brought before a disciplinary hearing. In some circumstances the practitioner can be struck of the register and be prevented from practising.

A04

Legislation has been put into place through Acts of Parliament, or Statuses, which have been passed by parliament in the UK that allows early years care practitioners to work within a legal and ethnical framework. This means that they must follow and put into practise a range of laws, policies, codes of practise and charters in their work with children (7). Legislation works because it is legally binding therefore everybody must follow them however legislation may not work because people might not know about it or it might be too complex which means people won’t understand and sometimes people also rebel.

Many acts have been passed by the parliament in order to promote and protect the rights of the service users such as the following:

The Sex Discrimination Act (1975 & 1986)
The Race Relations Act (1976)
The Disability Discrimination Act (1995)
The Data Protection Act (1998)
The Human Rights Act (1998)
The Health and Safety Act (1974)
The Children Act (1989)
The Community Care Act (1990)
The Care Standards Act (2000)

We have acts of parliaments to ensure that people are protected from being discriminated. The Sex Discrimination was made unlawful to discriminate between men and women on employment, goods and facilities. It’s also made illegal to discriminate on the grounds of marital status. The Race Relation Act is unlawful to discriminate on racial grounds in employment. The acts make it an offence to incite or encourage racial hatred. The Disability Discrimination Act is to prevent people discriminating against people with disabilities and getting them jobs due to their disabilities.

The 4 Acts that I have decided to focus on are the Children Act 1989, the Data Protection Act 1998, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and the Health and Safety Act 1974. I chose these Acts as I felt that they related to my setting the most.

The Children Act

Childcare law in the UK was brought together and simplified by the Children Act 1989 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by the children (Scotland) Act 1995. These statutes have the primary aim of strengthening the legal position of children, by giving them certain legal rights and by imposing legal duties on parents and child care workers to protect children from any form of abuse and to promote their welfare. The Children Act 1989 protects children who are ‘at risk of’ sexual abuse, physical neglect, physical abuse or injury and emotional abuse.

The Children Act 1989 aims to protect those children who are felt to be ‘in need’ or ‘at risk’. These are “children whose health and welfare may suffer significantly without support from social services”. All children with disabilities are included in this definition. Local authorities are required to ensure that children’s welfare is protected and that appropriate services are provided to meet their identified needs.

The paramountcy principle is a key feature of the Children Act 1989. it means that the rights, wished and feelings, interest and welfare of children should be given paramount (greatest) importance and should always be put first by their family, the social services and the courts. Where a child is mature or old enough to express his or her wishes, that child has a right to be consulted about what he or she wants.

The Data Protection Act

The most important law on the confidentiality of information is the Data Protection Act 1998. This Act sets out the rules for the processing of personal data, or information. There are 8 main principles of this Act. These are that the data must do as follows: ▪ Be secure

▪ Be accurate

▪ Be adequate, relevant and not excessive

▪ Not be kept longer than necessary

▪ Be processed for limited purposes

▪ Be processed in line with people’s rights

▪ Not be passed to other parties without adequate protection

▪ Be fairly and lawfully processed

The Act aims to protect a child’s private information from people that do not need access to their files. Children expect that personal and private information about them will be treated as confidential information and it is up to the school that this standard of care is met in order to create a positive care environment and meet these laws that have been put in place.

In a work based setting teachers and other care workers at the school can help maintain confidentiality of personal information by making sure of the following points:

Respect their privacy by having conversations behind closed doors so that nobody can overhear what is being said in the conversation.
Ensure nobody can oversee what is being written in reports and on records including information which is kept on the computer.
Only discuss the child’s details with those who have right to it or need it for a certain purpose.

The strengths of the Act are that this reassures the parent or guardian of the child that their child is protected and will know that the school will take precaution to protect the Childs personal information and this will also promote a positive care environment.

This Act doesn’t have many weaknesses however there is one ultimate weakness which is the fact that even though all these precautions are taken and so many policies are put into place, personal information could still get into the wrong hands by accident, however this is quite unlikely to happen as it is all protected and backed up.

In order to comply the Act, the school must ensure that all private information is kept confidential. They can do this by locking away all written documents in filing cabinets and offices. If the information is stored on a computer based system they could have tight security by making the use of passwords so that unauthorized people don’t have access to it expect the people who need it.

The Disability Discrimination Act

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face. Its purpose is to protect service users from unfair treatment discrimination. This Act has been significantly extended, including by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It now gives disabled people rights in the areas of employment, education, transport, housing, obtaining facilities, goods, and services, including access to health and social services. Employers and landlords must not treat a person with disabilities less favourably than a non-disabled person. New transport must meet the needs of disabled people, and colleagues, shops and other services must ensure that disabled people can use their services.

The Act now requires public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. It also allows the government to set minimum standards so that disabled people can use public transport easily.

The Disability Discrimination Act is yet another very important act which if not followed could be a serious offence. This could result the care practitioner to being sacked and not gaining a job in that profession again. Therefore the organisation has to make sure that all the service users again are treated with same amount of respect as others. If a setting has a staircase in it then by law must have a lift as well to make it easier for people in wheelchairs who have trouble accessing all parts of the building.

The strengths of the Disability Discrimination Act are that it allows equality and it fights for the rights if disabled people who may not be able to voice their problems. It brings the issues raised to people’s awareness and promotes a positive care practice as there are policies set in place which prevent any unfair discrimination that can occur in schools. However as this practice is put in to practice in early year settings and schools I don’t think there are any weaknesses with the Act.

To comply with the Act, the school must ensure that they follow the Act and put it into practice to promote a positive care practice. They must make sure that an anti discrimination practice is followed to make sure no incidents of discrimination take place at school.

The Health and Safety Act

The aim of the Act is to make further provision for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work and for protecting others against risks to health or safety in the workplace.

The strengths of the Act are that it reassures the workers that they are safe at work and are well protected against any risks that could happen. It also promotes a positive care environment.

The weaknesses of the Act are that it doesn’t relate to the domestic house where most accidents are likely to happen.

Overall I think that these Acts have been successful over the past many years as they have been put in place and have been followed by. The strengths of the laws above are that so far they have been a success. Many people have followed the laws very well whereas weaknesses might be that some people probably take longer to act upon the laws.

Systems of Redress

Redress is a term describing the act of putting things right and making amends after a complaint. Children and care practitioners who believe that they have experienced unfair discrimination can seek redress in a number of ways (7). This might be through an apology, which is often written or verbal, financial compensation also known as damages can be provided by giving the opposite person money to compensate or service users can be provided with better and more improved facilities for them to access by maybe adding lifts or highlighting stairs. Other forms of redress might involve reviewing procedures; this means that alterations could possibly be added to the organisations procedures, policies and practices. There might be disciplinary procedures against the care practitioner for example the care worker might get suspended from work and also in serious cases for example where physical abuse may occur the care practitioner might be removed from there job and be struck off their register therefore they will be unable to work in that profession again.

The route which is taken depends on the nature of the complaint for which the person seeks redress and on whether the complainant is a child or employee.

Redress means obtaining compensation or another form of justice and amends for a complaint or error. You can find redress in the following places (7).

Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
CRE for Northern Ireland
Disability Rights Commission
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC)
Employment tribunals
European courts
NHS ombudsman
Northern Ireland Disability Council
Organisational complaints procedures
Professional regulatory bodies
UK courts

Disciplinary procedures against care workers -Care organisations have internal complaints disciplinary policies and procedures to enable them to deal with any alleged breaches of their equal opportunity policies. These complaints and procedures should enable both clients and care workers to pursue a complaint against unfair discrimination if experienced any. If the care worker has discriminated against a service user then in serious cases the care worker may be removed from their job and be unable to work in that profession again.

Regulatory bodies are organisations that monitor and regulate the behaviour of members of a profession. Examples of professional regulatory bodies could be the General Medical Council (GMC), this might be a doctor, the Nursing and Midwifery Council this could be nurses, midwives and health visitors, the General Social Care Council which involves social workers, the General Dental Council which involves dentists, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain this may be pharmacists, and Health Professions Council (HPC) for example, occupation therapists, physiotherapists and many more. These organisations monitor the behaviour of their members and deal with complaints of disciplinary procedures against them.

Service users have the right to complain whatever the reason may be as long as it is sensible. Every organisation should have a complaints procedure which should be written in a way that service users can easily understand, as required by the Care Standards Act 2000. Most issues whereby there have been complaints has been due to service users experiencing racism, discrimination, unfair treatment, or maybe the quality of service they have received hasn’t been at highest.

However if a service user isn’t given the right to complain then they have no way of standing up for themselves and they won’t feel valued or respected and therefore will view the organisation negatively. In a positive health and social care setting the care practitioners need to make sure that the service users know how to complain. They need to show support and must also respect the service user’s choice. There are two types of complaints that an individual can make, this could be formal or informal.

An informal complaint is a complaint which isn’t very serious, for example where a service user may feel things aren’t being explained really well. It is where a team manager tries to deal with a complaint at a local level. Depending on how bad the issue is the complaint will be will then be passed on to an ombudsman (which I have explained below). Whereas a formal complaint is a more serious complaint, for example a case of neglecting. It involves serious cases of discrimination or prejudice. This can be a very serious offence and can result in very bad consequences. This sort of a complaint is usually dealt with by the local authorities designated complaints officers.

An ombudsman is a third party that conflicts on a confidential basis. It involves a person to look into complaints about an organisation and to give disputants information on how to resolve the problem at issue. Using an ombudsman is a way of trying to resolve a complaint without going to court. Using an ombudsman is also sometimes quicker, and certainly lest costly, then going to court

In a school if a parent thinks that their child is being treated unfairly and unequally to the other children then they may consider an ombudsman to handle the case unless the case is serious enough to go to court or has already been to court. Service users must complain no later than a year from the date when they first became aware of the events they are complaining about. However if parents decide to complain to an Ombudsman about a certain issue, the staff must be given the opportunity to investigate and if possible sort out the problem. The ombudsman will investigate the situation and will try to settle the situation between the service user and the organisation. However if the ombudsman fails to get the two parties to agree on a conclusion then the ombudsman will need to make a decision on the information received.

A complaint might be passed to a Commissioner. A Commissioner is an independent person with the powers to investigate complaints that cannot be dealt with by the courts or a tribunal. The Health Service Commissioner conducts an investigation into a complaint and writes a report which is sent to the complainant and the relevant health organisation. The Health Service Commissioner cannot force a health care organisation to remedy the situation, but the Commissioner recommendations are usually implemented. . Examples include Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). They inspect all adult social care services and are set up by the government to promote improvements in social care. They have the power to close down social care services if they provide very poor services.

People using care services may complain to the CSCI if they are unhappy about the service they have received or the way they have been treated. CSCI will require the full details of the complaint and will investigate the situation and talk to the care service about the situation. They are responsible for making sure that providers meet the regulations and standards that apply to them. If they find that the care service is not meeting those regulations and standards they will take further action.

A complaint about unfair discrimination in the field of employment must be brought to an industrial tribunal within 3 months of the occurrence of the alleged discrimination. Tribunals will hear cases concerning equal pay, redundancy, unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, race discrimination and many other aspects of discrimination relating to contracts of employment and other aspects of industrial training and employments rights. There are over 2000 tribunals, which are appointed to hear and settle disputes. Tribunals are usually controlled by a legally qualified chairperson but are less formal than courts of law.

Examples include the Care Standards Tribunal; people may appeal to this tribunal if they have been barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. If an employee or tenant feels they have been treated unfairly then they may appeal to the rent or employment tribunals. Tribunals have benefits as it doesn’t take as long for a case to be heard as it would do if it went to court and an individual is encouraged to conduct their own case. This is an easy complaints procedure for old people if they are able to state their own case because there are no fees to run a case in the tribunal, which is beneficial for old people as they are likely to be on low incomes. However if they lose the case then the tribunal may order them to pay the winners reasonable costs.

Evaluation

After looking at my chosen setting and considering what the organisation does to create a positive care environment I can see that the service users are provided with a lot of facilities which includes a caring and friendly learning environment. I now realise how important it is for schools to follow legislation and guidelines whilst working with service users. The laws are put in place to safeguard the employees as well as the children. One of the main laws which concerns children is the Children Act 1989. This is to ensure the protection of the children whilst at the nursery and for parents; the expectation of their child being in a safe environment.

I found the policies and procedures used in the school were very simple and again helped create a positive environment and user friendly for the children to follow in the classroom (e.g. rules-chewing gum, jewellery). For parents, guardians and staff, the terms and conditions, again very simple and in accordance with the law applicable to the school. Children, staff and parents try their best to follow these policies in order to create a positive and friendly environment for each other, however there is no doubt that somewhere down the line people choose to disagree and ‘go their own way’. This means they do not abide by the rules, which can therefore lead to problems. At my chosen setting the teachers try to their highest extent to achieve this and all in all so far have been successful in reaching their goals and objectives in line with the discussed rules.

If further studies were to be undertaken and more information was to be obtained from the organisation, I could have found out much more detail about how to create a positive care environment. However due to the lack of time and resources available at the reception I was unable to do so. Therefore I wasn’t able to carry out research in other areas of positive care environments which meant I couldn’t do this portfolio in depth.

If I had more time at the school I would have carried out one to one interactions and further questionnaires. This would have allowed me to gain more feedback which would then help me with my assignment more. I could also have visited another health care setting and compared the different guideline and policies used which would then give me a better knowledge and understanding about health care settings.

Overall I think this assignment was a challenge however I enjoyed visiting the work placement and being able to understand the importance of creating a positive care environment.

Bibliography

Throughout this assignment I have put in brackets. For example (1), next to key terms/skills or definitions. This then refers to the bibliography that is set at the back of my assignment, which shows where I got the information as shown below:

(1) Barratt, C. 1996. Intermediate Health and Social Care. Oxford, University Press.

(2) Hilary, T. 1998. Hodder Intermediate GNVQ Health and Social Care. Oxon, British Library Cataloguing.

(3) Lynda, M. 2000. Heinemann GNVQ Foundation Health and Social Care. Oxford, Reed Educational and Professional Publishing.

(4) Meggit, C. 1994. Hodder Vocational A-Level Health and Social Care. Oxon, British Library Cataloguing.

(5) Moonie, N. 1996. HEINEMANN AVCE Health and Social Care. Oxford, Harcourt Education Limited.

(6) Sylvia, A. 1996. Hodder Vocational A-Level Health and Social Care Second Edition. Oxon, British Library Cataloguing.

(7) Walsh, M. 2005. Collins Health and Social Care. London, HarperCollins Publishers

(8) Website:

(9) Website:

(10) Website: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8749284/Equal-Opportunity-Policy

(11) Website: http://

(12) Website: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/index.htm

(13) Website: http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003566.hcsp

(14) Website: http://www.gscc.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8E693C62-9B17-48E1-A806-3F6F280354FD/0/CodesofPractice

(15) Primary Research: one to one interaction with a care practitioner/ use of questionnaires

(14) Secondary Research: policies and procedures used within care settings

POSITIVE CARE ENVIRONMENT

This is a preview of the whole essay

Document Details

Related Essays

Positive Care environments

positive care enviroments

I will be focusing on the positive care environment using early years. I wi...

Positive Care Environments. In my assignment I have chosen to focus on the...