Care Values and Practice Module
Care Values and Practice Module
Portfolio Assessment 1
Question 1
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
(Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
On 10 December 1948 the general assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the declaration of the human rights act. The act was drawn up after the Second World War to prevent the repeat of the atrocities that happened during the conflict. During the nazi holocaust an estimated six million Jews were killed by gassing, shooting, disease and starvation, also political opponents, gays, gypsies, mental illnesses clergymen and people with learning disabilities were also subjected to torture and ultimately death. Fundamentally the universal declaration of human rights was introduced to prevent tyranny.
The European convention on human rights was drawn up in the form of articles which displays the rights and freedoms European people are to expect. There are thirty articles in total. If a person feels that their human rights have been infringed upon them may take their claim to Strasbourg and appeal to the European court of human rights. In 1998 these became law with effect from 2 October 2000 which meant that appeals could also take place in the UK, but decisions could be overturned in Strasbourg. The European court has the powers to rule against countries, for example the court ruled that the Republic of Ireland must eliminate the ban on homosexuality.
Recent legal battles which have hit headlines regarding human rights have included the case of Natallie Evans, who was left infertile after cancer treatment, took her case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg on the grounds that her human rights were being infringed as she was being deprived of the right to have a family. Natallie Evans had endured defeats in the British courts and faced the destruction of the embryos, because her ex-fiancé withdrew his consent to use them. After taking this case to Strasbourg the European court ruled in favour of the destruction of the embryos after backing the British courts, ruling that Natallie Evan's right o a family life, enshrined in article 8 of the European convention on human rights, could not over-ride her ex-fiancé's withdrawal of consent.
A similar case is occurring in the Irish courts, but at present the Irish laws are unclear as to the status of the embryo in law, it is thought that this may clear that confusion which surrounds this.
Another case was baby charlotte who was born after 26 weeks gestation with vital organ damage. Physicians ruled for a DNR but her parents disagreed and took this to the High courts, the ruling was in favour of the physicians because even if Charlotte did survive her quality of life would be so poor that she should not be revived again.
These cases illustrate the difficult decisions which need to be made on behalf of the human act declaration, and even after going through British courts with regards to human rights infringements, there is the chance the ruling can be over turned by the European Court in Strasbourg.
Question 2
In the case of Tisha it seems that most of her rights have been neglected, under the children's Act 2004. The social services, although acted in her best interest, and loco parentis failed to take a substantial amount in to consideration. She was placed in a ...
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These cases illustrate the difficult decisions which need to be made on behalf of the human act declaration, and even after going through British courts with regards to human rights infringements, there is the chance the ruling can be over turned by the European Court in Strasbourg.
Question 2
In the case of Tisha it seems that most of her rights have been neglected, under the children's Act 2004. The social services, although acted in her best interest, and loco parentis failed to take a substantial amount in to consideration. She was placed in a children's home which was clearly full and the fact that Tisha was placed in there warranted the home as over crowded because she had to share with another child. She was entitled to her own room, I.e. privacy. In this situation she had the right to be treated as an individual.
The case study does not mention that English is Tisha's mother tongue, if it is not then she should have expected a translator because there is a clear division between Tisha and the other children in the home and it could be a language barrier, also Tisha is the only black child in the home, in the case study it was clear that the children were openly hostile to her therefore the children should have been educated regarding ethnic minorities, the staff should have worked harder to integrate her in to the social groups of the home, in any case she had the right to not suffer from racial abuse. There is also no mention of her right to practise religion or the facilities. This could cause a loss of identity. Tisha, because of the circumstances with her mother had the right to a normal life as possible given the situation and she may have gone to a Hindi School, she has been separated from her family and friends, perhaps some form of counselling would have been appropriate. The case study does not mention that her dietary requirements were taken in to account.
The staff were clearly not trained for this situation, they have little knowledge of Tisha's culture or religion and should have been in the know, after all not all children in care are Caucasian.
Perhaps the social services should have spoke to parents of Tisha's peers or her school before making a decision as this was not identified in the case study then perhaps they could have come to a more appropriate solution.
Her situation may have been barely acceptable very short term, a day or two but the fact the staff have noticed her increasingly unhappiness indicates she was there longer for the staff to make such observations.
The staff should have either declared their incompetence to deal with this situation or intensely gathered as much information on Tisha to accommodate her needs, educated the children of the care home in preparation and stated that it would not be long term and that social services would have to research more in to finding Tisha more appropriate accommodation, but the staff should have been trained to deal with the situation in the first place, with a good understanding of her needs. The fact that there is a high staff turnover is a worrying factor for a children's home and should have been investigated as to the reasons why or maybe a more rigid application process.
According to the clients rights Tisha should have had privacy and she did not, her personal beliefs were not acknowledged. The client has "the right to have personal beliefs, preferences and choices acknowledged and supported including culture, religion and political beliefs ". Tisha also has the rights of freedom from exploitative and abusive practise; she was suffering from abuse from the other children. Based on these facts from the case study, her treatment was substandard she should have expected more from social services, although the care staff did have good intentions they clearly could not cope with the situation and have not intercepted the abuse she received from the other children. All of her rights have been ignored. Given her circumstances maybe if her being placed there for a short period, maybe a day or two would have been just acceptable but in the mean time social services should had worked harder to find more appropriate accommodation for her, to meet her needs.
If I was the manager responsible for the residential care, I would insist on all the staff being trained on human rights and what each child should expect. I would also expect the children to be educated on different cultures so it would not be such a shock when they come across a culture other than their own. I would also maybe keep a room empty for emergencies and stipulate it is temporary accommodation until a more appropriate solution has been reached. I would insist on employing staff from other ethnic groups to bridge the gap for children who have other needs, such as religion. Before the child arrived I would expect to be fully briefed on the child including dietary requirements. I would then brief the staff, this would give me time to put into place an action plan on what the child needs and how we can meet these needs. I would also insist on a counsellor to speak to the child in order to try to make the transition a little less distressing, more specifically in Tishas' case, I would plan trips to the hospital to see her mother, so she feels she hasn't been permanently separated from her mother and take reassurance from this. I would also insist on her education being as normal for her as possible, whether it means bringing in a translator. I would also allocate a place where she could practice her religion.
Question 3
The chosen group is women and the chosen legislation is pregnancy.
The two acts associated with pregnancy and maternity are the employment rights act 1996 and the sex discrimination act 1975. The sex discrimination states that a pregnant woman cannot be treated less favourable than a man or a non-pregnant woman. This is direct sex discrimination. An example of indirect sex discrimination would be if an employer applied a provision that to achieve an above average for an appraisal an employee must have no absence of more than three months. This indirectly affects a woman because she would need to take more than this time off for maternity leave. This would be discriminatory unless the employee can prove it is detrimental to the business. To claim sex discrimination the woman must show that if it were not for her pregnancy she would not have been treated unfairly and less favourably than a male. However when it regards pregnancy it is not possible to compare to a male therefore if it is proven the treatment was directly related to pregnancy then it is automatically sex discrimination. In these cases the employer must prove that there were non-discriminatory reasons to the way the woman was treated otherwise it is ruled in favour of the woman.
The employment rights act 1996 protects expectant mothers and nursing mothers in regards to: health and safety, unlawful dismissal because of pregnancy or maternity related reasons, redundancy during maternity leave or maternity absence, the right to receive an accurate written statement of the reasons for dismissal during pregnancy or maternity leave. This act was amended in 2002. Every pregnant woman who has given proper notification regarding her pregnancy are entitled to the following.
Reasonable time off with pay for antenatal care
26 weeks ordinary maternity leave six weeks full pay then 20 weeks statutory maternity pay
26 weeks additional maternity leave providing the woman has worked there 26 weeks by the 15th week before the expected due date.
Maternity can be taken from 11 weeks before the due date.
Any sickness related to pregnancy must be disregarded.
Employers have a duty to protect the pregnant woman therefore a risk assessment is required. If after the risk assessment the woman cannot continue the job role she must be offered alternative positions no less favourable than her previous position, if this is not possible then she is entitled to suspend her work with full pay as long as necessary to avoid the risk. Fialure to carry out a risk assessment, should an injury occur, this is direct sex discrimination.
In the case of Rees v Apollo watch repairs plc 1999, Mrs Rees was a receptionist and was refused her job back after maternity leave because the company thought her replacement was more efficient. The court found that hers was a case of sex discrimination because, had she not took maternity leave then the employer would not have found a replacement. Her dismissal was found to be a direct consequence of her maternity leave.
A similar ruling was given in the Webb v Emo Air cargo Ltd 1995, Mrs Webb was employed as cover for maternity and was told she would be kept on, Mrs Webb found that she too was pregnant but was dismissed. The employer afgued that they would have treated a non- pregnant woman or a man the same and it was not the pregnancy but the unavailability to work which led to her dismissal. This was overturned and the courts decided that the dismissal of a pregnant woman on account of her pregnancy, for reasons connected with it was automatically sex discrimination without the need for comparison with a man or a non-pregnant woman and sick employee. This was ruled because pregnancy cannot be equated with sickness or unavailability for work owing to sickness.
These are just a couple of examples of how the sex discrimination act and employment rights act have protected women in employment with regards to pregnancy. These acts seem to really protect women during pregnancy; they make it difficult for the employer to discriminate against pregnant women, given that it is the employer who must disprove the allegations made. This is extremely hard to do, especially if the employer is discriminating against the pregnant woman.
This area was chosen because although women are discriminated against, regarding pay and employment status. It also happens during pregnancy, possible when a woman is at her most vulnerable, and much work is yet to be done there are steps taken to eliminate this oppression and in discussing rights in pregnancy is a good example of how times are changing.
Bibliography
http://www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=15662&lang=en Date accessed 19/03/2006.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1232365.stm Date accessed 19/03/2006.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/udhr.html Date accessed 23/02/2006.
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories Date accessed 16/03/2006.
http://www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=15661&lang=en Date accessed 16/03/2006.
Care Values and Practice Module. Rights booklet. Module leader: Phillip Kenolty date used 23/02/2006.
Donnellan, Craig Human Rights, 2003, issue 65, series 323, Independence Educational publishers.
Moonie, Neil et al. Diversity and Rights in Care, 2004, first edition Harcourt Education publishers Oxford.
Thompson, Neil. Promoting Equality, 2003, second edition Palgrave Macmillan publishers Hampshire.
Care vales and practice
Assignment 1
Gayle Dent
04015603
Access to Nursing Group A Tues Eve
Jim Inkson
Gayle Dent Access to Nursing Group A Tues eve.
