1. Describe the current legislation relating to Equality and Diversity and how you apply this in your own area (Unit 4 - 1.1)
While I work in a care home, which is responsible for providing care for the needy people, the implementation of the Equality Act 2010 is implied here while managing protection during care approach and reducing discrimination. This regulation is effective in terms of covering discrimination in the care process in relation to the "age, sex, disabilities, sexual orientation, as well as race, religion or belief alongside marriage, civil partnership, pregnancy, maternity and gender reassignment" (Carehome.co.uk, 2023). The primary aim of using this legislation is to help protect those who receive care and care providers while being treated unfairly. In my opinion, it can help in my professional areas as it helps with the provision of a legal framework with the aim of protecting the rights of individuals along with the provision of equal opportunities. This legislation is implied in the UK care homes along with the implementation of discrimination law with the aim of protecting individuals from unfair treatment and promotion of fair and equal rights while receiving and providing care (Legislation.gov.uk, 2023). On the other hand, while associating with the inclusive care approach for the identified group of people, the implementation of this legislation aims to reduce discrimination in the wider society under its 116 pieces of legislation in a single act (Skillsforcare.org.uk, 2023). Under this legislation, as a member of a care home to provide quality care in the UK, I am liable to maintain the legal duty as a public body in regards to promoting equality of opportunity while taking care of older people. This is followed by elimination of unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and disability of the receiver while fostering a good quality of person-centred care approach (Emmer De Albuquerque Green et al. 2022). Besides, in my opinion, under the regulation of this law, I am liable to respect people's belief alongside culture and values while providing care and refrain myself from treating them on the basis of their gender, race or religion.
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2. Explain the impact of your own practice on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (Unit 4 - 1.2).
Equality and diversity in healthcare and social care are considered important and often overlooked, while they are an integral part of the service. The promotion of inclusion alongside equality and diversity in health and social care ensures the positive impact of services that are provided for the receivers in a fair way and involves the receiver while treating them equally alongside respectfully (Williamson and Kizilcec, 2022). In my opinion, this can be used in health and social care while ensuring the reduction of differences irrespective of the patient's background as well as ethnicity or religious belief. I also feel that care providers are considered inclusive employers and associating receivers while including them in society, it also helps the care receiver to be involved and being empowered while managing their care approach, and being recognised and respected. Here, the implementation of “Human rights act 1998” sheds light on the five main principles in the form of "fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy" while providing care in care homes (Theaccessgroup, 2023). Besides, I am also liable to the “Mental Capacity Act 2005” with the aim of helping people who are in need to maintain their dignity independently as well as the right to freedom while receiving care. This also helps me to take care of vulnerable individuals such as older people who are accountable to maintain their right to dignity as well as equality in terms of accessing care. In addition, the “deprivation of Liberty safeguard (DoLS)” is implied under this regulation along with the “Equality Act 2010” with the aim of covering all areas of equality and diversity in the society in terms of maintaining quality health and social care (Equality Human Rights, 2023). This also helps to protect the workers' rights while managing responsibility in the care aspects. On the other hand, the implementation of “Care Act 2014” is effective for caregivers as it involves working for vulnerable adults and associating them to assess their concerns for tailored support that identifies those people and managing their own care approach (Homberger et al. 2022). These regulations are contemplated to play a crucial role in terms of promoting and supporting equality and reduction of discrimination with a consistent level of understanding while helping receivers to understand and comply with the care aims. Besides, I feel these policies are effective for caregivers to access appropriate training surrounding the maintenance of quality in health and social care.
3. Discuss, at length, barriers to equality and the effect they have on service users (Unit 4 - 1.3).
There are a number of barriers in regards to the equality that can impact on individuals while accessing service and maintaining care approaches in the UK.
The income inequality refers to the large discrepancy in income between different groups of people, and it has an adverse impact on the lower income population while achieving proper education, health care, and other care resources. This is followed by the presence of racism and discrimination, which are significant factors that can limit the service user opportunities on the basis of their skin colour as well as ethnicity (Asif and Kienzler, 2022). In my opinion, this has a high impact on accessing life chances and ability to reach their full potential while maintaining equality in the field of health and social care. This is followed by mental health conditions that lead to the care receivers facing discrimination and stigma and have a significant impact on receiving care aspects (Silverio et al. 2022). Besides, the stigma around mental health patients can prevent them from accessing adequate treatment, which results in unemployment as well as homelessness, and creates relationship issues. In my opinion, these factors impact the needy population to withdraw from social activities, which have an impact on their behaviour, increasing aggressiveness and reducing appetite while dealing with the adverse impact. Here, the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is important to protect those vulnerable people over the age of 16, in terms of making decisions while receiving care and participating and engaging with care approaches and communicating with care providers (Filia et al. 2022). This act is effective for any care homes that provide a legal framework in terms of associating vulnerable groups of the population to make their own decision, accepting support and requirement of care approach, who are dealing with mental health issues.
4. Describe attitudes that lead to discrimination, use an example from your own practice (Unit 4 - 1.4)
Discriminatory behaviour is considered an act of an individual or any group towards another person which impacts their perspective on the basis of race, culture, alongside religion and any other factor (Ho et al. 2023). While the formal group of people is unaware of current events surrounding the latter group and lacks proper awareness, this act can impact their mental health and overall perspective of accessing care. Discriminatory behaviour such as prejudice, which refers to the unjustified and negative attitude towards any person in care aspect, that develops into full-blown hatred and leads to the discrimination against people who consist of low social power (Westwood, 2022). While working in a care home, I have experienced this type of behaviour from a group of caregivers that affected other people to seek help for their issues and managing care aspects. This is followed by stereotyping behaviour that is capable of leading towards discrimination (Bohren et al. 2022) and in the care home, it has an impact on the negative attitude and leads to the worse care aspects towards the group of receivers. On the other hand, over-generalisations are also an incorrect aspect that leads to the increasing aspects of discrimination and creates stigmatisation around people, which impacts on their overall care aspects (Bohren et al. 2022). In my opinion, the scapegoat theory is related to this context that sheds light on the social dominance theory which is a significant context for igniting prejudice and discrimination on the basis of power disparities. However, egoism, authoritarianism or relative deprivation impact in the opposite way which changes the attitude of the care give us an increasing aspect of discriminatory towards certain groups of patients (Thornicroft et al. 2022). In my opinion, the change of this attitude is important because it helps to understand empathy in both the groups of caregivers and care receivers, while understanding the basic behaviour at care homes to prevent discrimination.
5. How does inclusive practice promote Equality and Diversity? (Unit 4 - 2.1)
Inclusive practices are important in terms of promoting equality and supporting diversity while ensuring equal care aspects, while treating and servicing any group of people. These are also value-driven approaches that help with the treatment of every single person with dignity and respect for their backgrounds and managing the practices for improving the overall health and social care (Milford et al. 2022). While inclusion refers to the process which helps caregivers to focus on the people rather than what they lack, it also improves the access to opportunities for every member of the community. In my opinion, those who require support, such as people with Alzheimer's disease or Down syndrome, are capable of accessing care aspects instead of being hidden away due to social stigma. The inclusive context of care practice helps to promote diversity by shedding light on different ways of accessing care aspects and communicating with the providers (Ketikidou and Saiti, 2022). As I am working in a care home, I am responsible for being aware of cultural diversity while ensuring those who are seeking inclusive practice to ensure the implementation of policies without discriminatory behaviour on the basis of race and culture. On the other hand, inclusive practice in healthcare also provides training for care providers by using sign language interpreters as well as providing translated materials in different languages and supporting workers to access people with disabilities while taking part in community activities (Miles et al. 2022). This factor is effective in terms of engagement between care providers and receivers alongside providing proper personal care in care homes. The use of different languages and sign languages improves communication skills between caregivers and receivers, alongside associating with those who lack literacy skills and require special care aspects (Miles et al. 2022).
6. How can inclusive practice support service users’ needs, culture, values, life experiences and beliefs? (Unit 4 - 2.2)
Inclusive practices are considered to be significant with the aim of respecting individuals' beliefs as well as culture and the preference of values with life experiences (Pilav et al. 2022). This type of practice represents each person as an individual while promoting person-centred care and respecting them with respect to reduce prejudice and discrimination. In my opinion, the implementation of inclusive practice in care aspects helps with identifying people’s equality and diversity characteristics in the form of "belief, culture, sexual orientation, gender as well as disability, language use, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity". While belief refers to the things that influence individuals in life in the form of belief about health and illness and treatment aspects, the culture impacts on their behaviour, values, norms, and tradition while receiving care (Papadakaki et al. 2022). In my opinion, this inclusive practice respects everyone's belief culture alongside observing each characteristic of an individual with the aim of reducing discrimination in care aspects. While working in a care home, I met a person with anxiety, and they were anxious in a large area due to the fear of being judged by others. This made me add inclusive practice while acknowledging their fear and associating them to remove them from the situation in the form of assisting them with transportation to access proper care approaches. This is followed by the presence of stereotyping on the basis of skin colour or race in the UK, which can lead to people being treated differently and victims of judgement while receiving care. The inclusive practice helps those people to access proper care aspects with the help of carers under the guidance of "the Health and Social Care Act 2008". It also helps them to connect with the Care Quality Commission in the UK in terms of accessing help from service providers without any discrimination or prejudice (Cqc.org.uk, 2023).
7. Evaluate Inclusive Practice, using examples from your own practice (Unit 4 - 2.3)
The primary principle of inclusive practice is to enable people to be active participants in their lives while associating the service providers in terms of making decisions and using freedom of choice for care approaches (Di Lorito et al. 2022). It also helps with the promotion of individuals to take part in social activities of their gender, race of, or any other diversity (Knight and Crick, 2022). In my opinion, in the case of addressing the service in care homes, the inclusion of inclusive practice helps with respecting cultural value as well as beliefs and individual requirements of a patient without being culturally competent in any healthcare setting. This has helped me to respect the culture and tradition of individuals while being caregivers and respecting their wishes while planning for their activities. This also provides me with the opportunity to provide support for the people who are suffering from physical or emotional, or learning disabilities in the care homes. While I was responsible for managing the confidentiality of their health conditions while planning for services, I actually helped them to access services in the form of speech therapy or learning sign language while maintaining a continuous communication with them. This has helped me to grow as a person and improve my professional expertise as a caregiver alongside the following legal framework in the working environment without any prejudice or discrimination to promote a fair care aspect.
8. How do you challenge discrimination and promote change? (Unit 4 - 3.1)
While challenging discrimination is capable of promoting changes in the health and social care aspects, it is also important for service providers to maintain a positive environment in care homes (Woodhead et al. 2022). For example, in my walking hours in care homes, I met patients who have been unfairly treated at home because of their gender and sexual orientation and couldn't stand up against people. This fear has made that person hesitate while seeking help or being treated in care. This has created a challenge of discrimination for me while maintaining their service in the care home under the regulation of policies, practice, or decision making. However, under the regulation of "Care Act 2014", I have successfully associated them while identifying their requirements of needs and support along with promotion of care and support in care approaches. This regulation is effective in terms of providing the reformation of regulation with the aim of relating to care and support for the adult population (Marczak et al. 2022). On the other hand, I have also experienced discrimination while working with a specific patient who has judged me on the basis of my skin colour and used racial slurs as well as denied being cared for. This has made me understand the importance of "Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974," which is an act under the UK parliament. This regulation is capable of defining fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement while managing safety and protection against risks for the carers (Edwards and Buckley, 2022). This has made me fight against the individual complaints lodged by the specific patient and access support from the care association in terms of protecting my professional expertise by using class action lawsuits. These approaches are considered effective and have a crucial impact on the large group of people and associations with challenging discrimination in terms of promoting changes in policies. The class action lawsuit is considered a significant day that can impact the operation activities as well as maintaining equity and reducing discrimination by changing policies in the care system (Hayward et al. 2022).
9. How do you support others to promote Equality and Diversity? (Unit 4 - 3.2.)
The support towards the promotion of equality and diversity in care homes by listening to the voices of the people who are receiving care support and confusing different suspects in terms of managing the care facilities (Miles et al. 2022). This is important in a care home as it helps with the promotion of equality and diversity in central management, and complying with the requirements that are set by the law, and meeting the requirements of those populations who need care services. There are several laws and regulations under this context that help to ensure fair treatment and equal opportunities in care homes. "The Equality Act 2010" helps with unifying anti-discrimination legislation to improve overall care service without a personal background and fair treatment to everyone who requires care support (Webster et al. 2022). However, as a care provider, I am legally obliged to protect the residents of this care home from treatment under the regulations of this act, and preventing negligence or abuse against any resident. "The Human Rights Act 1998" helps the care approaches by outlining basic rights and protection of individuals in the UK (Lottie, 2023). Even though initially this act is not implied in care aspects, the scope of this regulation has been extended to include care approaches since 2008 (Lottie, 2023). As a care provider in the care home, I am capable of managing fairness as well as respecting the residents to improve equality and treating them with dignity.
10. Discuss, at length, the effectiveness of your policies and procedures which support Equality and Diversity (Unit 4 3.3)
The evaluation of policies alongside systems processes as well as practices helps with the promotion of equality, diversity, and inclusive care aspects in care homes. While organisations are accountable to undertaking initiatives with the aim of chromatin equality, diversity, as well as an inclusive care approach, they are also responsible to ensure the effective implementation (Rivera et al. 2022). While working in a care home, I feel the health and social care setting requires you to assist with the equality and diversity policy effectively implemented in terms of identifying barriers and obstacles to meet the primary need of care approaches. It also associates with ongoing education of the employees alongside complying with policies to improve the care outcome (Cpdonline.co.uk, 2023). The inclusive policies that are impactful in this situation refer to the primary approaches with the aim of recognising diversity among all individuals in care setting as well as identifying individuals' full participation capability in the care setting (Coleman et al. 2022). In my opinion, this helps the care receivers to actively engage with care providers, communicating their needs and uncomfortable factors as well as participating to make decisions regarding care aspects.
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