Developing As a Practitioner

Running head: DEVELOPING AS A PRACTITIONER
Developing As a Practitioner
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DEVELOPING AS A PRACTITIONER
Section 1: Safeguarding Adults
Introduction:
In this section, the ethical considerations and professional behaviors that can be
considered in order to safeguard older adults would be discussed. The discussion would be in
the light of the case scenario of an occupational therapist working with a 67 year old lady.
The ethical considerations and expected professional behaviors that are stipulated under
various policies and legislatures are discussed below:
Discussion:
According to Ingham-Broomfield (2017) and Mahieu et al. (2017), some important
ethical considerations that a professional should have while working with elderly clients and
patients are protection (taking prompt actions if patient’s safety is compromised and
considering their welfare and needs, helping them or safeguarding them from abuse and
neglect), empowerment (respecting the individuality, privacy and dignity of the patient and
supporting the patients to care for themselves and maintain their health), proportionality
(maintaining the confidentiality of patient information, ensuring lawful handling of patient
data, ensure minimal disclosure of information), partnership (providing the patient all options
for treatment and using ways of communication that the patient can understand, listening to
what the patients have to say, taking into account that they think and responding to their
questions with honesty, keeping the patient well informed and updated on their treatment or
therapy) (Chung et al. 2016; Day et al. 2016).
In addition to the ethical principles, there are various legislative frameworks and
policies that aims to maintain ethical and professional practice among healthcare
professionals. The Care Act 2014 outlines those statutory responsibilities of the integration

2DEVELOPING AS A PRACTITIONER
of support and care between the local authorities like Clinical Commissioning Group, and
healthcare organizations like NHS England and the partnership aims to promote the
wellbeing of older adults by ensuring prevention or reduction of harm to them or to the risks
of abuse and neglect, supporting them to make independent choices, promoting the chances
of favorable outcomes for them, increasing public awareness about their welfare and helping
to identify and stop instances of elder abuse (Department of Health 2014). The Data
Protection Act ensures the safety of patient data and protected the patient from the misuse
and theft of the data, as well as maintaining its confidentiality. This act implies the healthcare
professionals to take necessary actions to prevent disclosure of the patient data unlawfully
and prevent misuse of patient information (Carey 2018). The Equality Act 2010 safeguards
individuals against abuse or discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity,
nationality disabilities or religious beliefs (Foster 2015). Social care Act 2008 also has
provisions for care of elderly people in the community and support the improvement of the
health and wellbeing. In addition, policies such as Multi Agency Policy and Procedures,
Standards of Safety and Quality, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards further helps to enhance
the safety, quality, responsiveness and equity of care provided to the elderly people and
therefore should be considered by the occupational therapist (Care Quality Commission
2017).
Conclusion:
Thus, it can be concluded that in order to protect the wellbeing of older adults, the
healthcare professional should have several important considerations related to his/her ethical
and professional responsibilities which includes ethical standards and important acts such as
Care Act 2014, Data Protection Act, Equality Act and Social Care Act 2008.
Section 2: Mental capacity and Consent