Balancing Privacy and Health Research

This assignment explores the delicate balance between safeguarding personal privacy and conducting health research for societal good. It delves into the primary justifications for both, emphasizing the value of privacy at individual and societal levels, while also acknowledging the benefits of health research to individuals. The task is to critically analyze this tension and propose ethical guidelines for maintaining a balanced approach.

Level 3 Diploma in Health
care Support (QCF)
Safeguarding and protection in care
settings
UNIT 2 WORKBOOK
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INTRODUCTION
Safeguarding is a term used in the United Kingdom and Ireland to denote
measures to protect the health, well-being and human rights of individuals, which
allow people especially children, young people and vulnerable adults to live free from
abuse, harm and neglect. The following report will talk about different factors
associated with the same concept.
1.1 Explain the term safeguarding
General: Precautionary or counter measure available to an entity that enables it
to protect itself or its interests in case of an attack, threat, or infringement of an
agreement. Provision that allows two types of multilateral protection to its signatories:
(1) Importer's right to impose temporary import restrictions to help protect its
domestic industry
(2) Corresponding right of the exporter(s) that prevents imposition of arbitrary
restrictions on access to a market (Cottrell, 2013).
1.2 Explain own role and responsibilities in safeguarding individuals
An adult at risk may be a person who:
Has physical or mental disabilities
Has a sensory impairment
Has learning difficulties
Is homeless
Is detained in lawful custody
It is the responsibility of people who work in Health and Social care to work
in a way that will help to prevent abuse.This means providing good quality care and
support and putting the individual at the of everything, empowering them to have as
much control over their lives as possible.
1.3 Define the different terms:
Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another
person or animal by way of bodily contact.
Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behaviour directed at a former or
current partner, spouse, or boyfriend or girlfriend.
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is usually undesired sexual
behaviour by one person upon another.
Emotional abuse: Form of abuse, characterized by a person subjecting, or
exposing, another person to behaviour that may result in psychological trauma,

including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (Cottrell,
2017).
Self-neglect is a behavioural condition in which an individual neglect to
attend to their basic needs, such as personal hygiene, appropriate clothing, feeding, or
tending appropriately to any medical conditions they have.
Discriminatory abuse exists when values, beliefs or culture result in a misuse
of power that denies opportunity to some groups or individuals.
1.4 Describe harm
Harm is a deliberate injury or damage to someone or something. A
playground bully is a mean kid who causes harm to other kids. physical injury,
especially that which is deliberately inflicted.
1.5 Describe restrictive practices
Restrictive practices are any type of support or practice that limits the rights
or freedom of movement of a person with disability. This might include: Seclusion.
This is when a person is put in a room or place and the person cannot leave when they
want to.
Restrictive practices have been known to take a number of forms: restraint,
including restrictive physical interventions. (physical restraint, clinical holding and
mechanical restraint), chemical restraint and psychosocial restraint, and seclusion and
long-term segregation (Fazal and et. al., 2012).
2.1 Identify the signs and/or symptoms associated with each of the abuse
Physical abuse - Bruises, welts, or other injuries that can't be explained or
don't match with a story.
Domestic abuse - threatens to use a weapon against her, forces her to have an
abortion or to continue a pregnancy
Emotional/psychological abuse - Says things to upset or frighten you.
sexual abuse - they might avoid being alone with people, such as family members or
friends
Financial/material abuse - Substantial increase in account activity,
particularly when a joint bank account has recently been established or someone is
now assisting the individual with their finances
Modern slavery - acting as if under instruction, appearing hesitant and letting
others speak for them; little eye contact (Kneale, 2014).
Discriminatory abuse - Offering different terms to different people
2.2 Describe factors that may contribute to an individual to abuse
Physical dependency – being dependent on others for personal care and
activities of daily life. Low self-esteem, Experience of abuse, Childhood experience
of abuse, Communication difficulties. Not having mental capacity to make decisions
about their own safety including fluctuating mental capacity associated with mental
illness and other conditions.

3.1 Actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused
The actions I would take if I suspected abuse is to raise my concerns with my
line manager about the abuse or if necessary a higher level of management, should the
abuse involve my direct line manager. I would also speak to the individual about the
abuse but not press for answers being mindful that this will be done at a later stage of
any investigations. I would also record my suspicions in the patient’s records to
ensure there was an auditable trail and could be used as evidence if necessary (Pears
and Shields, 2016).
3.2 Explain the actions to take if an individual alleges that they are being abuse
Abuse can take many forms, including sexual, mental, and physical, and
it can happen in many places, e.g., in the home, in hospital, and in the
workplace. If someone alleges they are being abused, some of the
actions you should take include :
•Stay calm and listen to them,
•Take what you are being told seriously,
•Be aware that medical evidence might be needed,
•Offer them support to help them to stop the abuse happening,
•Make a written note of what you have been told and •Contact social
services or the police
Depending on the age of the individual, if it is an adult call the local
police if a minor call CPS.
3.3 Identify ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved
The Health and Social Care Act 2008 place statutory duties on agencies to safeguard and
to ensure the welfare of all service users that they are responsible for. Social Services and the
Adult Safeguarding Board are local systems that can intervene if a safeguarding issue arises.
Social Services-if see fit- can remove the victim from the situation and/or provide other services to
make welfare checks (Persky, Henry and Campbell, 2015).
There are many agencies that have roles in safeguarding and protecting from abuse. The police are
to investigate suspected abuse, the council protect people using the service-they can rehouse
victims if need be. Social workers also investigate signs of abuse, calling in the necessary
authorities.
4.1 Identify relevant legislations that relate to protection from abuse
No secrets Department of Health (2000): This piece of legislation is a great
support for multi-agency working to promote an effective approach to safeguarding in
local area. As far as I understand, ’No secret’ means everything must be exposed
about safeguarding issues so multi-agency can openly obtain data from each other and
work out effectively.
Statement of Government's policy on adult Safeguarding: The main
regulator ‘Department of Health’ has set out key principles of safeguarding. Those are
Empowerment, Protection, Prevention, Proportionality, Partnership and
Accountability. Multi-agency must ensure that all of these principles are included in
local policies and put in practice ( Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011).
4.2 Explain the roles of different agencies in safeguarding

CQC: Care quality commission has their duty to set
guideline and monitor on health and social care
organisations and agencies to protect individual from harm
and abuse. If any care provider fails to protect individuals
from harm and abuse or does not meet the standard set out
by care quality commission, then care provider will be
forced to close down and pay penalty.
The Police: Police is mostly the first contact to
safeguard and protect individual from abuse. Their
responsibilities are to record, investigate, safeguard and
report.
4.3 Identify factors which have featured in reports into
serious cases of abuse
May have restricted social environments
May feel powerless
May depend upon touch for personal care and may not
always be able to control the nature of the care or touch
physically, cognitively or verbally
May be socialized to accept being touched by anyone,
especially someone called "staff"
May be unable to differentiate between appropriate and
inappropriate actions, and therefore, are uncertain as to
what constitutes abuse
May not understand the concept of strangers
May not be able to conceive of the fact that someone they
know would harm them
May not have received sex education (Urciuoli and
Bluestone, 2013)
4.4 Identify sources of information and advice about own
role in safeguarding
In order to respond appropriately where abuse or
neglect may be taking place, anyone in contact with the
adult, whether in a voluntary or paid role, must understand
their own role and responsibility and have access to
practical and legal guidance, advice and support. This will
include understanding local inter-agency policies and
procedures.
Your manager or a senior member of staff should
always be your point of contact for any questions or
concerns you might have. A lot of organisations offer
additional safeguarding training to raise awareness, explain
signs and symptoms, and help workers understand how to
report abuse and neglect (Wernersbach and et. al., 2014).
4.5 Identify when to seek support in situations beyond your
experience and expertise
Active participation is a way of working that
regards individuals as active partners in their own care or

support rather than passive recipients. Active participation
recognises each individual’s right to participate in the
activities and relationships of everyday life as
independently as possible.
A person’s background is the individual’s unique
mix of personal experiences,
history, culture, beliefs, preferences, family relationships,
informal networks and
community.
To communicate may include using the individual's
preferred spoken language, the
use of signs, the use of symbols or pictures, writing, objects
of reference,
communication passports, other non-verbal forms of
communication, human and
technological aids to communication (Wibrowski, 2017).
5.1 Explain how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced
Person-centred values recognise people as
individuals who have strengths and preferences, and put
them at the centre of their own care and support. Person-
centred values include:
 Individuality
 Rights, choice and privacy
· Independence
 Dignity and respect
Working with person-centred values involves
enabling people to identify their own needs and make
choices about how and when they are supported to live their
lives (Matthews, 2017).
5.2 Explain the importance of an accessible complaints
procedure
An accessible complaints procedure can reduce the
likelihood of abuse. For that the people we support need to
understand that they can make a complaint without any risk
of them being blamed or victimised for doing so. A blame-
free culture will be good to improve the situation. The idea
is to see a complaint as chance to identify a problem, not to
to punish the complainant or the person against whom the
complaint was made. The complainant has to know that any
complaint will be taken seriously.
5.3 Outline how the likelihood of abuse can be reduced
Ensure your staff receive training on prevention of
abuse and neglect
 have systems in place to facilitate the identification
of people with care and support needs and possible
risks

 have mechanisms in place to identify and share
information about people who may pose a risk
 ensure that there are links with the local multi-
agency public protection arrangements
6.1 Describe unsafe practices that may affect the
individuals
Anything or action that would threaten or jeopardise the
personal safety of another person, that is physical, emotional or
psychological. Things like poor manual handling, not keeping
track if a client has taken their medication, not disposing of waste
properly, basically every time a short cut is taken on a procedure.
One's behaviour can aect others, on a daily basis, not only in our
work environment, but also in our homes and our social lives
(Kitsantas, 2017).
6.2 Explain the actions to take if unsafe practices
have been identified
As a carer or health care assistant, if you believe that
unsafe practices are happening, there are several steps that you
could take, Firstly, talk to other colleagues, they might share
your concerns. "ensure safety of the individual or victim. make
sure he or she is protected. secondly, make sure your written
records, are up to date and highlight any incidents that you think
are relevant, also gather as much other evidence as possible, this
could be photographic, written recorded and anything you deem
relevant to your case. Thirdly, make a senior colleague aware of
your concerns. of you think the situation is urgent, you should do
this first. you could also write a letter or report it to the relevant
department (manager plaining your concerns simply and clearly.
Another course of action that you could take, would be to contact
your local trade union or health and safety representative.
6.3 Describe the actions to take if suspected abuse
As a carer or health care assistant, the safety and well-
being of your client or the service user should be your number
one priority. If you suspect abuse or unsafe practices is still
happening after being reported, then you must go to the next
superior or manager in position. After you have reported the
incident you still have a duty of care to your patient. If you feel
that your patient is still at risk, then speak with your supervisor
or manager regarding your concerns. If you feel your supervisor
manager is not taking appropriate action, or you suspect your
supervisor or manager is abusing a patient then most company
policies would state that you would need to contact the regional
manager or a higher authority. You would also need to contact an
inspectorate body and keep reporting and taking it to a higher
authority until the case is resolved or until you feel your client or
service user is safe.

7.1 Describe the potential risks presented by:
It's easy to damage your reputation and productivity
by saying the wrong thing: it's ten times as easy to do this
with electronic communication.
By using electronic mail, USENET news groups, electronic
bulletin board systems, chat, and so forth, you can make a
fool of yourself to many strangers rapidly. Unlike messages
on paper, electronic messages are hard to stop once you've
sent them: they can be delivered and read seconds after you
send them.
7.2 Explain ways of reducing the risks presented by each of these
types of activity
Preventing claims helps keep premiums reasonable
and also enables companies to avoid significant costs and
‘downtime’ from activities.
 Machinery should be guarded correctly, with the
appropriate controls fitted (including emergency
stops and interlocks). Routine inspection and an
effective defect reporting system will also help
reduce misuse and minimise risk.
 Ensure floors are in a good condition, adequately lit
and with designated walkways. Good housekeeping
standards and appropriate footwear are also essential
to minimise the risk of slips and trips and
documenting a cleaning programme for any
spillages will also be of benefit.
7.2 Explain the importance of balancing measures for online
safety
Ethical health research and privacy protections both
provide valuable benefits to society. Health research is vital
to improving human health and health care. Protecting
patients involved in research from harm and preserving
their rights is essential to ethical research. The primary
justification for protecting personal privacy is to protect the
interests of individuals. In contrast, the primary justification
for collecting personally identifiable health information for
health research is to benefit society. But it is important to
stress that privacy also has value at the societal level,
because it permits complex activities, including research
and public health activities to be carried out in ways that
protect individuals’ dignity. At the same time, health
research can benefit individuals, for example, when it
facilitates access to new therapies, improved diagnostics,
and more effective ways to prevent illness and deliver care.

CONCLUSION
From the above report this has been summarised that
safeguarding is an important concept that helps in
protecting different individuals and promote safety.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Macmillan.
Cottrell, S., 2017. Critical thinking skills. Macmillan
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Kneale, P. E., 2014. Study Skills for Geography Students: A
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