Analysis of Law, Policy, and Ethics in Health and Social Care

This report delves into the legal, policy, and ethical dimensions of health and social care, examining the legal framework, legislation, and their implications for healthcare practitioners. Part A focuses on the legal framework, including the roles of legislation, the executive, and the judiciary in healthcare, using the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust case as a scenario. It explores key legislation like the National Health Service Act 2006 and the Medical Act 1858. Part B addresses legislation, policies, and standards concerning equality and safeguarding, along with the importance of ethics in healthcare practice. The report includes observation logs to analyze the role of practitioners, the importance of communication with patients, and the context of healthcare settings. It also covers the key features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice, and national and organizational policies. The report emphasizes the role of ethics in informing health, care, and support service practice and the importance of applying law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements.

LAW, POLICY AND
ETHICAL PRACTICE IN
HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
LO1 Explain the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners Scenario. 1
PART B............................................................................................................................................5
LO2 Describe how legislation, policy (national and organisational) and standards are
regarding equality and safeguarding and the importance to the health, care or support service
practitioner..............................................................................................................................5
LO3 Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and
social care...............................................................................................................................6
LO4 Apply law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant
practice setting........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Law, Ethics and Polices is the language of legislation which tells describes the role and
responsibility of any individual. It is one of those department which is very meaningful in the
field of healthcare because it ensures that what practician can do while practising in any of the
healthcare centre. In context of this report, the discussion in Part A is all about legislation,
executive and Judiciary for health care. Where as in Part B the discussion will be done by
preparing the observation logs, activity log and reflective log.
PART A
LO1 Explain the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners Scenario.
Given Scenario: It is given that Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust was unable to provide the
service to the patient. The default was found when it was seen that 2500 patient died just because
of the standard of care which they didn't provide to the patient and this incident took place
between 2005-2008. While cross verification had taken the place, it was found that health
practitioner had done lots of compromises with the health of patient.
Legislation to Healthcare: It is said that legislation has the main importance in each and
every department because it will decide that how any work is required to be done. In simple
term, Legislation is set of law which are enforced as per the requirement of situation and it is
compulsory that no one is allowed to breach the term and condition of law as defaulter has to
face various kinds of punishment in this situation. Legislation have divided into many section
where it is written that which department will commence law what kind of law (Banks, 2016). In
present scenario, it is important for Legislation to look after all the section through which
chances of default will be reduced in future. Some of the act which has been introduced for the
benefits of patient are National Health Service Act, 2006, medical act 1858 etc. and many more.
In context of the case, it can be understood that there was the default Mid-Staffordshire NHS
Trust because they were the one who didn't tried to provide the best services to the patient and
because of that many of the patient have to lost their life. After seeing this incident, it is
important that legislation should commence those form of law due to which it will easy to find
the defaulter person due to whom anyone have to suffer from their life. It is very crucial for
practitioner to understand the language of law because they are required to work as per the act.
Here, role of government will be very important because they have to understand in detail that
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there are lots of area where still new law should be commenced and that must be commenced for
practitioner. They must try to introduce those program in healthcare centre from which chances
of default will be reduced (Bywaters and et. al., 2015).
Government of UK need to amended some of laws which are related with the healthcare
and those must be done specially in medical act 1858 because there are lots of instances where
due to patient has to suffer from various kind of problem and reason behind that is level of
manufacturing in medicine. Some of those strict law should be commenced where practitioner
should be made liable for the issues which come across them. In the above case, it was found that
NHS didn't tried to treat well to their patient and this problem continues for near around 3 years
so it is important for government to check that what are the weak points due to which healthcare
centre are unable to provide the best services to their patient. Changes can be done but it will be
more effective if they are done only after the proper research because it helps to produce more
effective results in future. The incidence which had been occurred by the side of NHS was one of
those lesson for UK government which made them aware regarding the health of patient and
because of that change were done in Human Rights Act, 1998 also where it is clearly written
then everyone has the equal rights when it comes to obtain the health of patient. Also,
government is always try to come up new which are beneficial for every patient.
Executive on Healthcare: They are the persons who take care of each and everything
which is required in the premises of hospital so it can be understood that it will be very to
manage every single thing within the organisation (Congress, 2017). It should be mandatory that
every responsibility should be given to executive and even if any kind of default is done then it is
necessary that actions should be taken against that respective executive. In context of the case, it
was found that there was no one who was ready to take the responsibilities for the death of 2500
patient so by looking at this problem government had done lots of changes in their law system
which is effective for the better results.
In this, government had decided that executive should take the responsibilities and must
try to work as per the guidelines of law. So, in every healthcare executive must ensure that
practitioners are working as per the law and because of that carelessness in the health of patient
has been reduced in significant manner. Even it can be said easily that the main reason behind
the death of 2500 patient was the executive of NHS trust. So, in upcoming days it will important
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for government to define the role and responsibility of each and every executive because they
will clear the annual report of every healthcare in upcoming time.
Judiciary to Health Care: It is one of the legal body which need to check that whether
anyone is following the rules and regulation or not. It is mainly required to be judge on the basis
of those situation where any person, organisation or trust doesn't work as per the requirement of
law (Golightley and Goemans, 2017). Still there are lots of work which should done by judiciary
so that better results can be obtained in future. In context of the above case, it was found that
judiciary was unable to take strict action against any NHS trust because there was no strong
evidence. So, here government should authorise the power to judiciary in the situation where
should be allowed to take any of the action against those healthcare centre which doesn't provide
the best healthcare facility to the patient. So, after that incident Parliament had authorised the
power to judiciary bodies, like supreme court, high court and other state level court that can
declare their decision on the basis of default with the help of common law. And this are some of
the steps which has been very effective for the better result in recent period of time.
Even this judiciary bodies have been given the power of watch dog who need to check
that what were the consequences of default and what actions can be taken in future so that results
can be improved. Judiciary body can play the vital role in every situation because they can
declare result as per the situation which has come across the judges.
It can be understood from the above three paragraph that Legislation, Judiciary are inter-
related but it is important that how they work to judge the situation (Tomkins and et. al., 2015).
These three bodies are just working for giving the better services to every department but the
main important situation which they are required to face is that how they face the situation
because that is the most crucial thing for them. This is because it can easily help them out to
declare the best decision on any of the case which come in front of them. If these bodies will not
be able to perform as per the requirement of statutory law, then it will not be easy to maintain the
decorum of nation.
It is said that government of UK has to work a lot in this and even it is effective for both
healthcare services and general public. The locality which is selected for this project is satisfied
with the rules and regulation which are commenced by the government for their healthcare centre
but still there is a requirement for some of the changes in the section where patient are not treated
equally by health and social care centre. While searching for the overall result it can be found
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that these bodies have helped a lot top raise the standard of healthcare within the premisses of
UK.
Key features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice, and national and
organisational policy.
The key feature of legislation for healthcare practice are mentioned below:
 to provide the best facility to the patient which are available in healthcare centre.
 To update the health recovery of patient to who are suffering from serious nature of
disease.
The key feature of statutory guidance for healthcare practice are mentioned below:
 It is important that practician have the experiences in those where there are working.
 It is necessary for every practician that they must take the permissions of the family
member before handling any of the case.
The key feature of codes of practice for health care practice is
 Under this is necessary that practician should not be biased.
 Practician should follow work as per the ethical principals.
Key features of national and organisational policy are:
 It ensure that each and every practician must work as per the policies of healthcare centre.
 Organisational policy helps to delegate the power that what are the rights and
responsibilities of any practician.
M1. Role of Ethics in informing health, care and support service practice
At present, ethics have a huge importance in everyone's life as it tells that how work is to
be done and when it is to be done. In terms of healthcare, it provides the best advices to each and
every department which is responsible for taking any of the decisions within healthcare. When
any of the healthcare doesn't follow the code of ethics then outcomes are always adverse. The
main benefits of ethics in healthcare is that it informs the practitioners that how they need to
work on regular basis through which more consistency be brought in to the field of NHS.
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PART B
LO2 Describe how legislation, policy (national and organisational) and standards are regarding
equality and safeguarding and the importance to the health, care or support service
practitioner
Observation Logs
Rationale – the reason behind selecting this task was just to know the role of practitioner in the
field of healthcare.
Explain the individual’s needs: It is important for me to have proper communication with
practitioner which will help me find that what are those additional requirements in NHS
organisation. (Kramer, Kinn and Mishkind, 2015).
Describe briefly the details of the setting: I should try to check that where NHS organisation
has been setup and is it helpful for patient.
Describe the context of the setting: In this, I am required to plan that how I can conduct my
activities and for that I have to divide my work on the basis of week 1, week 2 and week 3..
Scenario: I am the student of medical field where I need to prepare and observation log of
practitioner that how they have to work within any of the HSC. Here, doctor is dealing with of
those patient who is suffering from the problem of Kidney and because of that patient is admitted
in the hospital since last 4 week. In this I will required to check how practitioner is treating that
patient and what are those challenges which is being faced by practician during the treatatment
of patient.
Observation log write up
Week 1: In first week, I observed that how practician is treating that patient and whether
they are working as per the rules and regulation or not. I found that it is one of the toughest job
where doctor need to be very careful that how they are required to treat patient and for that they
are following each and every legislation, policies. The policy of that NHS was to treat everyone
equally but it is never that easy for practitioner to given equal care because of work load and less
number of practician.
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Week 2: In second week, I observed that, in order to work within the legislation, policies
and standards it is never easy for health care practician. Just to follow all those regulation
practician was not able to give appropriate care to patient.
I found that practitioner are forced to treat as per the orders of NHS due to which they
need to take additional time to cure the problem of patient. Even facilities which are required in
every NHS are not fulfilled and the reason behind that is expensive treatment which everybody
cannot afford. Also, I found that practician under which I was working was not happy satisfied
with the policies which are made hospitals. So, it is important NHS to change those policies
which restricts practitioner to perform there task easily.
M2. Specific tasks in health, care or support service practice meet national professional
standards of safe and non-discriminatory practice.
There are number of healthcare at present which have the specific work which they are
required to do. It is necessary that they meet out the standard for delivering the safety to every
patient. Care Quality Commission is among one of those organisation which is working for
meeting out the standard of healthcare. Also, they try to check whether there is any problem or
not which is related to discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, gender and many more. It is
necessary that every patients are being treated equally and if this things can be changed then
future result can more specific in which health level can be improved very easily.
LO3 Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and
social care
Activity logs
Time duration of the activities Notes
Week 1: In week one, I have gone through
gaining knowledge of several defined policies
or roles in HSC sector of the NHS. In addition
to this, I also have practical exposure on
human right in HSC such as right to be treated
for patience who are in need of help.
During the first, I have performed my duties
under laws or legislation such as fair treatment
act, in which I was strict towards mine role to
treat people effectively. This law has been
takeover to reduce death of patient happened
between 2005-2008 .
Week 2: While working under NHS trust, I
have gone through practical work of doing the
This human right has been practised with
practices of health care employment, in which
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major documentation to record flow of patients
in this NHS trusts. During I was under process
to do this under influence of human rights such
as superior priority to work.
defined duties or role has been taken under
consideration to maintain log books of people
or patients treated under NHS trust to maintain
fair working under this sector.
Week 3: In this week, I have done various
campaigns or events with purpose to protect
health of patient or other people. Also, running
of campaign has been continued to promote
effective working or treatment of the people in
health and social care sector. Along with
promotion of health and social care sector,
these campaigns are also started to promote
human right in practical way by other doctors
and led its influence for NHS trust to improve
their treatment working.
In this week, I as health care worker, my duties
and responsibilities was to treat patients with
trust and belief to let them with major level of
confidence or motivation which is highly
necessary for them. My duties was defined
under equality act, 1998, in which guidelines
were taught to act fair and equal with each and
every person in this sector to bring common
way of working (Reamer, 2015).
Different legislation and laws in table against of every week of activity log has been
undertaken under full and final knowledge of these laws into a defined manner of working. This
legislation are applied on condition or situation occurred into training process of NHS health care
trust. In my observation, I realised that my information and exposure while working in the HSC
sector has been raised and also knowledge in context of this has been increased.
M3. Analysis of recent health and social care legislation or national policy.
There are lots of healthcare policies which are being formed on regular basis and it is
necessary that how those policies are being formed by legislation because that plays the most
important part in this. While talking about the national policies of United Kingdom, it is said that
still there are some of the area where changes are required. Although, some of the changes are
helpful for local people where free health treatment check up is helping them to keep them fit
and fine. Even there are number of acts which says that, every patient should be treated equally
and there should not be any kind of discrimination.
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LO4 Apply law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant practice
setting
How well did you achieve the practice criteria for this unit: This practices criteria has been
accomplished through the support of an effective planning and strategic decision making
conducted for accomplishment of goals and also objectives in context of health and social care
sector to develop the major role of equality, sustainability and fair work based practices act to
enhance effective and productive working into this sector for given point of time. In this unit,
stated objective has been achieved with major of the tools & techniques which are highly
needed to establish in order to make health and social care sector more helpful towards an
effective treatment of the people (Rock and Degeling, 2015).
What challenges did you face: During this work based practice, I realised that problem or
issues related to utilisation has been found major, in response of which my major issues are also
related to lack of management. Lack of delegation of work has been found major for NHS to
overcome in order to make completion of given task in definite period of time. Work along
with support of legislation are not easy to pursue as it majorly comprises of several critical
terms or norms which in reality needs to be follow.
Specific examples from your placement that evidence your learning/development: From
my placement, I majorly realised that I got effective learning and development in context of
health and social care sector in order to develop this sector, with self-assessment of policies,
rule and regulation in context with this sector. In addition to this, I got separate understanding
about different policies, practices and also rule in context to this sector for greater period of
time. Also, I got major knowledge about major legislation, code of conducts or ethical measure
s which are necessary for HSC sector to treat or entertain patients in an effective way. In
working problem, this is a highly realised that management of working regulation is highly
positive. This is highly evident from my perspective that my learning has been raised at an
optimised stage of working to develop these knowledge and information for given period of
time. I also got major knowledge about management or level of leadership going into the health
and social care sector.
What changes or improvements do you think could be implemented into practice: In the
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context with health and social care, various changes or level of an improvement are required in
case of implementing effective policies, rules and regulation in order to enhance suitable
changes in context of effective working in this sector for leading placements in this sector at a
greater and also optimised stage of working. Through this sector opportunity is in context of
effective and collective working to establish and built this industry at a greater and optimised
period of time (Sankar and Parker, 2017). In this practices, various changes such as delegation
and management of work is required to be taken into major existence for growing period of
time.
How can you action plan to develop these skills or qualities: In this sector of health and
social care, skills related to effective leadership and communication is used to be considers in
order to make person or any individual being responsive to its own duties or responsibilities
which needs to be fulfil through process of training & development. This is highly prominent
for me to enhance my major way of working and also this has led to development of skills for
working into the collaboration for given point of time. This level of skills will be developed
with support of training and development to led enhancement of these skills at a productive
stage of working.
M4. Explanation of how chosen law, policy and ethical considerations might result in
difference outcomes to the case scenario
There are number of laws and policies like Health and Social Act 2012 and Equality Act
2012 are among those law and policies which states that If NHS had adopted the policies of this
Act then result would have been different. Even legislation would have helped them to achieve
their target and also their would not have been professional negligence. Performance of every
practitioner can be enhanced with the help of this legislation.
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CONCLUSION
It is concluded that law, policies and ethics is very important as tells that how everything
should be managed. Legislation is the most important thing which tells that how laws are formed
whereas ethics says that what can be essential area which need to be focused in every field.
Healthcare should work as per the term and condition of laws and ethics because they both have
the huge role for bring out the best outcome. At the end, it can be said that practitioner must
ensure that they are not working beyond their capacity else judicial body have the option to take
legal action.
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