Principles of Health and Social Care Practices: An Assessment Report

This report delves into the core principles of health and social care (HSC), examining their practical application within care settings. It explores how principles of support, such as privacy, dignity, and independence, are implemented to ensure individualized care. The report also addresses procedures for protecting clients, patients, and colleagues from harm, highlighting the benefits of a person-centered approach. Furthermore, it analyzes ethical dilemmas that arise in HSC, the implementation of policies, legislation, and codes of practice. The report also discusses the development of local policies in accordance with national requirements and evaluates the impact of these on organizational practices. Finally, it examines the theories underpinning HSC practice, the impact of social processes, and the effectiveness of inter-professional working, as well as the roles, responsibilities, and contributions of care workers. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing individual contributions to meet good practice requirements within the HSC sector.

Principles of Health and Social Care
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
ASSESSMENT PART 1 (ASSESSING LO1 AND LO2)....................................................................3
1.1 Application of principles of support in ensuring the individual care in HSC practices 200......3
1.2 Procedures for protecting clients, patients and colleagues from harm ....................................3
1.3 Benefits of following person centred approach with users of health and social care services. .4
1.4 Ethical dilemmas and conflict that may arise when providing care, support and protection to
users of HSC services......................................................................................................................5
2.1 Implementation of policies, legislation, regulations and codes of practice in HSC..................5
2.2 Development of local policies and procedures accordance with national and policy
requirements.....................................................................................................................................6
2.3 Impact of policy, legislation, regulation, and codes of practice on policies and practices on
organizational policy and practices .................................................................................................6
ASSESSMENT PART 2 (ASSESSING LO3 AND LO4)....................................................................7
3.1 Theories that underpin health and social care practice.............................................................7
3.2 Impact of social processes on users of health and social care services.....................................8
3.3 Effectiveness of inter-professional working..............................................................................8
4.1 Explain own role, responsibilities, accountabilities and duties in the context of working with
those within and outside the health and social care workplace. .....................................................9
4.2 Evaluate own contribution to the development and implementation of health and social care
organisational policy........................................................................................................................9
4.3 Recommendations to develop own contributions to meet good practice requirements..........10
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
The values and principles of care has varied according to concept of individual such as
choice, privacy, dignity, respect, independence etc. In health and social care (HSC), the different
principles of care has most important for delivered the quality services to the community. The well
being of the services users the major priorities of the care organizations. The following report has
based on the principles of health and social care practices which assist in understand the individual
uniqueness of the care workers to plan the variety of care services to the patients in the right
manner. The following report will discuss the various aspects such as implementation of principles
of care in developing the health and social care practices, impact of various legislations on the care
organization, code of practices, contribution of individual care practitioners in development and
implementation of health care policy in the favour of services users.
ASSESSMENT PART 1 (ASSESSING LO1 AND LO2)
1.1 Application of principles of support in ensuring the individual care in HSC practices 200
The care organizations services are varying according to the needs and requirements of the
service users. In the context, the different principles of supports helps in developing the HSC
practices in providing the individual care. The principles of supports are as follows.
Privacy and dignity: The care workers should respect the privacy and dignity of individual care
users. It means that the service users should have the right to maintain some privacy as well as
opportunities to live the life as they want. Therefore, it is important for the care staff to avoid
patronising behaviour and attitudes for the patients (Glasby, 2012).
Independence: The care workers should provide some independence to the services users so
perform their some work. It will help in reduce the dependency on the social care workers and make
them able to handle their affairs by own hand (Goetzel and et.al., 2008) .
Diversity and individuality: The care workers should recognize the diversity and individuality of
patients in right manner. The staff members of the care organizations should be responsible for the
identification of the needs of the care users. In this context, it is important to recognize the ethic,
cultural, religious and social diversity so that the staff can give the response according to it. It may
be help in developing the good relationship between the care workers and the patients with the time
(Gowen, McFadden and Tallon, 2006).
1.2 Procedures for protecting clients, patients and colleagues from harm
During providing the health care services to the services users, there are various types of
harms and abuse has faced by them. The possible harms and abuses are may be sexual abuse,
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physical abuse, discrimination, emotional abuse etc. In this respect, it is important to eliminate the
occurring the risk harm and abuse conditions and provide the protection to the users (Heginbotham,
2012). The process of protecting the clients from the harms and abuses are as follows.
Identification of the different types of risks: Here, the care organizations should determine the
various types of risks and categorised into physical, emotional, financial and psychological risk.
Along with this, the probability of occurring the risks should be identified (Jackson and et.al.,
2011).
Decide who might be harm and how: Under this stage, the persons who might be harm from the
risks should know. In this context, the ways by which the harm can be raised and its impacts on the
services users should be identified.
Development of safeguards: Following this step, the variety of safeguarding methods and
strategies should be develop to protect the clients and services users from the harm and abuse. It
will help in maintain the risk level in the opposite of set safeguarding measures (Keeling and et.al.,
2013) .
Documentation of outcomes: Now, the all the outcomes of process of protecting the clients from
the harm should be documented in the right format and distributed between the staff members by
the care organizations.
1.3 Benefits of following person centred approach with users of health and social care services
Basically, the person centred approach has given emphasised on the preferences and
emotional needs of the individual one. It is a non-directive approach which assist the care workers
to recognize the needs and requirements of person as well as support them in appropriate manner. It
has provided the complete information about the preferences of the individual person and made the
modifications in the care services according to it (Liveng, 2010). The benefits of using person
centred approach in the favour of delivering the care services to the patients are as follows.
 Understand the service users on individual bases.
 Being responsive
 Providing the meaningful care
 Respecting the preferences and needs of individual
 Developing the trusting relationship
 Promoting emotional and physical comfort to the patients
 Having the more control over own life
 Help in planning and set the directions for the individual services users to improve their
lives(Lloyd and Marjorie, 2010) .
 Good use of skills and knowledge to understand the needs and preferences of the services
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users
 Supporting diversity
 Recognize the rights and support the requirements of individual (Lu and et.al., 2010).
1.4 Ethical dilemmas and conflict that may arise when providing care, support and protection to
users of HSC services
While providing care and support to patients in health and social care sector, ethical
dilemmas and conflicts may arise. These are created when health professionals need to follow
organizational policies but at the same time they need to focus on the well-being of the care takers.
Difference in opinions, beliefs, culture and attitudes may give rise to conflicts between care
professionals and service users (Smith and et.al., 2015).
For example: sometimes patient refuse to take medication but for their well-being it is the
responsibility of the care worker to give him medication on time. However the organizational policy
states that service users need to respect the client's decision. This raises concern for the care worker
as it his responsibility to provide care and support to the patient to improve his condition but at the
same time he cant force him to take medication. This leads to ethical dilemma in the care worker
(McKeown and et.al., 2011) .
2.1 Implementation of policies, legislation, regulations and codes of practice in HSC
The policies, regulations, code of practices and legislations are playing an important role in
HSC services. The implementation of various policies, legislations, regulations and code of
practices are as follows.
Policies: At the workplace of HSC organizations, the major two policies have followed: valuing
people and quality protects. In valuing policy, the care organizations have provided the special care
to the children and adults who are having any kind of disability issues. On the other hand, in quality
protects framework, the financial supports has delivered from the HSC organizations to those
people who are really want to start a new life after facing the health issues (Code of practices for
employers of Social Care Workers, 2010).
Legislations: Care Standard Act, 2000 is an important legislation which has followed by the various
kinds of care organizations during delivery the care services to the community. Under this act, the
HSC centres have provide the assurance to the clients about the quality of various care services.
With the help of this, the care centres has easily maintained the quality of care services and deliver
it to the target people (Code of practices for Social Care Workers, 2010.).
Regulations: Care Homes (Wales) Regulation, 2002 and Care Home Regulation, 2000 are the two
important regulations which has presently used by the HSC organization because they are
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responsible for deliver the effective care services. As per these act, when the care centres are
providing the health care services at the home of services users then it will be the completely
responsible for any kind of harm or abuse happen with the patients (Quality Protects research
program, 2015).
Code of practices: There are two code of practices: one for employees and another for employer.
The code of practices for the employer has explained the roles and responsibilities of the health care
practitioners and workers, providing training session, giving them opportunities for the growth,
improve their core competencies etc. On the other side, the code of practices for the employees
protecting the rights of the service users, protecting from the harms and abuse, deliver effective care
services etc (Rescare, 2012. Legislation & Policies: Valuing People).
2.2 Development of local policies and procedures accordance with national and policy
requirements
The requirements of the policies and procedures has depend on the nature of the care
services and its effectiveness. The national policy of care services has the wide implications as
compare to the local frameworks. But in most of the cases, to handle the critical situations or
delivery the effective case services, the local policies have played an essential roles. Generally, the
local frameworks and their procedures has developed accordance with the national policy
(McSherry and Pearce, 2011). In UK< the different kinds of national legislations and policies have
been developed and implemented by the government to provide the safeguarding and health car
services to the community. For instance, Care Home Regulation, 2000, Care Standard act 2000,
Code of practices for employees and employers etc are the various types of policies, regulations
and legislations which have applicable for all types of health and social care workers. In the care
organizations, the development of local policies based on the national frameworks in care
organizations can be understood by example.
Equality Act, 2010: The part 2, 3 and 11 close of Equality act 2010, the HSC organisation can not
make any kind of discrimination with the patients during delivery the services. Therefore, by
identified the local community needs and preferences regarding the care services, the care homes
can develop the policy on the bases of national framework (Morgan, 2013).
2.3 Impact of policy, legislation, regulation, and codes of practice on policies and practices on
organizational policy and practices
In UK, there are various kinds of legislations, policies, regulations and code of practices
have developed by government and introduced in the favour of deliver the effective care services to
the community. As per the needs and requirements, the UK government has made the changes in the
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existing frameworks. The impact of policy, legislation, regulation and code of practices on policy
and practices on organizational policy and practices may be positive or negative. For instance, the
modifications in Health and Social Care Act, 2012 can affect the National Health Service Act 2006.
The impact of this change on HSC organization on care practices in terms to improve the
accountabilities, quality of services, developing the opportunities for the care workers regarding the
growth, giving the empowerment to the staff for taking the decisions etc (Ndetei and Gatonga,
2011). Another example is changes in Care Standard Act 2000, the care workers should following
the regulations in the practices which affect their existing working practices. The impact of this is
care providers will resist the modifications in the existing framework and try to adopt the unethical
things during meeting the standards. Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be say that the
impact of policy, legislation, regulation and code of practices on policy and practices on HSC
organizations policy and practices have positive and negative (Preston-Shoot and Kline, 2012).
ASSESSMENT PART 2 (ASSESSING LO3 AND LO4)
3.1 Theories that underpin health and social care practice
There are several theories that underpin health and social care practices. The health and
social care theories focus on the relationship of healthcare and social workers with patients
suffering from physical and mental conditions. These theories are briefly explained below: Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory: This theory is considered as one of the important theory
in health and social care practices. According to this theory, the basic needs of an individual
lie at the bottom level of the hierarchy pyramid. These physical needs are food, shelter and
clothing (Moule, 2015).The next levels of the pyramid entail safety and security, love and
belongingness, self esteem and self actualization needs. Health workers need to understand
these needs in order to design effective service plan for treating care takers (Rasheed,
2013).
 Social Learning Theory: According to this theory, behaviour of individuals are influenced
by other person's behaviour. The theory explains that growth and development of individuals
in the health and social care context can be improved by comprehending their behavioural
patterns. It is very essential for care workers to understand the behaviour of patients in order
to assess their healthcare needs and according plan an effective care model in order to
improve their overall health and well-being (Webber and et.al., 2015).
3.2 Impact of social processes on users of health and social care services
Social processes play important role in health and social care services. These processes
influence the behaviour, thinking, choices and actions of patients. Besides this, social processes also
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determine the behaviour and circumstances of individuals. The impact of social processes on health
and social care users are described in the following passage:
Patients come from different social processes. For instance, some come from poor and
uneducated families while some are unemployed and alone. Therefore care professionals need to
understand the social backgrounds of patients in order to assess their healthcare needs. On the basis
of need assessment care models are designed to effectively support the care takers. For example:
patients who are loners and live in isolation often suffer from severe depression. Care workers need
to craft a care plan in which the patient is provided an affectionate and empathetic environment in
order to treat depression al state of the patient (Milne and et.al., 2015).
Besides this, discrimination with patients on the grounds of income levels, culture, race,
gender, religion can encourage unfair healthcare practices. This may encourage favouritism at care
organizations and thus negatively impact the health and social care services. Therefore it is very
important to discard such unfair practices in order to treat patients on the grounds of equality
(Reeves and et.al., 2011) .
3.3 Effectiveness of inter-professional working
Inter-professional working can be defined as an act of coordination among healthcare
workers from different fields in order to support patients with complex health conditions. The health
care professionals who are involved in inter professional working are doctors, nurses, care
assistants, nurses and midwives (Scott and Spouse, 2013) . In order to evaluate the effectiveness of
inter professionals working following points are discussed: Team working: Health workers work in team in order to cover all the facets of health and
social care needs of the patients. They make use of their respective expertise knowledge and
skill to effectively design service plan for care takers with severe physical and mental
conditions (Röthlin, 2013). Meeting care takers needs: Inter professional working is effective in meeting all the aspects
of patients healthcare needs. Through proper communication channels regular assessment of
care needs of service users are evaluated to improve their overall well-being (Smith and
et.al., 2015). Building strong relationship: It can positively impact on care workers by building strong and
trustworthy relationship with patients and other health professionals.
 Improved efficiency : It ameliorates the efficiency of the care system as health providers
share information about patients illness in order to streamline the care assessment and model
(Preda and Voigt, 2015).
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4.1 Explain own role, responsibilities, accountabilities and duties in the context of working with
those within and outside the health and social care workplace.
In order to explain my role, responsibilities, accountabilities and duties as a Safeguarding
Officer in the given case following points can be discussed:
As a Safeguarding Officer I make sure that the rights of Rio are protected. In the given
scenario, I will work jointly with child abuse team to support Rio from the abuse of her mother who
is a victim of drug addiction (Glisson and Williams, 2015). It is my responsibility to ensure that the
child is receiving proper care at the care home. In addition to this I will also make sure that the care
home follow regulations, laws and best codes of practices in order to provide effective treatment to
Rio. In the given case, Rio is a 14 month old baby who cannot choose a effective care plan by
himself therefore I will make sure that he is provided with a skilled care assistant. The care
assistant will assess his needs properly and accordingly design a care plan for Rio. Further proper
medication and therapy is also ensured in the health plan. Besides this, it is my duty to check for the
unfair practices while treating the patient in the given scenario (Smith and et.al., 2015). By
performing my duties well I can safeguard the physical and emotional needs of Rio and protect him
from perils of complex illness.
4.2 Evaluate own contribution to the development and implementation of health and social care
organisational policy.
In order to evaluate my own contribution to the development and implementation of health
and social care organizational policy, following points can be discussed:
In the given scenario, the care homes in UK need to align their health and care practices
with the governmental policies, regulations and codes of practices (Haywood and et. al., 2015). As a
Safeguarding officer, I will make sure that the health organization in the given case follow these
policies, regulations and codes of practices in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
healthcare services.
The implementation of these policies encourage care workers to discard unfair practices
while treating patients. In addition to this I make sure that health professionals follow best care
practices to support patient in the given case (Glisson and Williams, 2015). Further I will encourage
hiring of skilled care workers in the organization to improve the quality of health services. In
addition to this, I will facilitate frequent reviews of organization's policy in order to avoid non
compliance among care professionals.
4.3 Recommendations to develop own contributions to meet good practice requirements
In order to meet good practice requirements following recommendations can be given:
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 I will first extract necessary information related to good practices issued by general health
council. The information is beneficial in determining whether the organization is following
regulations and policies set by the governing bodies (Milne and et.al., 2015).
 In addition to this, I will ensure that the quality of practices of care workers are also
evaluated based on the predefined codes of practices.
 It is also important to find the loopholes in the organizational health policies in order to
make required improvements in health and social care practices (Vaughan and Morrow,
2009) .
 In addition to this, skilled and trained care workers can be employed in the organization to
improve the operation efficiency (Gutmanis and et.al., 2015).
 Regular feedbacks from service users may be helpful in tracking the behaviour of care
workers. This will further help in keeping the illegal and discriminatory healthcare practices
in control.
 Care workers should be trained to ensure safety of patients in order to build trustworthy
relationships with them.
 Good practices also require patients involvement in the decision making processes in order
to develop a care plan for them. This will help in making informed choices and reduce
health risks of service users (Walshe and Kieran, 2003).
CONCLUSION
From the above research, it can be concluded that the principles of health and social care
services has promoted the adoption of good working practices. By using the person-centre
approach, the care organizations have get the wider range of benefits in terms of delivering the
quality services to the community. In addition to this, different theories that underpins the social and
healthcare practices. Further the report also gives clear understanding on the impact of social
processes of users in health and social care. It also talks about the effectiveness of inter-professional
working in care organizations.
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