The Role of Law, Ethics, Policy and Regulation in Health & Social Care

This report delves into the intricate relationship between law, ethics, policy, and regulation within the health and social care sector. It examines the roles of the legislature, executive, and judiciary in shaping the legal landscape for healthcare practitioners in the United Kingdom. The report highlights key features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice, and national and organizational policies, including the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the Equality Act 2010, and the Mental Health Act 2007. It underscores the importance of these elements in protecting service users' and staff members' rights, promoting health equity, and ensuring the provision of quality healthcare services, particularly within the context of the National Health Service (NHS) and its legal obligations. The report also discusses the impact of ethical codes and organizational policies on mental health and well-being within healthcare settings. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of these regulations for healthcare activities in the UK.

The Role of Law, Ethics,
Policy and Regulation in
Health and Social Care

Table of Contents
The role of law, ethics, policy and regulation in Health and Social care........................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Describing how the legislature, executive and judiciary set the legal and policy landscape
for health and social care practitioners........................................................................................1
P2 Summarizing the key features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice and
national and organizational policy. ............................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

The role of law, ethics, policy and regulation in Health and Social care.
INTRODUCTION
The legislative, judiciary and executive are all the major pillars of United Kingdom's
Parliament. All the three branches integrate together to shape the legal laws and regulations in
the country. All the three branches have separate duties and responsibilities at different areas in
order to promote justice and equality in the society. The current essay will focus on the legal
framework of health and social care practitioners and the way in which it is affected by statutory
guidance, code of practice and national organizational policy.
P1 Describing how the legislature, executive and judiciary set the legal and policy landscape for
health and social care practitioners.
It is imperative for the health and social practitioners to operate within a legal and ethical
framework to ensure a smooth working in the organization. There are several legislative,
judiciary and executive acts to protect the rights of service users and staff members.
The role of legislative, executive and judiciary in UK system of government are as
follows:
Legislature: It is the branch of government that debates and passes a law or set of laws
in the parliament of the United Kingdom (Leyland,2016). The legislature is further divided into
separate houses namely House of commons and House of lords. The majority of the power is
held by house of commons whereas the house of lords has a very little legislative authority.
The major role of legislative branch is to pass a bill or reject it in the parliament and to act as
a bridge between the public and the government by deliberately discussing all the issues of
national importance and expressing the public opinion. Moreover, the legislature also has the
duty to control the finances in United Kingdom by preparation of adequate budget and allocating
funds to executives and judicial branches(Krachler, and Greer, 2015). The legislative branch
implemented various laws related to health and safety of people like health and social care act,
2012, mental health act, 2007, the health and safety at work act, 1974 and several others. These
laws and regulations have played a huge role in the overall growth and development of the
country and has provided various benefits to the people of London.
Executive: The executive power in the UK is exercised by Queen Elizabeth II and other
national authorities like the Scottish government, the Welsh Assembly government and Northern
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Ireland executives. The major roles and responsibilities of executive branch is concerned with
execution of laws and regulations which means that the monarch has the power to accept or
reject a law and also holds the power to negotiate foreign policies with other countries (Mance,
2018). The Prime Minister is the head of executive branch of United Kingdom and has the power
to select or fire cabinet ministers and coordinate with the branches of government. It is one of the
most important branches of UK'S constituency as it also plays an imperative role in maintaining
relations with other countries. The executive branch also plays an important role in shaping and
impacting healthcare services in the London city by passing a special law, The Health Act, 2006
under which the secretary of state has the legal obligation to provide basic and advanced health
services to the public for free of cost.
Judicial: The judicial branch of the United Kingdom includes the civil and criminal
courts of the country and ensures that they are working in compliance with the constitution of the
country. It includes various branches like magistrate court, crown court, high court, court of
appeals and finally the Supreme court. The role of judiciary is to interpret the laws and to serve
justice to the concerned parties accordingly. The judiciary has also declared that all the people
not only in London but in the entire Kingdom must be provided medical treatment by NHS
irrespective of their caste, creed, color and gender under the Equality act, United Kingdom and
the prohibition of this law by medical practitioners can lead to legal consequences. (Kinman and
Teoh, 2018).
All the three branches of government affect the health care facilities in London, United
Kingdom by introduction of various laws and regulations related to protection of health and
safety of individuals.
P2 Summarizing the key features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice and
national and organizational policy.
There are distinct features of legislation, statutory guidance, codes of practice and
national & organizational policy which helps to shape health care services in region of London.
These features of various legislation are mentioned as follows: The introduction of health and
social care act, 2012 by legislature focused on legal duties about health inequalities and it
created special duties as well as increased the responsibility of different departments related to
health care services, facilities and medical care (Imison, 2017). The act made it essential for
them to reduce the health care inequalities and diseases within the people of UK and to promote
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sustainable as well as healthy growth of individuals. Being a part of European Union, the country
has to also follow their legislation relating to healthcare, policy frameworks, standards and
principles in order to ensure the health and safety of their citizens.
Moreover, section 149(1) of the Equality Act, 2010 emphasizes that the National health
services must not discriminate between the patients on the basis of their gender, caste, creed and
color and also promote diversity in their workforce and improve the gender pay gap between
their employees (Asaria and et.al., 2016).
The Health Act (2006), states that the secretary of state has a legal obligation to provide
health care services free of cost, apart from other services that have been charged for. Also, this
act was passed by the Parliament of UK and it prohibits smoking on public and other designated
places by the government. The section 13 of The Health Act (2006) has also stated the power to
increase the age of purchasing tobacco from 16 to 18 years, effective from 1st October, 2007.
The United Kingdom follows a state funded system called the National Health Services
(NHS) that guarantees medical help for all the citizens of the country. The treatment of all the
patients is accumulated from their payroll taxes in order to minimize the burden on the shoulders
of the public. Also, the country has its health research authority(HRA) which is a public body of
department of health, UK and it governs the legal frameworks related to the health and safety of
people.
The Mental Health Act (2007) is an act of parliament of the UK and is a combination of
Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005 and is governed by adequate legislation,
ethical codes and national and organizational policy (Burns, 2016). Approximately, 1 in 4 people
in the United Kingdom suffer from mental illness thus it had become imperative for the
government to pass a law to protect the health of the citizens by providing them with treatments
and generating awareness about it. Also, it is necessary to promote mental health awareness as it
not only affects the personal but also the professional life of an individual.
The mental health assessment is also an important aspect of the act that involves
analyzing various information from the patients in order to build their accurate picture and
determining their problem. Although, the act gives freedom to patients to answer what they feel
like and to avoid other questions. The assessment gives freedom to medical practitioners to
detain the patient on the basis of their condition. If the condition is acute then the person may be
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detained for 28 days under section (2) of the act and if it is a case of chronic condition then for 6
months under section (3) with further renewals (Dissanayaka, 2018).
The key features of statutory guidance involve identifying and fulfilling the needs of the
public, empowering and motivating them so that they can make their own decisions. Also, it
includes providing protection socially and financially to the people in need and preventing the
harm by taking necessary actions accordingly.
Few features of various codes of practice are mentioned as follows: The ethical code of
practice covering mental health came into force in November, 2008 and it provides guidance
and supervision to licensed medical practitioners, managers and other clinical professionals on
ways to proceed while undertaking duties under the act. Although, there are no such legal rules
and regulations to comply with it but as per the act, the hospital members must adhere to it. The
code of ethics also gives the power to medical professionals to detain, assess and treat people
with mental disorders to ensure the safety of general public. It is important to do so because
people suffering with mental health problems can potentially harm themselves as well as people
around them (Gee, and Young, 2016).
For instance, as per the rules mentioned in the Care Act 2014, NHS and St Marry
Hospital of London needs to develop their ethical code of conduct regarding performance of their
operational activities such as providing appropriate and correct treatment to every patient,
treating them equally and provide them with the basic health care facilities (UK policy
framework for health and social care research. 2018). Further, the hospital needs to be ensure
that no right of any patient must be harm.
The organizational policy has a huge impact on the mental health and well being of an
individual and as a result the government has set up Mental Health Act, 2007 and it prohibits
abuse, harassment and discrimination by the company towards their employees (Guest, and
et.al). If any organization prohibits the policies under Mental Health, 2007 then it may face
certain legal consequences. These are few features of various organizational and national
policy.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that the legislative, executive and judiciary
are the three branches of a country's parliament. All the three branches are inter related to each
other as they emphasise on implementation of laws, their execution and their fair usage.
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Moreover, these elements also have a huge impact on the health and social care facilities of the
country. Various bodies like National Health Services (NHS) and HRA (Health research
authority) have been setup by the government to provide free healthcare services to the citizens
of the country. Furthermore, it can be stated that the mental illness is a serious issue in not only
London but in the entire UK and for this purpose the legislative government passed a law called
Mental Health, 2007 in order to protect and preserve the rights of mentally ill people. The act is
also affected by code of ethics and organisational policy. Thus, at the end it can said that health
care activities in UK are affected by various rules and regulations.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Asaria, M. and et.al., 2016. How a universal health system reduces inequalities: lessons from
England. J Epidemiol Community Health, 70(7), pp.637-643.
Burns, T., 2016. Compulsion in community mental health care: historical developments and
current provisions. Coercion in community mental health care: International
perspectives, pp.13-22.
Dissanayaka, N., 2018. Mental Health Act reform must include carers. The Lancet
Psychiatry, 5(2), pp.108-109.
Gee, G. and Young, A. L., 2016. Regaining Sovereignty? Brexit, the UK Parliament and the
Common Law. European Public Law, 22(1), pp.131-147.
Guest, J. F and et.al., Health economic burden that wounds impose on the National Health
Service in the UK. BMJ open, 5(12), p.e009283.
Imison, C., 2017. Shift to out-of-hospital care in UK not cost saving to
NHS. PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News, 773, pp.5-11.
Kinman, G. and Teoh, K., 2018. What could make a difference to the mental health of UK
doctors? A review of the research evidence.
Krachler, N. and Greer, I., 2015. When does marketisation lead to privatisation? Profit-making in
English health services after the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Social Science &
Medicine, 124, pp.215-223.
Leyland, P., 2016. The constitution of the United Kingdom: A contextual analysis. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Mance, J., 2018. The frontiers of executive and judicial power: differences in common law
constitutional traditions. Asia Pacific Law Review, 26(2), pp.109-126.
Online
UK policy framework for health and social care research. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<file:///home/user/Downloads/uk-policy-framework-health-social-care-research.pdf>.
UK key legislation for Health and social care act. 2012. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/equality/equality-hub/resources/legislation/>
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