Law, Policy and Ethical Practice in Health and Social Care - NHS Trust

This report delves into the legal, policy, and ethical dimensions of health and social care, examining the framework within which practitioners operate. It analyzes legislation, including the National Health Service Acts, and the roles of the executive and judiciary in healthcare. The report highlights the importance of ethics in healthcare decision-making, particularly in the context of the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust case and its implications on patient safety and care standards. It explores equality and safeguarding measures, emphasizing their significance for health and social care professionals. The report also discusses the application of law and policy, aligning them with regulatory and ethical requirements in practice settings, as well as the national system of government in relation to its effect on health, care and support service practice and practitioners.

Law, Policy and
Ethical Practice in
Health and Social Care

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
PART A...........................................................................................................................................1
LO1 Explore the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners................1
PART B............................................................................................................................................4
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..................................................................................................................................4
LO3 Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and
social care....................................................................................................................................5
LO4 Apply law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant
practice setting............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Law is defined as the system of rules which are created and enforced by the government
institution. It is one of those sectors which tells that how any specific work is required to be
done. Policies are those principles which are helpful at the time of taking decision which mainly
includes politics, economics and even organisation also. It is helpful to achieve the rational
outcome. Ethics are the set of moral principal which governs the behaviour of an individual. It is
very important in every aspect for individual and for organisation as well. The discussion in the
file is related with NHS Trust. The file has been divided into two part where in Part A the main
topics are of Legislation, executive and judiciary of health care in United Kingdom. When it
comes to Part B it will discuss about the fundamental importance to the health care. Also, there
will be interpretation to the law related to health and social care. In the end, this file will tell that
how laws are required to be applied with their ethical requirements
PART A
LO1 Explore the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners.
Given Scenario: The given case is related with the failure of Mid-Staffordshire NHS
Trust who failed to provide the standard of health care to the every patient due to which 2,500
patient died from year 2005-2008. At the time of inquiry it was found that health of patient was
compromised in many of the case and that was the main reason behind the death of patient.
Legislation to Healthy Care: Legislation is defined as the rules and regulation which
have been enforce by the House of Parliament. It plays the vital role and everyone life as it
guides that how any particular work need to b done within specific period of time. Here, power
to commence any law in UK for health care is of Parliament. When it comes of the legislation of
health care it is very important because it tells that how health of patient should be maintained
and what are the special treatment that should be given to any patient. Some of the laws which
had been enforced by House of Parliament are National Health Service Act 1977, National
Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, National Health Service Act 2006 (Minear and
et. al., 2015). The role of these act are just to tell that what is the importance of health care to the
patient and what can be done to cure the level of health of patient. The government of UK try to
find the problem at the beginning so that appropriate laws can be formed and for that they try to
take the help of all those person who have the good and sensible knowledge in the field of Health
1

care. From the given case a study it can be understood that there was a negligence of the act and
it can be easily said that it was the main reason behind the dead of the patient in the above case.
It is very important that the level of health should be maintained properly of each and every
patient but due to some of the carelessness, 2500 patient need to loose their life. Because of this
reason the the new law was commenced in 2010 as National Health Service Act 2010, where
proper changes had been done so that life of patient can be saved. It was necessary to come up
with some of the modification as there were very few rules and regulation which has been
commenced and this was the main reason behind the carelessness. The legislation had amended
some of the law where it has been mentioned that if any of the negligence is found for the health
of patient then strict action can be taken from the authorised authority.
Executive to Health Care: Executive are the one who need to take the responsibility of
any particular work. When it comes to healthcare, the person at executive level plays the crucial
role as they need execute the plans which have been commenced by legislation (Bywaters and
et. al., 2015). They are the one who should try to know that whether laws are being followed or
not and if it is not being followed then they should try to find the actual reason behind it. They
are the one who know each and every thing regarding law they they have the major role to play
where they guides that how laws and policies can be effective which were passed through the
process of legislation. In the above given scenario it can be understood that the reason behind the
death of 2500 patient was because of the carelessness of executives. They are the one who
should have taken the responsibility to solve the issue at the beginning but they didn't to do
anything from their point of view and in the reason many people lost there life. So, it can be said
that government should try to focus on their work and must find the way so that this type of
problem can be resolved in future. Also, it is important that how executives understand the law
because that plays the crucial role in it.
Judiciary to Health Care: Judiciary are the legal bodies of the nation which helps to
maintain the rules and regulation of the country. They are the one who take the responsibility to
check whether individual are working as per the requirement of law or not and if they find
anyone who is working against the law then they have the authority to take the legal action at any
period of time (Kramer, Kinn and Mishkind, 2015). It has been commenced for the safeguarding
the interests and providing the fundamental rights of people. The bodies of Judiciary are
Supreme Court, High Court and many other small form of courts. Its major role is to keep the
2

eye on the violation of work which has been done by any individual. In context of the given case,
it can be understood that Judiciary should had taken the responsibility to find the facts that what
were the main consequences of the accident that 2500 people had to loose their life. The role of
Judiciary in this case was to find the accurate result that why NHS didn't follow the rules and
regulation as it was the main reason behind the death of this many people.
From the above paragraph, it can be understood that there are many bodies at present who
are working for the betterment of society and nation but still there are lots of problem which
need to be solved within the specific period of time (Rock and Degeling, 2015). Here, role of
Legislation, Executives and Judiciary are different but it can be understood that they all are
interrelated with each other. Where one need to form the law and while talking about the second
one it is important because it helps to execute the law and tells that how those can be followed
and while discussion about the third one it tells that its main duty is to focus on the work and
policies that what are the main reason that people didn't followed the rules and what can be the
best punishment in this case as it is necessary to given the punishment because it will help to
reduce the percentage of crime or carelessness in future and even it tells that how it can be
reduced. Their main role is to find that if laws are not being followed then what can be the main
reason behind in and what are the possible changes required in this. Judiciary plays the most
important role because it helps to find the main reason behind increasing the percentage of crime.
After knowing, it need to prepare the report which must be forwarded to executive level where
they need to analyse it into the detail. Here, executive level try check the report that whether
problem was from their point or not because it is not necessary the commenced law can be
understood by anyone very easily. But, if it required to be changed then they need to send it to
Legislation where they need to verify the each and every step of related law and how changes
can be done in future (Tomkins and et. al., 2015). It is very important that laws must be updated
on regular interval because if it doesn't happen then problem can arises at any period of time. So
from, this can be understood that different bodies have different role which are required to be
performed on specific period of time as it is found that there are lots of ways through which life
of common people are affected as it can be seen in the above case also as one of the best example
which can be seen in recent period of time.
3

M1. Role of Ethics in informing health, care and support service practice
Ethics plays the most important role in healthcare as it helps to take the appropriate
decision which is required to be taken. Ethics focuses on the code of conduct where in NHS
everyone is required to take responsibilities through which effective care can be done. In the
given case studies, standard of Ethics doesn't meet the standard and because of that result were
seems to be negative. Ethics can help to encourage each and every practitioners within the
healthcare which can reduces the percentage of inconsistency in treatment of patient.
D1 Evaluate own national system of government in relation to its effect on health, care and
support service practice and practitioners
The law and policies which have been commenced with the nation are helpful and even
they are trying to provide the better outcome then past period. Still there are some of changes
required to be done by the national system government where penalties should be changed where
any of the negligence is done for giving the better treatment to patient.
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 main reason behind selecting this task was to know the information regarding
legislation, policies and standards regarding the equality and different laws which have been
formed for Health care of patient in hospitals.
Explain the individual’s needs: Here, to complete the task of observation it is necessary that
proper communication should be done with the seniors. Even there is requirement to check that
how hospital is is treating the patient who are admitted in the hospital and what are the safety
measures that they are following. It is necessary that detail information should have with
individual show that practitioner work can be conducted easily.
Describe briefly the details of the setting: The location of the hospital is up to the mark where
it is very easy to take the patient. The main focus of practitioner is to check to check whether
4

proper works are being done in legislation or not and if it is not being done then what are the
changes required in future. Here, practitioner need to check that what are the equipments which
is being used by the NHS and whether are working in ethical manner or not and if they are not
the ethical manner that what can be done (Reamer, 2015).
Describe the context of the setting: It is one of the most difficult task for observer that how
they need to perform their task because it directly reflect the process of working through they
need to learn as they practitioner need to adopt them in future. The legislation says that it is
very important that guidelines of law must be followed. Even observer need to check what are
those policies which has been commenced by the health care to provide the safety to patient. It
is one the lengthy process because detail examination need to be done because it is the only way
through which practitioner can know each and every point in detail. It is very important that
practitioner ready the policies of NHS and even law should also be read properly so that it can
be easily understood that whether policies do contradict with each other or not.
M2. Specific tasks in health, care or support service practice meet national professional
standards of safe and non-discriminatory practice.
In present scenario, there are various kind of task which are being conducted by many of
the health care organisation and among them Care Quality Commission is also one. The
heathcare organisation says that every healthcare must follow follow perform their specific task
through which it can be easy to meet out the required standard in in the department of healthcare.
Every practitioner must ensure that that will try to provide the best services which they can were
they will not discriminate anyone on the basis of cast, gender and more. If this things can be
achieved then it will be easy to meet the national professional standards.
D2 Analyse the impact of equality legislation, policy and the notion of equity on the
practice of safeguarding individuals in health, care or support services
The impact of Legislation, policy and notion of equality is has the positive impact on
practitioner as it is helping to give proper treatment and healthcare to the patient who need to
visit hospitals. This rules and regulation doesn't allow anyone to take any action or decision of
there own. Even this healthcare provide the best healthcare facilities to every individuals
5

LO3 Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and
social care
Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and social
care
It is one of those profession where there is the requirement of ethics because it is
necessary to understand that ethics plays the vital role in the field of health care. Even it is
important for every practitioner that they must check whether health care are working in the
ethical manner or not and if not then what can be the best solution to solve out this problem.
The legislation of Health and safety says that it is very important that health of the patient is
being maintain properly as it has the crucial role for every patient and if it not being done then
legal actions are required to be taken. As per the law of Health and safety Act 1974 it is
important that patient should be given the priority as per the condition in which they are found
(Golightley and Goemans, 2017). It is the ethics which teaches that how doctor should treat
patient as it plays the most important role in every healthcare. Even it guides that what are the
safety precautions which are required to be used when disease is of communicable diseases.
Activity log
Proposed learning outcomes: The activities which are being carried out in the this activity log
is related with ethics and law which are related with the safety and health of the patient.
Brief description of the activity: The main focus in this department will be on understand the
laws in detail and what are the policies which have been implement by the health as it is very
important in this case. Even, ethics should be families because it tells that what are the work
which should be done by any individual or even particular health care.
Resources/Equipment: Here it is important that the detail knowledge regarding legislation is
required as it is the only source through which it can be easily understood that what are
necessary area which need to be covered (Congress, 2017).
Law, Regulation and Ethical Practice:Theme 1- In this, it will be important to focus on the
law and ethical practise that how legislation work to provide more safety to all the patient. Even
, it is necessary to understand that what are the regulations which are needed for health care
from which accident that had taken place between 2005 to 2008 will not occur again. Also, it is
6

necessary that practitioner should also know their responsibilities towards the safety.
Health , Safety and Safeguarding-Theme 2- In this, it is important that how policies are used
in the institution of health. Different legislation will help to know that how health and safety
can be provided to the employee's (Sankar and Parker, 2017).
Theme 4- The most important thing which is required in this department is that there should be
any kind of discrimination with the health and safety of patient because the result was seen
before also where 2500 patient had to lost their life. The main reason was of that accident was
carelessness and even discrimination can also be included because everyone were not treated
equally in this case.
Evaluation: The main purpose of preparing activity log is to check that how effective was the
activity which had been carried throughout the process. It will try to help that what are the
necessary are in law which need to be changed and even it try to describe the main benefits of
the law and whether they need to be changed or not.
7

M3. Analysis of recent health and social care legislation or national policy.
At present, there are number of legislation which are related with the social care. They
are helping to provide relevant information to every health care through which better treatment
can be done. Some of the Act which has been commenced by legislation to provide the best
health care facility are Social Care Act, 2012 which says about the roles and responsibilities of
healthcare and practitioner. When it comes to Equality Act 2012 it says that patient should be
treated equally and there should not be any kind of partiality.
D3 Critically review ways in which health, care and support service practitioners can
ensure currency and compliance with relevant legislation and national policy through
ethical practice
The policies and laws have been commenced are beneficial for NHS to maintain there
reputation within the market place. It helps to ensure that mistake which had been done in past
will not be repeated but still there are many of the cases which arise in front of Practitioner
where they have to take decisions of own but due to law and regulation it is not allowed to take
those decisions.
LO4 Apply law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant practice
setting
Reflective Practice Logs
How well did you achieve the practice criteria for this unit?
It can be said the area which were required to cover in this file has been covered and the
file has covered each and every section. Each and every section has been covered in the file
through which it can be said that practitioner area has been achieved successfully in this file.
What challenges did you face?
There are many challenges which need to be faced by everyone when any work is being
done. It is never easy to have the detail knowledge regarding particular topic as law is not that
easy to understand. But, it was important that work should be done as per the policies and in
that it is necessary that they are being done under the ethical code (Martinez and et. al., 2015) .
What changes or improvements do you think could be implemented into practice as a
result of completing this element of the unit?
8

The area which are required to be change is legislation because still there are lots of area
through which any civil wrong can be done. As a practitioner it is necessary for them to
understand the knowledge regarding ethics as it plays the crucial role in each and every
department of health care.
How can you action plan to develop these skills and/or qualities further/ help to improve
provision in the healthcare sector?
It can be improved only if proper training is given to each and every person who are
practitioner and even it is necessary that laws are related with health care should be amended
because it still there are lots of Healthcare institution which is not performing their task as per
the requirement of legislation(Banks, 2016).
M4. Explanation of how chosen law, policy and ethical considerations might result in difference
outcomes to the case scenario
If in the case scenario, NHS could try to take the help of different legisalation through
which targets and goals can be achieved. Legislation like Health and Social Act, 2012 could have
provided the suitable advice to every practitioner through which life of patient can be saved.
Even this legislation can help healthcare to reduce the overall cost where performance can also
be enhanced.
9

CONCLUSION
It is can be concluded from the above file that law is one the major area which need to be
focused by each and every department which deals in this area. Legislation tells that which types
of laws are required within the nation so that area of healthcare can be improved. When it comes
to judiciary, it is the body of government which is very helpful in declaring the result when any
unlawful activities has been performed. Also, Practitioner need to check that how they need to
work and what are the essential area which they need to cover at the time of practising,
10

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Banks, S., 2016. Everyday ethics in professional life: Social work as ethics work. Ethics and
Social Welfare. 10(1). pp.35-52.
Bywaters, P. and et. al., 2015. Exploring inequities in child welfare and child protection services:
Explaining the ‘inverse intervention law’. Children and Youth Services Review. 57.
pp.98-105.
Congress, E. P., 2017. What social workers should know about ethics: Understanding and
resolving practice dilemmas. Social Work Ethics, p.1909.
Golightley, M. and Goemans, R., 2017. Social work and mental health. Learning Matters.
Kramer, G. M., Kinn, J. T. and Mishkind, M. C., 2015. Legal, regulatory, and risk management
issues in the use of technology to deliver mental health care. Cognitive and Behavioral
Practice. 22(3). pp.258-268.
Martinez, O. and et. al., 2015. Evaluating the impact of immigration policies on health status
among undocumented immigrants: a systematic review. Journal of immigrant and
minority health. 17(3). pp.947-970.
Minear, M. A. and et. al., 2015. Noninvasive prenatal genetic testing: current and emerging
ethical, legal, and social issues. Annual review of genomics and human genetics. 16.
pp.369-398.
Reamer, F. G., 2015. Clinical social work in a digital environment: Ethical and risk-management
challenges. Clinical Social Work Journal. 43(2). pp.120-132.
Rock, M. J. and Degeling, C., 2015. Public health ethics and more-than-human solidarity. Social
Science & Medicine. 129. pp.61-67.
Sankar, P. L. and Parker, L. S., 2017. The Precision Medicine Initiative’s All of Us Research
Program: an agenda for research on its ethical, legal, and social issues. Genetics in
Medicine. 19(7). p.743.
Tomkins, A. and et. al., 2015. Controversies in faith and health care. The Lancet. 386(10005).
pp.1776-1785.
11