Equality_Diversity_and_Rights

D2 JUSTIFY WAYS OF OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES THAT MAY ARISE WHEN IMPLEMENTING ANTI-DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SETTINGS Balancing individual rights with the rights of others can present health and social care workers with some difficult dilemmas, tensions and potential and actual conflicts. For instance a service user in a care home has the right to watch TV or listen to the radio while the patient in the next bed has the right to an undisturbed sleep the rights of these two patients clash. By providing alternatives for example in this situation earphones could help resolve this and both individual needs are met. Challenging discrimination shows that, people are not discriminating against those whose behaviour, views and attitudes are discriminatory. Challenging discrimination can be overcome by challenging the attitude, view or behaviour, of the individuals as well as training and encouragement training should be of a good standard and staff encouraged and praised in order to promote good team morale which would also promote better practice and reduce discrimination. More to that it is important for care workers to be respectful and assertive when challenging someone as well as being open-minded and not make assumptions. Staff should attend regular staff training sessions and have team meetings between them and the management and also help to challenge discriminatory practices by being aware of the individual needs as well as those of service users. This can be done by promoting autonomy of care, being flexible, keeping service users informed and by putting the service user at the centre of focus. Lack of funding and resources can also affect the implementation of anti- discriminatory practices in such a way that if there are no funds to provide choices this can create a limit of choice to the service. There fore a relationship with the staff including management and clients must be built on mutual trust and understanding when difficult decisions are to be made .However practical decisions on how resources should be allocated are often difficult to make for example patients who require daily exercise or have daily activities, In mental health patients need stimulation and motivation so the company may spend money on a pool table or a treadmill while others would say that going walking costs no money and is exercise and could also be other daily activities for patients organised which cost no money, so the money could be spent on better equipment . Due to increased diversity, there are increased language differences which hinder the implementation of anti discriminatory practices. Individuals who need support from health and social care services are not always able to state their needs especially when they do not understand what their needs are, they could have an Illness or condition that prevents them from expressing their needs, or they may have difficulties with their communication skills and language difficulties. Health and social care agencies should provide a fair and effective service to people with whom they cannot communicate with because any barriers to communication can lead to the build-up of frustration, anger and misunderstandings and also misdiagnosis may occur and the individual’s rights may be ignored. Services like Advocates, interpreters and translators are needed to solve the communication problem where by they may be required to speak on behalf of the individual, communicate meaning from one language to another for example using the British Sign Language and also change recorded material from one language to another respectively using Braille How ever these professionals are expensive to hire which can be costly to the organisation and also people are reluctant to use interpreters who are from the same community for fear that personal information will not be kept confidential, or that they will be judgemental. Ethical principles are those which can be judged fair.It is difficult to determine what is fair and what is not in terms of providing care to service users. When working in a health or social care environment, professional practitioners are quite often faced with situations involving moral dilemmas. Health and social care workers should have a clear understanding of morality and the meaning of moral decisions and how they are linked to health and social practice. They also need to have a good understanding of their legal position, and the morals and ethics that form the basis of their Professional code of practice for example if a person refuses medical treatment or decides to take a course of action that might not be in their best Interests, legislation and professional Codes of practice can provide valuable guidance for the health and social care worker. The care worker also needs to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages for example, cancer patients are quite Often advised to undergo a course of chemotherapy or radiotherapy but both treatments involve some harmful side effects although the benefits outweigh the harm caused by the treatment. Beliefs and values; It is difficult for carers to change their own beliefs and prejudices as they tend to be judgemental and this is mainly due to ignorance about equality and diversity. Trying to harmonise thoughts and values by researching more on various cultures and beliefs on the internet and socialise with the clients or from friends and family, going for training courses on how to avoid discriminating of client, asking professionals on how to work with affected clients and be able to have one to one conversation with clients and also listen to their views on how they are feeling. I can also go on the internet and find more about the different beliefs and values as well as learn how to socialise with them. All these can be used to overcome beliefs and values of staff. In conclusion, it’s not always easy to have practical strategies to overcome the difficulties that may arise when implementing anti discriminatory practices in health and social care so the best solution might be to agree to disagree. References: • Eleanor Langride, 2007, BTEC Health and Social Care Book1, Page 49, Publisher Nelson Thrones Ltd, Place Delta Place. • Beryl Stretch and Mary Whitehouse, 2007, BTEC Health and Social Care Book 1, page 50 and 51, Publisher Heinemann, Place Harcourt Education Limited. • Health and social care (Adults) Yvonne Nolan • www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/.../HealthAndSocialCare/.../ BTECLevel3NationalHealthandSocialCare/.../...