Unit 2: Equality, Diversity and Individual Rights in Health and Social Care
Task 2: Promoting Equality, Diversity and Rights

Explain how national initiatives promote anti-discriminatory practice:

The Equality Act is a legislation that every private, public and voluntary organisation must follow and not discriminate against employees and people that use their services. The Act brings together any past equality laws, making them easier to follow, more effective and simpler to understand. There are nine characteristics that the equality act protects, these are age, disability, gender, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. Everyone will fit into these categories meaning that everyone is protected by the Equality Act. This act prevents discrimination as it gives everyone equal rights without any favouritism or making it unfair by giving people more rights than others. It is also a legal framework so if people were to go against this act they would be breaking the law; it also gives any that has been discriminated against a leg to stand on as they know that they don’t have to put up with that kind of behaviour and that what the other individual is doing is against the law.

Legislations, such as The Mental Capacity Act, are a group of laws that are put together by the government. If the legislation is not being followed in any way, it is classed as breaking the law. As legislations are an extremely big set of rules that must be followed, each setting must make them real to them, and specific to their service. These are called Policies and must be followed by the staff of the service otherwise; they will again be breaking the law. Each setting must also make the legislation specific to their service user’s needs, the size of the environment they are working within and what type of building it is, whether it be a high rise building or a bungalow. Procedures are then put in place, and these are the steps that must be taken and followed in order to work to the policy, which in turn means you will be working with the rules of the legislation. The setting may also have codes of practice, and these are set by a regulatory body and they set the standards for practitioners to work to. Some setting may even make their own codes of conduct. The Mental Capacity Act is a law that safeguards and supports people who are lacking the ability to make minor or major decisions for themselves. This could be because of a learning disability, or a mental health problem or condition such as dementia. The act applies to people aged 16 and over. The laws intentions are to ensure that people who may lack capacity to make decisions for themselves get the right support for the individual and for them to be as involved as possible in the decisions about their own lives. http://www.reading.gov.uk/article/3657/How-does-the-Mental-Capacity-Act-protect-vulnerable-adults mental capacity is how capable a person is on making their own decisions to what they are going to where that day to who they wish to involve in their will. There are five principles to be followed within the mental capacity act and they are; that you must always assume that the individual can make their own decisions unless it is proven that they can’t, that everyone is entitled to whatever support is needed in making these decisions, the individual is allowed to make, what may be seen as ‘bad or unwise decisions’, when anything is being decided on, on behalf of the individual, their best interests must be kept in the equation and finally that the least restrictive option should be chosen and something that is still in their best interests. The approval criteria are set out in Section 31 of the Act and they are:
•” Research must be connected with an impairing condition affecting the participant or its treatment.”
•” Research of equal effectiveness could not be carried out if confined to participants with capacity.”
•” The research must either: (a) have the potential to benefit the participant without imposing a disproportionate burden, or (b) provide knowledge of the causes of, or treatment or care of others with, the same or a similar condition – in this case the research must involve negligible risk to the participant, not interfere significantly with their freedom of action or privacy, or be unduly invasive or restrictive.”
• “Arrangements must be in place to comply with section 32 (consulting carers) and section 33 (additional safeguards).” http://www.hra.nhs.uk/resources/research-legislation-and-governance/questions-and-answers-mental-capacity-act-2005/

Assess the influence of a recent national policy promoting anti-discriminatory practice:

What impact has it made to discrimination?
The mental capacity act has made a massive impact on discrimination as it is designed to protect and empower those who may lack the mental capacity to make their own decisions about their care treatment. The service user is always at the heart of any health and social care provision, and all decisions should be made in their best interests. This act has empowered people as they are now given the opportunity to make decisions for themselves instead of people making them for them. The individuals are also able to access their own individualized support whenever they feel like they need it, leaving the service users feeling like they do still matter. Their voices will also be heard and listened to again making them feel empowered and independent once again. Individuals are now able to have as much control over their lives as they can, and the act also promotes and protects their rights with a clear system of regress as they are fully protected from any abuse. The Mental capacity act also allows people to express their preferences for care and treatment in case they lack capacity to make these decisions. It also allows them to appoint a trusted person to make a decision on their behalf should they lack capacity in the future. This will leave the individual feeling like they have been taking care off and that they do not need to stress about any decisions that could be worrying them. The mental capacity act says that everyone has the right to make their own decisions. Health and care practitioners should always assume an individual has the capacity to make a decision themselves, unless it is proved otherwise through a capacity assessment. This is diminishing any discrimination as practitioners are no longer allowed to just assume that an individual can’t make a decision for themselves, they have to follow set rules before the deem them capable or non-capable of making a decision for themselves. Individuals must be given help to make a decision themselves. This might include, for example, giving the person information in a format that is easier for them to understand. Just because someone may make what might be seen as an "unwise" decision, they should not be treated as if they are lacking the capacity to make that decision. Everyone has the right to make their own life choices, whether they are seen as unwise or not. When someone is said not to have the capacity to make an important decision after a capacity assessment has happened, that decision can be made for them, but it must be in their best interests. This means that no discrimination can take place as the practitioner is not allowed to make a decision on what would be easiest for them, but what would be the best for the service user. The treatment and care given to the individual who lacks capacity should be the least restrictive of their basic rights, while still providing the required treatment and care. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/pages/mental-capacity.aspx The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards is all part of the Mental Capacity Act. They aim to make sure that people in care homes, hospitals are all looked after in a way that does not limit their freedom of choice. The safeguards needs to ensure that a care home, hospital etc. deprives someone of their rights in a safe and secure way, and that this is only done when it is in the best interests of the person and there is no other way to look after them. This is reducing discrimination as every individual gets their own care plan, rather than making everyone take part in something that really, only one person needs. This means no one is treated exactly the same and everyone is cared for in their own individual way. https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1327 Having to stick to the procedures and policies of the Mental Capacity Act can greatly affect practitioners as they have to be sympathetic and put themselves into the shoes of others, whilst staying professional and keeping to the rules. It could be even harder if they can relate to the situation as their feeling will play a big part in their overall decision as to what happens. However every practitioner has an obligation to follow these policies so it doesn’t matter how they personally feel abut the situation, they still have to be professional. This completely changes the lives of the service users that are deemed to not have the capacity to make their, own decisions as the control is given back to them and they are able to have a say in what they do and how they do it. Autonomy becomes a big part of the individual’s life as they are offered more choices, more independence as much control as possible over their own lives and their own decisions. They receive individualized support to help them if they should need it and this then means that their voices are not only heard, but also acknowledged and taken on board. Evaluate the success of a recent initiative in promoting anti-discriminatory practice.
Since the legislation was implemented the service users across the UK are living free and fair lives with as much control as they can get. With the legislation having clear legal framework for the practitioners, it’s not hard to get it wrong so there wouldn’t be any mistakes that could upset the service users or anything that could make the whole process unbearable. No matter who the service user is or what they do there will always be a consistent approach h to every individual, making the whole process as fair and unbiased as it can possibly be so everyone gets the same treatment and everyone is treated equally. Instead of someone deeming that a certain individual has no capacity to make any decisions on their own, this act makes sure that everyone is analysed to the fullest so no mistakes are made and everyone has the chance to get as much control as they can over their own lives and decisions. This act also empowers individuals greatly as they were once thinking they wouldn’t be able to do anything for themselves but this act turns that upside down and they are now able to make decisions for themselves like anyone else can. This stops them from feeling belittled and like a child again as they can have their own independence and lead their own lives. The act also protects you from any discriminatory abuse, making you feel safe and secure and free from any abuse, whether it is overt or covert.
Some short falls however, could be, that, even though you would be breaking the law, some people or companies still don’t abide by the policies and procedures of the legislation. This would be discriminating against those who may lack capacity as they may not fully understand their rights and won’t be able to fight back and gain full access of their rights. Staff training would also be required as they would need to learn the whole act and their own company’s policies and procedures in order to stick to the legislation and not break the law. This could cost money and it would also cost a lot of time, meaning days off work would have to be taken in order to have ‘staff training days’. The rules of the legislation could also be bent by the practitioners, meaning that they would get away with it as they wouldn’t be breaking the law, just working their way around it so that it would be in their best interests and not the service users. They could bend the rules by giving a limited choice as they are still giving the service user the opportunity to choose what they would like but only out of the options they have been given, this is called covert power. The practitioner may also forget about individuality and offer everyone the same choices, thinking he is treating them equally, but everyone has different needs and what he is offering may not cover that individual’s needs. The assessment process of deciding whether someone has the capacity to make decisions can be very lengthy and difficult for someone who doesn’t have very good decision making skills as quick decisions need to be made and they need to be fair and objective. For someone who may have trouble making decisions or is an impatient person, they may try to make the assessment process as quick as possible but cutting some corners causing the outcome of the assessment to be wrong, resulting in a certain individuals care plan to be wrong.
To conclude this legislation is extremely effective as it gives some service users a chance to still be independent and make their own choices even if they may need some support along the way. There is still a little way to come in the way of making sure everyone follows the rules and doesn’t bend them or turn them into their own to suit them but overall this legislation was a massive success and it’s still continuing to be.