Unit 1 assignment about Equality, diversity and rights in health and

social care.
Introduction :-
In this first question we are trying to describe what is ( equality, diversity, inclusion and
discrimination) and also what are the benefits of these things for an individual. we are also going to
look at how these three things effect working in health care and social working institutes. We are
trying to consider here that by following equality act social worker can work more better in
healthcare institutes.

Diversity:
Recognising and valuing differences. Diversity means the different characteristics that everyone had
by naturally or by some certain reasons. So the process of using these unique talents and specialities
to obtain effective results instead of discrimination and prejudice about these characteristics.

So these characteristics could be anything like Age, gender, disability, sex etc so how to work
with these characteristics to gain effect results must be the main objective for every health care and
social services. And for this purpose they should train their workers and make sure that they are
following all the rules made by governments and corporates.

Equality:
Basically the word equality means being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities.
Treating everyone same even their characteristics are different. So this thing can promote positive
results in any work place.

What is equality Act 2010?

 Legally protects people from any discrimination in workplace and in society

 Replaces previous anti discrimination laws with a single act, making the law easier to
understand and strengthening protection in some areas.
 Sets out a series of protected characteristics against which people cannot be discriminated.

Protected characteristics:

 Age
 Sex, gender (gender reassignment), Sexual orientation or martial status
 Pregnancy and maternity
 Race, colour, nationality, ethnicity or national origins
 Disability

These are the main things in which people’s basically discriminated at work place.

Three main purpose of equality Act:

• Eliminate discrimination and prejudice

• Ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents.
• Build good relationships between different peoples

While working in your workplace you should keep in mind these following
policies,
• Showing respect

• Allowing choices

• Being sensitive to the rights of individuals

When a person who works in a healthcare institute show respect to others who are disable or
different from others so showing respect make them feel special. And also listen to their opinion can
build also a strong bond between workers and clients.

Inclusion:
The act of including someone or something as a part of group, list etc or a person thing that is
included. It means inclusion in the workplace is about ensuring that everyone feels valued and
respected as an individual.

It is the final part of picture and when we fully learn the equality Act then inclusion should be more
easy for us to work with.

For main points in inclusion

• Make them feel that they are present

• Make them feel that there participation is effective

• And also describe them what is achievement and its benefits

• The last thing is support

For example when you give importance to someone who is patient and also different from when you
ask positive questions to them this will make them feel special and present so this is very effective
and good point of inclusion.

Discrimination:
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinction between peoples. Based on the groups,
classes are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated as or on the bases of

race, age, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation. Four main types of discrimination:

Unfair discrimination:
A person is treated unfairly compared with someone else.

Direct discrimination:
When someone is rude or offensive to someone because they see them as different.

Indirect Discrimination:
Harder to prove, for example a manager may appear to be supportive toward a member of staff, but
may show disrespect for their idea by dismissing them in a jokey way.

Positive Discrimination:
When a decision is made in a person’s favour because there is something different about them. For
example when a service have few people from an ethnic minority at a certain level, so they appoint
someone from that ethic minority.

Conclusion:
At the end of the discussion it is shown or proven that discrimination is not only good for healthcare
environment but also it is destructive for overall societies. So by following these first three things
(Equality, diversity and inclusion) it is necessary to avoid any type of prejudice and discrimination
from healthcare institute.

Why is this important?

Treating people as individuals by taking into account their different beliefs and abilities is crucial
when caring for others, and service providers should acknowledge an individuals personal beliefs
even if they do not share them.

If a person’s religious beliefs mean they can only eat certain foods or have to pray at a certain
time, they would feel unvalued if a Hospital or health care service did not accommodate these
beliefs and it might slow down their recovery. So this Act is very important for everyone.

1.2) Explain how rights are promoted in health and social care
services?
People using health and social care services in UK should expect that their human rights will be
promoted and protected when they require care and support from services. Human rights are about
people being treated with fairness, respect, equality, and dignity, having a say over their lives and
participating as fully as possible in decisions about their care and support.

A human rights based approach to care and support seeks to ensure that the human rights of
people using health and social care services are protected, promoted and supported in practice, and
embedded in the culture of a service.

Well we all heard about human rights the newspapers and full of articles about human rights of
individual. Here we are looking at how to promote or protect human rights while working in a
healthcare organization. There are main five rights must be protected by any healthcare worker in
an service.

Fairness:
When any type of decision is made for the client by healthcare the voice of client should be
considered. That means freedom for discrimination.

Respect:
 It means that your values and beliefs must be considered and respected by healthcare workers.
Respect for client’s religion and also its past or experience what is Important for them must be
important for service also.

Equality:
It means that services you and other peoples are using will receive equal opportunity. It means no
discrimination against of other status or characteristics.

Dignity:
It means that the client should be treated as compassion and must be given kind and support by
healthcare workers so that makes client feel safe, valued and also respected.

Autonomy:
It means client should have the right how he live on the daily basis by his own beliefs values and
preferences. And also provide all type pf support to them to promote rights in a health care service.
It means ( e.g He has the right to wear, eat, drink, and speak freely; he shouldn't be constrained,
and he should be allowed to participate in such activities that won't hurt him.)

Safety:
The prevention of indirect or unexpected harm to individuals while providing medical care
is known as patient safety. We support health care workers in reducing patient safety problems and
promoting safety and quality improvement. Patients need to get care in a secure setting free from
preventable danger.

Assuring that people can live without fear of harm, exploitation, or neglect entails
defending their health, well-being, and human rights. It is vital to providing high-quality social and
health services.

Data Protection act 2010 & 2018:

This Act defines how to protect individuals personal data from any misuse or form any discrimination
or from any activity which results bad. And if anyone who is responsible for using personal data has
to follow these rules strictly:

 Data should be used fairly, lawfully and also transparently

 Used for authentic purpose
 Keep the data up to date where necessary
 And also kept for no longer than is necessary
 And also if any worker is going to use patients or individuals data they should have a proper
security system so the system should prevent the data from any damage or destruction.

So, it is also very important thing that patients data must be protected by health care workers
because if the data is leaked so this will lead to a unfavourable position it be cause of prejudice or
discrimination among individuals or some other unfavourable results. So it is very important and
essential thing to follow by any healthcare service.

Conclusion:
So, at the end of the discussion here are some points which are very important to support the
individuals rights in a health care and also the care workers should keep in mind these points.
(Fairness, Equality, Respect, Dignity, autonomy, and the most important thing is safety) these are the
main human rights which should be promoted and supported in any healthcare by its management.

One of the best ways to promote the rights of people in health and social care is to ensure
those around you are always aware of their own rights and to actively encourage people to take an
invested interest in the care they require. Asking questions of those that you care for will ensure that
they can give an opinion and be cared for in a manner that is to their taste and supports their
individual rights.

1.3) Discuss ethical dilemmas that may arise when balancing individual rights
and duty of care?
When we are going to talk about ethical dilemmas we need to talk about ethics first. Because
many issues arise in healthcare because of others reasons and values as well.

Ethics: The moral principles that direct a person’s behaviour. How people apply their morals.

Many times as a practitioner worker they are going to face ethical dilemmas. So, the code
of ethics has provided them a framework to help workers guide through those ethical dilemmas
when they need to make a decision.

When working in health and social care with wonderful groups of people and there will be times
when care workers are faced with conflicts and interests often these ethical dilemmas will not have
a correct answer and will depend upon a numbers of considerations nevertheless as the care worker
you still faced with a dilemma and its not expected to make a decision based on your best
judgements.

Four main points to for any care worker to make a decision/

 What are the risks to the individual?

 What are the professional and legal responsibilities?
 What are the policies of the organisation
 How to get all facts about any case or conflict?

By doing this the professional care practitioner will often be able to draw an image and a conclusion
to any ethical dilemma that they’re facing.

Areas where dilemmas may arise:

Rights responsibilities and duties : so, when we talk about rights and responsibilities first of all the
policies and legislations must be followed by workers so they can understand what are basically the
rights and responsibilities of the individuals. Policies and procedures teaches an individual that how
he should behave as an care worker when the values of individuals conflicts.

There might be times when patients refuse to take their medicine, where they may be at risk of
greater danger. While deliberating on this procedure, I put the patient’s interests first, consider each
patient’s rights, and exercise due care when considering their ability.

For example: what if an practitioner work in an supported housing project where one person used
to listen loud music at night and the other one used to sleep earlier. Here two values clash with each
others so in this situation the worker should follow the above discussed four points to make a
decision.

Balancing services and resources: As an healthcare worker it is difficult to balance services and
resources when there is limited funding and unlimited demand on the service. As an practitioner or
social worker you need to make an effective decision that where these resources should be used.

Similarly, you may observe a person you care for who has a physical condition trying a new
activity and determine whether or equipment is needed. If your carer were to learn about their
illness, you might take issue with this advice because you know about the negative effect on their
well-being. That being said, you understand the value of a person living as independently as possible
while also understanding that their options can cause you to adhere to your responsibility of looking
after them.

For example: Should children, young people be prioritizes or they have their whole lives ahead of
them are to consideration be given to the aging population who have paid the national tax and
insurance as well.

Conflicts of interest: While working as a practitioner this situation also should be faced by any
worker.

For example :A person who is disable and used to move himself by wheelchair and he also smoke
too much or he doesn’t try to change his smoking habit yet and the organisations rules and policies
don’t allow smoking. So, this thing is also called an conflict.

Choice of support /Choice of menu: Fourth thing is choice of support that individual should
acknowledge and their choices must be keep in mind rather then using a timetable provided by
organisation which is going to use for all individuals. A patient may decline an assessment that will
have implications for future treatment, but this is their right and my responsibility as a health care
provider to honour this decision. To better serve the patient, however, I will enlighten them on the
assessment findings and give them the option to participate in it. After doing this, I will then tell the
Lead Operations Manager about their decision and write it down in my notes.

Harm minimisation:

The main and most important to handle ethical dilemmas when worker keep in mind the safety of
individuals.

How to tackle ethical dilemmas :

 Commitment to the clients

 Promotion and advocacy for the health and wellness of the client
 Responsibility and accountability for providing optimal client care
 Engagement in advance nursing practice
 Respect for the dignity and uniqueness of the individuals
 Collaboration with the healthcare team to promote wellness.

Conclusion: Often, the obligation to protect an individual’s well-being can conflict with an
individual’s right to make their own choices. While you are concerned that a person you care for
should disagree with their decisions, you should respect that they have the right to make them as
you may be the first to have objections. These above discussed points and practices will make a
worker to take effective decisions in critical situations.
2.1) Explain how to promote equality and support diversity?

Everyone working in the health and social care sector is expected to

follow certain legislations and codes of practice which have been drown up the
professional regulators,
And this type of codes and laws will help to support and promote
equality and diversity in any healthcare service.
1: Do not have a Gender pay Gap
2: Ensure that all individuals have the same opportunities
3: Must have equality legislation and codes in place
4: Stamp out decriminalisation and prejudice
5:Introduce mentor programs for workers to boost their knowledge
For the promotion of equality and diversity it is important for every single
worker to follow these legislations and if they are not followed by workers it
means they are breaking the rules. And this thing can lead to a unfavourable
position.
There are two main things must be eliminated:
1) Discrimination
2) Prejudice
Discrimination can destroy the diversity and equality from any place to
so this should be eliminated from any place. To eliminate this proper rules
and codes must be followed by workers.
And also prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on
reason or actual experience. And if a worker prejudice about clients or
patients so this thing can impact on his working as well as if he prejudice
about colleges or managers this thing is also not good for the whole health
care service.
So, the best way to promote equality and diversity is avoid
discrimination and prejudice and by following codes and legislations.
Here are some steps that can promote equality and diversity:
1) Give them equal opportunities
 2) Make them feel that they are present in the group instead of left out of
the group
3) Being allowed to work with certain peoples
4) Being allowed the same privilege as other people
5) Help and support in their role
Inclusion
Inclusion also plays very vital role while promoting equality and diversity in
an healthcare or in a society.
It is more effective when inclusion rules and regulations apply in childhood. So
the children’s grow with good and effective personality.
Inclusion entails a commitment to ensuring that everyone has an equal
opportunity to participate and contribute to mainstream. Community life
paticipationers must be mindful of and actively seek to address obstacles to
inclusion because encouraging inclusion and fighting prejudice would
accomplish the following:

 Increase service users’ satisfaction and address their needs more effectively

 Convince local and diverse communities

 Enhance democracy and transparency by creating a peaceful and inclusive climate for all

 Cost savings on a personal and financial level.

To do this, everyone has the same chances to participate, to avoid individual inequalities must be
guaranteed, and individual differences are recognized and rewarded.
Legislations to promote equality and diversity :
 Unlawful to discriminate against current or prospective workers or customers who have a
disability (or who had a disability in past)
 Employers duty to make reasonable adjustments to either the workplace or working
environment to help the disable person cope with their disability.
For example: provide some sort of sign language interpreter for somebody who is deaf
and also people who are starting work there who maybe are on the autistic spectrum
things like flexible working hours might help people with particular disabilities and the
obvious structural changes that might be made to a workplace to allow people with
limited mobility to move around the building more easily.
 And in the area of age unlawful to discrimination against employees, job seeker, and
trainees because of their age.
 Remove the upper age limits on unfair dismissal and redundancy
 Regulations apply to all workers office holders, police, barristers and partners in a
business
So these steps are very effective and promote equality and diversity in healthcare and also
in any workplace.
2.2) Explain how to challenge those not working inclusive in a way that promotes changes?
How to tackle discrimination: We are all different we have diverse gender identities ethnicities
sexual orientations, religions, and beliefs, ages, disabilities and caring responsibilities,
nationalities and also socio-economic backgrounds.
Note: some times people don’t recognise or respect these differences it can make individuals feel
discriminated or isolated this can impact on enjoyment of work and life on the ability to do the
job work and life on the ability to do the job well and sometimes on person’s physical or mental
health but everyone has the right to dignity and respect and also to feel included that’s why its
important speak up against discrimination and also those not working inclusive that effects the
promotions.
Any worker should know that a colleague is being discriminated against it’s important that you
can recognise when that is happening and feel confident enough to intervene.
And if the workers own diversity that’s not being respected then first he had the right to ask their
managers and leaders for help and support.
Second the worker can challenge directly people their and then colleagues might not appreciate
how their action affect your dignity or why so communicate to them about how their behaviour
makes you feel.
And what if somebody you’re caring for is discriminating against you that might be unkind about
you diversity or ask to be cared for by someone of a different gender religion or colour then
remember the people’s who need care are sometimes stressed and confused or their illness maybe
affecting their behaviour and your professional code says you must take reasonable steps to meet
people’s language and communication needs but it’s still ok for you to let know how they make
you feel and why it’s unacceptable. Be as clear as you can.
And the last thing ask for support and help.
How to handle discrimination in a way that promotes changes: It can be difficult to challenge
discrimination in a way that promotes change, as it often requires taking on an entire system.
However, there are a few basic steps that can be followed in order to make an impact.
First, it’s important to understand the underlying systems that allow for discrimination to take
place. This includes understanding how power is distributed in society, and how prejudice and
bias operate. Once these systems are understood, strategies can be developed to challenge them.
Second, it’s important to build coalitions with like-minded individuals and organizations who
share the same goals of ending discrimination. These coalitions can provide support and
solidarity during challenging times.
Third, effective communication is key. Speaking out against discrimination and hate speech is
important, but it is not enough. It’s also important to speak about the positive aspects of diversity
and the benefits of living in a society that is accepting of all people.
Finally, it’s important to stay vigilant against attempts to roll back gains made in the fight for
equality. When these attempts come up, it’s important to be prepared with strategies and
messages that can effectively counter them. This will ensure that a culture of acceptance
continues to take root and grow.
2.3) Explain how to support others in promoting equality and rights?

“Workplace equality,” “diversity and inclusion,” and “making room for all” are all concepts that
have taken on an increasingly important role in our society, and yet understanding how to go
about it can be tricky.
It’s all in the hands of the human resources department and diversity officer to bring about more
diverse and inclusive workplaces. However, when only small segments of the workforce are on
board, these programs might have minimal impact, meaning that certain groups may not feel
included.
If you are dedicated to advancing those programs, you mustn’t be an ideological reformer; your
task is only to accomplish, and that is plenty challenging enough. Acting as a role model in
promoting and amplifying diversity in the simple act of advocating for and supporter of greater
inclusivity and equity and diversity can have an impact.
Being fast to volunteer is a good way to achieve the diversity and inclusivity goals in the
company. Therefore, several citizens will feel even more encouraged to join in the initiative, as
the first ones will have the most to lose and gain.
There is a strong correlation between the diversity of the current staff and recruiting a diverse
workforce, a new group of individuals, but making diversity one of the team goals often means
overseeing diversity in the long-related missions. Still, it needs to be dealt with on a task. If you
want to improve your organization, be prepared to meet with the person who is making the
changes, and they may want to know how you are far your improvements have gotten off the
ground.
When workers have informal relationships, they speak differently to their supervisors than when
they communicate among themselves. So, therefore, you might be a valuable source of both eyes
and ears for those around you to get a sense of their levels of participation. While senior
management and HR may not see these actions and statements, you can witness and listen to
statements and complaints from employees that reveal these attitudes in reality.
We should discuss the changes in a little bit with colleagues to get a sense of how they are being
received and report to the individual or team who makes diversity and inclusivity a priority.
 Relationships should be founded on mutual respect and honesty. This means that
communication is essential and each person should be able to access support from those
around them and ask for advice when needed.
 Treating each person fairly. By doing this you can give each member of staff a fair
opportunity for success and ensure that each person can conduct himself or herself in the
correct manner.
 Making each person feel supported and able to access support when needed. This helps
people to gather help and guidance at all times and feel a part of the team.
 Have strong communication levels. This helps each person to give and receive
information when needed and helps employees to get purposeful and in-depth data when
they need it.
These steps can support others to maintain equality and rights in a healthcare service.