Within this short essay I will be explaining the concepts of equality, diversity and rights in relation to health and social care. I will also provide an example of how discrimination can come around within a health and social care setting (Care home, Hospital, Residential care home).How discrimination can effect citizens and other people that are using the health and social care services, then to further this into more detail I will give three examples and assess the effects they give to the public.
Equality is all about creating a fairer society and environment, in which everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfil their given potential. By getting rid of all prejudice and discrimination, the NHS and other medical services can deliver services that are personal to each patient, making a fairer and diverse society that everyone can be happier and healthier within. For the NHS alone, this means making it more accountable to the patients its services and tackling discrimination in the work place.
Diversity point blank means difference. When it is used as a contrast or addition to equality, it is mainly on about recognising individual differences as well as group differences, treating people as individuals, and placing positive value on diversity in the community and in the workforce. One way that organisations have responded to the issue of diversity in recent years has been the development of flexibility in working practices and services within health and social care settings. An example of this would be a GP running out of hours surgeries to suit those who have other commitments.
Why is equality and diversity important?
Equality and diversity is becoming more important in all aspects of our lives and work for a number of reasons:
• We live in an increasingly diverse society and need to be able to respond appropriately and sensitively to this diversity. Learners in the healthcare setting will reflect this diversity around gender, race and ethnicity, disability, religion, sexuality, class and age.
• Your organisation believes that successful implementation of equality and diversity in all aspects of work ensures that colleagues, staff and students are valued, motivated and treated fairly.
• We have an equality and human rights legal framework covering employment practices and service delivery and qe need to ensure we work within this and avoid discrimination.
Rights are something that all people weather in the health and social care business or a part of the general public everyone has rights. These rights provide a basic guideline on how people should be treated and in some cases how not to be treated. To link this to equality and diversity I believe that all people have the right to not be discriminated against for whatever reason being it different race, skin tone, or religious beliefs. One of the big rights that the health and social care sector have to fight against is the right to life. This is because if within a family one member falls so ill that medical people do not believe that she will get better, than there family may believe that the best thing to do to stop her suffering is to perform euthanasia on the ill person.
Within this next part of this essay I will be giving an example of discrimination within a health and social care setting and the potential effects that this could have on people who