P4: Explain how national initiatives promote anti-discriminatory practice.
There are many national initiatives that promote Anti Discriminatory practices in health and social care settings like the Human Rights Act 1998 and The Mental Capacity Act 2005. These are the ones I will be discussing. I looked at a clip of Winterbourne were the residence there had learning difficulties (disabled) and how they were being abused by the workers there. In the clip I was looking at how legislations/laws were being broken and how Winterbourne did not follow the 2 that I have chosen national initiatives.
The Human rights Act 1998
All individuals have right on their side. In the Winterbourne view clip there was physical abuse of power by beating up and dragging many of the residents who had learning disabilities. This form of abuse does not promote anti discriminatory practices or follow the Human Rights Act. The act is clear that no individual should be abused, no matter what their difference is. The physical abuse included restraining residents by putting them under a chair and not letting them move. The residents felt disempowered by these actions and therefore didn’t see it as possible to tell anyone what was happening, let alone seek legal action. Vulnerable individuals such as these should be protected by those that care for them.
The mental capacity Act 2005
In the clip the way the staff at Winterbourne View did not follow the Mental Capacity Act was by not protecting its residents, (disabled people). The act states that you should “Protect vulnerable people”. This was not the case in Winterbourne View. They abused the residents physically, verbally and emotionally. They ‘drove’ one particular patient who had emotional problems to attempt to harm herself. For example, when the resident had been dragged out of bed, by two male members of staff, she felt traumatized. This resulted in her attempting to jump from a window. The manager’s response was that she should try to do it in front of him, as he would love to see it. This goes against the act because the worker did not protect the venerable woman and this is what the act says you should do, he did not make her feel empowered but the opposite of it made her feel very discouraged.
Codes of practice are important in health and social care settings because they help to promote anti- discriminatory practices in health and social care environments. They also act as guidelines for those that are employers and employees. The Codes of practice enable health and social care organisations to follow rules to help them promote anti discriminatory practices. The way codes of practice help to guide those that are the services users in health and social care is by letting them know that if one of the codes of practice is being broken that service user has the right to report this to the CQC or GSCC and this will be dealt with. This will also tell the service user what type of things an organisation needs to do. The way the codes of practice promote anti discriminatory practices is by promoting it by making discrimination illegal and fining/ imprisoning those who flout the rules, if this is discovered. The Codes of Practice can promote by damaging the reputation of those who fail to comply, and in a business context making them less competitive on ethical grounds. For example in the age discrimination act one of the codes of practice is: “those who provide public services to treat everyone, with dignity and respect”. This promotes anti discriminatory practices by stating that every organisation must treat any service users with dignity and respect if this is not followed their breaking a law/legislation. The CQC would make checks at some points to see that no organisation is breaking the codes of practice. In 2002 the general social care council (GSCC) has published a code of practice for both employees and employers and organisations. This code must be followed in every health and social
