Study Analysis Under The Care Act 2014

Introduction

The Care Act 2014 informs a legislation that enables the caring of individuals who are adults and require help with being able to manage their personal lives. Any adult aged 18 and above who has needs for care and support, is experiencing abuse or is at risk of abuse or neglect and are as a result unable to protect themselves from the risk or experience of the abuse and/or neglect is eligible for receiving care support from the local authorities or any other adult care support organization (Gloucestershire, 2018). Using the overarching approach of a person centered needs assessment process two significant needs were identified about Joan that require urgent intervention as she is discharged from hospital after her treatment: Help with maintaining a healthy diet for a manageable body weight and subsequently assist her with staying away from smoking and help with her ability to balance her personal life of work and be able to take up the appointment with the cardiac rehabilitation nurse.

Checking her diet and Weight as well as staying Away from smoking

The care plan drawn up in this section is defined and designed towards enabling support and care for Joan towards the maintenance of her weight. This will be done through a diet plan that will be designed for the best needs and requirement of her body functioning as well as an exercise plan that should enable the burning of excess calories to enable her stay fit and subsequently maintain her health. In addition to this towards enhancing the maintenance of her weight the care plan also purposes to assist Joan with being able to stay away from smoking. Given that she has used smoking as a way of checking her weight in the past, the plan aims to create ways with which she can adequately maintain an eye on her weight without having to smoke, as highlighted this will be through a diet plan as well as an exercise plan.

Diet Plan

The Overarching assessment of the adult patient Joan aged 63 years old reveal her susceptibility to cardiac complications which can only be worsened by obesity and other weight related illnesses and complications, therefore in order to enable her recovery it is crucial for her to maintain her weight at acceptable levels highlighting why her weight came in the apex of her identified care needs.

To be able to maintain her weight at acceptable levels a number of things; Diet being the very core of them are necessary to undertake and control. Controlling her diet will be undertaken through regular calculation of the amount of calories she needs to maintain her weight. The Basal Metabolic rate calculated at regular intervals of a week each for instance enables her care taker know the exact amount of calories required for her to maintain her body weight and avoid obesity (Rousell, 2018).

Her diet will also include more of proteins and vitamins that enhance the burning of calories and enhance the maintenance of her weight. According to Frey (2018), High Protein diets burn more calories since proteins take more effort and therefore energy for the body to digest and metabolize. Further her diet will be designed to contain a lot of fruits and vegetables which as highlighted by NHS.UK (2016), are low in fats and calories but extremely high in fiber, vitamins and minerals which are essential ingredients in successful weight loss. In addition to ensuring a balanced diet for every meal, her meals will be properly planned and care taken to ensure she eats the right meal at the right time: breakfast, Lunch and dinner as well as several snacks that ensure she sticks to the calorie allowance

Exercise Plan

Given her age and her health status Joan will not be exposed to extraneous high adrenaline exercise but just some mild scheduled activities to enable her stay fit and active which also enhances the fast burning of the calories that may compromise her weight. Frey (2018) highlights thermo genesis as a term that describes a multitude of non exercise activities that an individual can engage in to help burn their calories and significantly impact in them maintaining their body weight including taking short random walks amidst ones program, this is quite adequate for the aged as they lack enough energy to engage in real exercise. Other activities forming part of thermo genesis and that include the exercise plan for Joan are using the stairs rather than the elevator, running errands on foot, cleaning up in the house and engaging in everyday activities within the house including cooking, cleaning and folding laundry. These activities can be manageable for Joan and can also fit within her program that may also involve her work.

To further enhance the completion of care for this need the care giver will ensure Joan uses her Nicotine patches and stays away from smoking. This will be beneficial in highlighting whether the Diet plan is successful in helping her maintain her diet as well as keeping her away from nicotine which may further damage her cardiac system or put her at risk of further causing cardiac complications.

Rationale and Justification

Given Joan’s daughter lives in Canada and her husband is also Old at Age 65 years, most of the needs that Joan exhibit are personal and has very little to do with her family or any of her relationships past or present highlighting the appropriateness of using a comprehensive person centered process of assessment and intervention. Further her illness props out of her personal way of life which included smoking since she was a teenager partly towards being able to maintain her body weight. Given that she has problems with her body weight, her conditions has probably taken a toll on her self esteem and personal confidence and as such evaluating her personally is likely to bare more insight than engaging any other assessment process.

Appraisal and Critique

The choice for intervention in developing Joan’s Diet and exercise plan as well as helping her stay away from smoking are quite effective in being able to help manage her needs of maintain her weight as well as getting rid of cigarette addiction, they therefore represent relatively adequate measures of intervention for the identified needs (Sifferlin, 2017). However despite the appropriateness of the chosen activities in being able to help Joan maintain her weight thy may be misinterpreted by Joan or a care giver if not properly planned and thought out. According to Beck, Marshal and Holley (2012), diet and exercise plans that are not carefully thought out may be counterproductive and most likely lead to an unwanted result which may eventually have undesirable outcomes therefore the care plan suggested must be carried out to the latter and carefully to ensure appropriateness in functionality.

Balancing work and Appointment with the Cardiac rehabilitation Nurse

While her work is important to ensure an active life and enable her to stay away from smoking and engaging in other lifestyle activities that may be detrimental and harmful to her health, Joan also needs to attend the appointment with her cardiac rehabilitation nurse to enable her be able to receive guidance on how to maintain a lifestyle that is friendly to her heart recovery. This will be done through developing a day timetable that incorporates her working hours as well as her appointment that is necessary for her recovery.

Given her Age and her role in role as a financial director for a demanding chilled food business Joan can barely find time to be able to keep her appointments with the cardiac nurse. To be able to enhance this, Joan will develop a program that enables her to undertake her work in a sitting position and through frequent intervals that enables her take up her exercising activities as well as desired breaks for her resting and catching up. This program will be managed by a series of reminders that alert her on various activities she ought to take in order to ensure she maintains her program.

Also given her age and her health status it is not advisable for her to be involved in highly demanding work that require a huge reserve of energy and is exhausting, rather she will be more productive with lighter duties that does not involve significant brain activity and indulgence such as financial directing, the plan therefore involves ways of providing her with help at her work place either through enabling the facilitation of hiring an employee to assist her on a part time basis or the social career assisting her with her work. The career will also be crucial in the plan through helping remind her of her appointment with the cardiac nurse. In addition the care giver will also take up the role of accompanying Joan to her nurse and helping her through her assessment and therapy process as well as any other medical process that may be required for her full recovery and well being.

Rationale and Justification

Joan being a 63 year old highlights her age being too vulnerable to tight schedules and hard work, despite the fact that too much work may be detrimental to her personal health, it may also be difficult for her to maintain given her health conditions. This in addition to any medical appointments that have been scheduled may be too much of a program for her to manage and therefore highlights the rational for its assessment and intervention as a care need for Joan.

Assisting her with her work and therefore freeing up some of her space enables her to be able to adequately rest and fully recover. Furthermore it gives her ample time to be able to take a more keen interest in her personal life and be able to take care of herself through adherence to her diet plans and requirements as well as through adequately carrying out her thermo genesis exercises. NHS.UK (2018) highlights that care and support services could include having a personal assistant to help an individual around the home, or structural changes to help one move around or manage themselves in their house, it could also further include an alarm system or some sort of reminder to enable an individual stay in schedule with the various requirements of their programs so as to be able to manage themselves.

The care intervention technique taken up by the plan design include all of these elements, a personal help to help Joan with her financial duties and her cardiac nursing appointment as well as a reminder device to enable her maintain her program amidst the busy day thereby justifying the intervention approach.

Appraisal and Critique

Personal help is effective for old individuals as their age incapacitates them every now and then therefore making the personal help available all the time effective and necessary for them. Given Joan’s age and the tight schedule in her personal life as well as the added responsibilities of the medical appointments with her cardiac nurse, her personal life may become too heavy for her to manage on her own and subsequently endanger their health or put their personal well being at risk and therefore the need for a carer to be able to provide personal assistance. These issues being highly personal and more to do with Joan other than her family highlights the appropriateness of using a more comprehensive personal approach to the assessment of her needs and the intervention mechanisms taken up for her.

However despite the need for personal assistance, being able to regain control of one’s life which is the ultimate goal for the care given requires that they are capable of being able to manage their lives on their own eventually no matter how extraneous it may be (AgeUK.Org, 2018). Providing personal assistance to Joan may make her too comfortable and deprive her from the ability of being independent and managing her own affairs. This highlights the best course of action to be convincing her to employ a co worker.

References

• Ageuk.Org (2018). The Care Needs Assessment Explained | Age UK. [online] Ageuk.org.uk. Available at:
• Beck C, Marshall E. and Holley K. (2012). A Health needs Assessment for Adultswith a learning disability in Lincolnshire. [online]research-lincs.org,uk. Available at
• Frey, M. (2018). 10 Things to Stop Doing If You Want to Lose Weight. [online] Verywell Fit. Available at:
• Gloucestershire (2018). Adults with care and support needs - definition - Safeguarding Adults in Gloucestershire. [online] Gloucestershire.gov.uk. Available at:
• NHS.UK (2018). 12 tips to help you lose weight on the 12-week plan - NHS.UK. [online] Nhs.uk. Available at
• Roussell, M. (2018). How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight?. [online] Shape Magazine. Available at:.
• Sifferlin, A. (2017). The Weight Loss Trap: Why Your Diet Isn't Working. [online]

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