Empowering Users in Health and Social Care

Introduction

Empowering the patients in the health and social care service is important so that the health and social careers can acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the service user and develop effective are for maximising the wellbeing of the individual (Challis, Darton and Stewart, 2018). The aim of the study is to review the existing rules and globalisations in the health and social care context as well as identify the health care practice to empower the patient in developing the care plan and include them well to maximise their standard of living. The paper is also helpful for understanding responsibility of managing and monitoring the health and social care so that the care providers can maximise the quality of care and fulfil the patient’s needs and preferences so that they would be able to improve their wellbeing. As per the case, Denise is an 87 years old women and her husband was died 15 years back. Though she has a daughter, she lives alone at her place and it is difficult for her to go outside and walk das she wear metal leg and foot brace. Thus she needs proper care and support from the service providers to fulfil her basic needs of food, shelter and medication. She is suffering from early sign of dementia and it is necessary to review the practice and rules to empower Denise in the care so that she can express her feelings and get positive support and care for maximising her wellbeing and standard of living.

LO1. Understanding the rights of users of health and social care services

1.1 Explaining current legislations and organisational practice

The health and social care rules and legislations are effective for the care providers to support the service users and maximise their empowerment in the care home for developing effective care plan (Kuluski et al., 2017). The Human Rights Acts are effective to maximise the rights of the human being where the care professionals try to provide freedom and suitable environment to the patients so that they could have the right to express their feeling and preferences for getting the best possible care and quality treatment according to their health issues (Buse, Martin and Nettleton, 2018). In the present case study of Denise, she is 87 years old and she wears metal legs and foot brace and thus she cannot walk well and go outside for shop. In this regard the rights of Denise must be maximised and it is the responsibility of the care providers to maximise the preferences and needs of Denise and give her the chance to be socially included and get suitable environment to stay healthily. The Heath and Social care Act 2014 is also effective legislation, where the wellbeing of the patient must be maximised by delivering quality care and effective treatment. Denise is suffering from early dementia and thus she needs proper counselling session and medications for managing stress and memory at this stage of life. It is the responsibility of the health and social care providers to treat her properly and help her to overcome the issues in living a standard of live. On the other hand, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is also effective to understand the mental condition of the patients and it is possible to understand the mental capacity to get the treatment and care. Additionally, the General Data protection Act 2018 and other non-discriminatory policies and practice are effective to protect the personalise data of Denise and give her freedom and suitable circumstances to share her feelings with the care providers so that the social workers can understand her difficulties and treat her with proper treatment and quality care.

1.2 Analysing factors promoting and maximising the rights of the service users

There are various factors that promote the rights of the individuals in the health and social care context such as staffing, presence of experienced social workers and clinical experts, existing training program and changing health status of the service users (Watkins et al., 2017). Recently, the service providers get appropriate training and developmental program which are effective for improving their knowledge and clinical skill to treat the patient with quality care (Dickinson and O'Flynn, 2016). In addition to this, the presence of clinical experts and social workers are effective where they try to develop partnership working practice which further enhance the values of the patient like Denise, where the social workers promote the rights of Denise by providing her support to live better. In this regard the right to stay in liberty, right not to be discriminated in any way, right for the vulnerable people to get proper service, right to be respected, right not to be treated in a degrading way are effective for the patient to get fair treatment and quality care. In this regard, the social worker helps Denise efficiently by communicating with the good neighbour, who takes care of Denise and come at home for chats, so that Denise can feel valued and social included and feel free to share her feelings with others. Helping her to take medicine and telephonic conversation are also effective way to promote the right of Denise.

1.3 Analysing communication between care workers and individual in contributing promoting rights of the users

Positive communication is one of the necessary components to promote the rights of the patient ad in this regard positive communication helps the patients to explain their personal information, express their feeling, discuss about their health issues and mental disorders with the service providers (Olding et al., 2017). In this regard, enhancing communication while serving the patients is hereby necessary for the service providers to understand the perspective and personalise preferences of the care users and acknowledge their difficulties in leading a normal life (Ní Shé et al., 2019). For giving advice to the patient’s needs proper communication as well as the service providers try to be communicative and enhance open discussion so that the patient can feel free to express their true feelings, so that the service professionals can develop effective care plan according to the health difficulties and metal disorders of the patients. It also helps to empower the patients in the care plan and in the present case communication plays a crucial role in understanding the present situation of Denise, where the social worker tries to develop communication so that Denise can express her feeling which further helps the service providers to identify the early symptoms of dementia for which the patient is suffering. Additionally, communication with the good neighbour is also helpful in this case, where the social workers cab bet support from the neighbour in taking care of Denise where the neighbours also try to communicate with Denise and spend time with her so that she will not feel alone at home.

LO2. Understanding promoting participation and independence of the users

2.1 Explaining factors contributing loss of independence, non-participation and social exclusion for vulnerable people

There are many factors that contribute in loss of independence, non-participation and social exclusion for vulnerable people and the factors further hampers the quality of care where the health and social care providers face difficulties in serving the patients efficiently. Dependency is one of factor, where the any responsibility on individual affects the participating and brings social exclusion (Wiering, de Boer and Delnoij, 2017). In this case, Denise has open daughter, but it is difficult for her daughter to stay at mother’s place and tackle care of her. Denise initially was dependent on her daughter who raises dependency of dense and recently she is socially isolated as she is not able to make friends and develop good relationship with her neighbours. She is suffering from early dementia sign and she cannot walk due to metal leg. On the other hand, communication gap is another factor of which the vulnerable people are isolated and they cannot access proper support in the society which in turn raises the issue of non-participation and loss of independence. Lack of education and inequality in income are other factors that are also critical to raise the issues in getting proper support and are and being social included. On the other hand, the factors such as social constraints, cultural attitude and beliefs are also major issues for getting suitable care and treatment from the service providers.

2.2 Organisational system and process to promote participation and independence

It is necessary to promote participation and independence on society and it is the responsibility of the health and social care workers to support the vulnerable people and give them freedom to live healthily (Ocloo et al., 2017). In this regard, for promoting participation, the health care providers try to manage transparency and improve equality where the vulnerable people can access proper heath and social care service. The workers try to provide nursing facilities, cooking and cleaning facilities to the old people like Denise and it is helpful for the patient to live independently and improve participation. Better communication with the social communications and building strong relationship are also effective for the service providers to promote participation, where the patient can live freedom to stay and improve social inclusion, and participation.

2.3 Balancing the rights of the individual to independence and choice against the care provider’s duty to protect

It is essential to balance the rights of the individual to independence and choice against the care provider’s duty to protect so that the care providers can provide safe place to the patients to stay healthily. In case of Denise, the social workers try to provide independent place where the neighbours can help Denise and also they provide freedom to stay at home happily. Participation in the society can be improved through social inclusion and improving communication with the patient and on the other hand, the health care providers are also concerned about their duty to protect and thus they also try to protect the patient and give them safe place for social inclusion. They support Denise emotionally and they provide proper medication so that Denise can improve her heath condition and mental capacity. Moreover, the social workers monitor the health progress and visit the place of Denise regularly so that their duty can be maximised. Giving the freedom to perform daily life activities at home a Denise cannot walk as well as spending time with Denise at her place are effective to maximise independence of Denise. Similarly, the social care workers are efficient to support Denise emotionally and physically as she cannot walk properly due to metal leg and they also provide proper therapy and treatment which are effective for Denise to improve physical strength and mental capacity.

LO3. Understanding responsibility of managing and monitoring risk in health and social care

3.1 Identifying the risk of harm for the individuals in the health and social care

There are certain risk factors associated with the health and social care practice, which are financial constrain, negligence, social isolation, discriminatory exploitation and mental destruction. Mental destruction is one of the major risk, where the patient can feel disturb mid and cannot handle the situation (Wykes et al., 2018). Denise is also suffering from early stage of dementia and it is also difficult for her to cope up with the situation and cooperate with the social workers for getting better support and quality care. Additionally, discriminatory exploitation is another risk, where Denise can feel discriminated in the society due to her metal leg and foot brace where she is socially isolated in the society ad she did not have the support to participate in the social communities due to her disability. Social isolation in this regard is another risk associated with Denise, where she feels isolated and neglected in the society due to her age, health issues, mental disorder due to dementia and also for her metal leg, where she cannot participate actively in the society. Financial constraint is another risk, for which the patient sometime feels difficulties in accessing the right health and social care service to overcome their situation and health issues. In order to stay healthy and happily, it is necessary for the patients to contact and communicate with the service providers and develop appropriate care plan so that risk factors can be mitigated and the patient can maximise the standard of living.

3.2 Effectiveness of policies, procedure and managerial approach for promoting management of risks

The policies and practice are effective to treat the patient and in this regard the strategies of the health care providers are efficient to maximise the patient’s values (Towle et al., 2016). In the present case, the social worker contacted the good neighbour for support and it is effective to manage the Denise and improve her health issues, where she can get mental support and also physical support from the neighbours. The neighbour is helpful where the neighbour visit her house every day, see her medication and help her to have medications, be organised is the household chores. On the other hand, the strategy of empowering the patient Denise in the home with proper cooperation of the neighbour is also effective to manage her and give her freedom to stay and improve independence as long as possible. Continuous support to Denise, respect her decision and visit her house regularly are also effective to mitigate the risk factors and improve social inclusion of Denise. Additionally, the care worker and the neighbour planned to take her out for a lunch on her birthday to cheer her up and this is also effective tactic to create value for Denise and maximise the wellbeing so that she can feel valued an improve her standard of living. Hereby, the policies and practice of the care worker and the neighbour are effective to empower Denise so that the care pan can be developed with the help of Denise, where Denise can express her thoughts and feelings.

LO4. Practice of administration of medication for the users of health and social care

There is proper health care practice to utilise medication in case of dementia patients and in this regard it is necessary to empower the patients where the family member of the individuals or the patient itself can choose the pharmaceutical care and service with positive communication and cooperation with the service providers (Essex, Ocloo and Rao, 2019). Choosing the right treatment and medication is the right of the patients where the patient needs to be empowered efficiently so that they can express their feelings successfully. Additionally, the care providers must be trained staff to provide the right medication timely to the patients. The care worker prevents dignity and respects the individuals during the treatment of medication. The medicines should be provided to cure the diseases ad it is necessary to provide the medicines timely according to the health condition of the patient. The Medicines Act 2012 must be implemented during the care to provide the quality and right medicine to the right patients. The Misuse of Drugs Act 2001 is also implemented so that the issue of misusing the drug can be mitigated well and the patients would be safe under proper supervision of the health care providers. Health and Social Care Act 2012 is also effective to provide medicine to the patients according to their health issues. In this case, the social worker must implement the policies and practice to provide the right medicine to Denise so that she can overcome the early symptoms of dementia and improve her health condition to stay healthily.

4.2 Effectiveness of policies and procedure within health and social care settings

The existing policies and practice in the health and social car context are appropriate for both the service providers and service users, where the service providers can maximise the values for the service users through delivering quality care and effective treatment according to the health needs of the patients (Holmes et al., 2019). The existing policies and practice are also helpful where the service users can get quality care and continuous support from the service providers. The values and rights of the patients can be maximised, where the organisational policies are effective and the social care providers try to respect the patient and fulfil their needs and preferences by developing effective care plan for them by empowering them successfully (Lawton et al., 2017). In this case of Denise, the social worker is efficient to treat her and give her freedom to stay at her own place under proper supervision and medication. The social worker visit her pace in a daily basis and provide her proper medication timely which improves the health condition of Denise and help her to improve the condition of dementia. Additionally, the social worker is also efficient to improve social inclusion of Denise so that Denise cannot feel alone at her home and build strong relationship with her neighbour also. The social worker tries to communicate with good neighbour and the communication and cooperation of the neighbour are also helpful for Denise to get support and spend time at her home and this further promote independence and freedom to live of the patient.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, it is necessary for the health and social care service professionals to empower the patients in the care plan, so that it is possible for the service providers to acknowledge the actual healthy issues and personal preferences of the patient and it also provides an opportunity to the patient to express their feeling and get empowered in creating better care plan to overcome their health issues and mental disorders during the stage of dementia. It is essential for the patient Denise, to be empowered, so that the social workers can fulfil her preferences to stay at home freely and improve social inclusion so that she can maximise her wellbeing and standard of living. Positive cooperation with neighbours and enhancing communication are also effective for Denise to stay healthy and happily and simultaneously the cooperation of the social workers, therapeutic treatment and medications are effective for Denise to overcome her difficulties and improve mental capacity to deal with dementia.

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