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Safeguarding In Health And Social Care

Introduction

Safeguarding means protecting well-being, health as well as rights of individuals. Agenda of this aspect is to enable people to live free from all the negative factors affecting them like neglect, harm and abuse. Health and social care sectors are required to safeguard their patients as well as employees within their workplace (Stevens, 2017). The following report is based on Moorwood Cottage, which provides nursing and accommodation to elderly individuals. It covers factors that contribute to the incidence of harm and abuse to self and others and current legislations, policies as well as professional involvement in relation to abuse in health and social care context. The report also includes working practice and strategies used to minimise abuse in health and social care contexts.

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TASK 1

1.1. Explanation of why particular individuals and groups may be vulnerable to abuse and/or harm to self and others

Abuse refers to any sort of mistreatment given to an individual or group by others which results in violation of civil as well as human rights of a person. However, its intensity could vary to a range where an individual is mistreated to ways which could actually affects an individual's quality of life (Desmedt and et. al., 2017).
Within Moorwood Cottage Care Home, elderly people were provided health and social care. However, these individuals were vulnerable to abuse in the care home as there were not provided effective care as per their physical and medical needs.

Patients at the care home need appropriate medical attention and treatment. However, they are being neglected by the care staff as well as nurses which is one of the severe types of abuses. Such abuse refrains them from receiving care which they need. This makes them vulnerable to abuse as despite of having high nursing needs, they were not given appropriate fluids or drinks which were necessary for them to improve their health standards.
Another type of abuse experienced by the elderly people was psychological abuse. This is because they were not being monitored by the staff as per their requirements. Thus, these people were somewhat deprived of having one necessary service which was crucial for them to enhancing their health standards.

Elderly people at Moorwood Cottage Care Home also suffered from institutional abuse as the surprise inspection determined degraded standards for care, welfare, staffing levels as well as nutritional needs (Phelan, Fealy and Downes, 2017). This led to their ineffectiveness of being quite insufficient and struggling in providing appropriate health and social care to residents of Moodwood Cottage Care Home.
All which is essential to provide a healthy and effective care to patients were being either neglected or not fully accomplished by the care home which led these patients to be quite vulnerable to abuse.

1.2. Risk Factors leading to incidence or abuse and/or harm to self and others

Risk is defined as any manner or situation where an individual could possibly be exposed to any form of danger or harm. In other words, it could be a state of affair where chances of losing something valuable increases (Caffrey, 2017). This could be wealth, well-being, status, etc.

There were various risk factors which led residents to abuse in Moorwood Cottage Care Home. This included inconsistency in changing incontinence pads, ineffective monitoring for fluids, insufficiencies in drinks and improper cleanliness throughout the care home. These factors are presented in the risk assignment below:

RISK FACTOR

RISK INTENSITY

EFFECT

Ineffective Fluid Monitoring

HIGH

Such monitoring could be a high risk factor for the patients as these patients require consistent as well as appropriate healthcare. Ineffectiveness in monitoring could cause time gaps in medications which might lead to severe circumstances related to health of residents.

Inconsistent changing of incontinence pads

MEDIUM

Within healthcare, sanitation and cleanliness play crucial roles in providing quality healthcare to patients. However, Within  Moorwood Cottage Care Home, due to inconsistencies in changing of incontinence pads could result in residents suffering from various infections which might risk their health conditions.

Insufficient Drinks

MEDIUM

Residents at the care home are elderly people who require appropriate meals and drinks timely. Effective timetable in meals help them in fulfilling their daily needs appropriately. Insufficiency in drinks would keep their nutrition demands unmet that would cause them to be sick and unable to cope up with their health.

Risk Factor Risk Intensity Effect

Ineffective Fluid Monitoring HIGH Such monitoring could be a high risk factor for the patients as these patients require consistent as well as appropriate healthcare. Ineffectiveness in monitoring could cause time gaps in medications which might lead to severe circumstances related to health of residents.

Inconsistent changing of incontinence pads MEDIUM Within healthcare, sanitation and cleanliness play crucial roles in providing quality healthcare to patients. However, Within Moorwood Cottage Care Home, due to inconsistencies in changing of incontinence pads could result in residents suffering from various infections which might risk their health conditions.

Insufficient Drinks MEDIUM Residents at the care home are elderly people who require appropriate meals and drinks timely. Effective timetable in meals help them in fulfilling their daily needs appropriately. Insufficiency in drinks would keep their nutrition demands unmet that would cause them to be sick and unable to cope up with their health.

However, with such degrading standards, it is essential that action plan is made which would be giving various specific methods and techniques that would help Moorwood Cottage Care Home in effectively accomplish healthcare standards and provide quality service to its residents.

The first and foremost action plan would be to provide training to staff regarding development of consistencies in their job roles. This would be effective in terms of monitoring of dosages and appropriate consistency in drinks (Bryar, 2017).

Another action plan could be implementing personnels overseeing the hygiene and cleanliness standards for residents. Sanitation methods applied by these personnels would safeguard the people within Moorwood Cottage Care Home from any sort of infections that might worsen their health.

Nurses and healthcare staff could also implement systems and processes where support could be given to individuals with less mobility. Such practices would enhance quality of healthcare and would protect residents of the care home against any sort of risk factor which leads to incidence of abuses. best assignment writers in australia

1.3. Impact of social and cultural factors on various abuses and/or harm to self and others

Both social as well as cultural factors have an impact on different types of abuses which could result in various negative consequences affecting people in the Moorwood Cottage Care Home.
The first and foremost social factor is education. Lack of education within health and social care sector leads to various consequences which must not be present while providing healthcare services (Harris, 2018) For instance, within Moorwood Cottage Care Home, lack of education in nurses and healthcare staff would result in somehow leading to neglecting residents at the home. In addition to this, consequences of the same would be quite drastic as such neglect would lead to isolation that is not good for psychological health of residents within the care home.

Cultural factors might also have an impact on abuses which could lead to unfavourable consequences. For instance, discrimination could lead to social exclusions and ineffective support networks. As an example of Moorwood Cottage Care Home, various healthcare workers and nurses work together to provide health and social care services to elderly in the organisation. Discrimination could lead them to give poor healthcare services that would only degrade the quality of healthcare within the care home (Manthorpe, Bramley and Norrie, 2017).

Conclusion of Task 1

Thus, it is concluded that there are various abuses which are associated with improper healthcare services. Risk assessment and action plans could help in safeguarding patients with inequalities and against abuses. Lastly, social and cultural factors could lead to abuses which could further lead to various negative consequences.

References

  • Bryar, R. M., 2017. Health visiting in primary care in England: a crisis waiting to happen?
  • Caffrey, L., 2017. The importance of perceived organisational goals: A systems thinking approach to understanding child safeguarding in the context of domestic abuse. Child abuse review.
  • Desmedt, M., and et. al., 2017. Integrating and safeguarding care: The potential role of health information technologies. International Journal of Care Coordination.
  • Harris, J. C., 2018. The mouth and maltreatment: safeguarding issues in child dental health. Archives of disease in childhood.
  • Manthorpe, J., Bramley, S. and Norrie, C., 2017. Gambling and adult safeguarding: connections and evidence. The Journal of Adult Protection.
  • Phelan, A., Fealy, G. and Downes, C., 2017. Piloting the older adult financial exploitation measure in adult safeguarding services. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics.
  • Stevens, M., 2017. Social workers’ power of entry in adult safeguarding concerns: debates over autonomy, privacy and protection. The Journal of Adult Protection.

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TASK 2

2.1. Analysis of strengths and weaknesses in current legislations and policies relating to those vulnerable to abuse

A legislation refers to those set of rules and regulations which are set out by government effectively in order to promote ethical practices within health and social care (Szilassy, E., 2017). These give appropriate framework for them to operate which enhances their capabilities and government support in giving effective services.

Some of the legislations regarding health and social care practices are as follows:

  • Health and Social Care Act, 2012: This act is outlines and state various duties as well as principles for health bodies that are mandatory for them to follow to ensure mitigation of health inequalities within the nation (Key Legislation, 2019). The biggest advantage of this act is that it has made the local authorities more responsible in context to provide robust and quality service to their patients in need. However, various unions have questioned its effectiveness and claims of emergence of postcode lottery as authorities are in charge of spending public health budget. Moreover, it has also let to marketing of healthcare services.
  • Equality Act, 2010: Another prominent legislation related to health and social care is the equality act which states that each individual within a health and social care organisation must be treated equally. This means that equal treatment must be given to residents at Moorwood Cottage Care Home regardless of their gender, caste, religion, etc. As the name suggests, its biggest advantage is that it promotes equality which protects individuals from abuses within the care home. However, in some cases, age discrimination is allowed unless a legitimate aim is being imposed.
  • Social Value Act, 2012: This act requires local authorities and public sector commissioners to consider social, economic as well as environmental well-being in procurement of services. This act appropriately helps patients in receiving effective treatment and enables organisations like Moorwood Cottage Care Home in reducing health inequalities (Taylor, J. L., 2017). However, there are disadvantages associated with this act. For instance, there are uncertainties which is associated with procurement of contracts.

However, drawbacks are associated with these regulations, these aspects are crucial for health and social care and could be useful to Moorwood Cottage Care Home to provide effective services to its residents (Soini, E., 2018).

2.2. Explanation of how key professionals are involved in protection of individuals or groups vulnerable to abuse

It is crucial for professionals at care home to provide utmost facilities and care to residents. It is of vital importance as elderly people present within Moorwood Cottage Care Home are entitled to protection from abuses.
As for this care home, there are two crucial professionals that are involved within protection of residents from abuse (Stevens, M., 2018).

Regional as well as registered manager in Moorwood Cottage Care Home have been involved in protecting individuals from abuses by raising the standards of care given within the healthcare organisation. These professionals undertook responsibility to improve the standards of care home by effectively modifying and bringing up positive changes within the care home. These changes were associated with culture of the care home, overall environment and health standards for residents (Cooper, A. and Bruin, C., 2017).

Where staff of Moorwood Cottage Care Home is concerned, they were made to monitor periodically which could protect individuals from harm and any sort of risk. The agenda behind this effectively was to effectively record useful information necessary for providing quality care to elderly people within the care home (Kupeli, N., Leavey, G., and Harrington, J., 2018).
Staff rotas were also reorganised to achieve appropriate care standards within the care home. Moreover, a new initiative known as fluid champion was initiated which was concerned with monitoring the fluid intake and giving support to those who are unable to consume fluid on their own.

Such was the involvement of these two professionals within Moorwood Cottage Care Home which resulted in enhancing care standards and protection from abuses and risks (Billioux, A., 2017).

Conclusion of Task 2

It is thus concluded from information presented above that legislations and policies play crucial roles in providing effective healthcare to patients in a care home and it is important that their advantages and drawbacks be analysed which would help in regulating the same appropriately. In addition to this, it is crucial that care home professionals be involved in policies and staff routines in health and social care organisations which would help in improving healthcare quality and protection of residents appropriately from abuses.

References

  • Billioux, A., 2017. Standardized screening for health-related social needs in clinical settings: The accountable health communities screening tool. NAM Perspectives.
  • Cooper, A. and Bruin, C., 2017. Adult safeguarding and the Care Act (2014)–the impacts on partnerships and practice. The Journal of Adult Protection.
  • Kupeli, N., Leavey, G., and Harrington, J., 2018. What are the barriers to care integration for those at the advanced stages of dementia living in care homes in the UK? Health care professional perspective. Dementia.
  • Soini, E., 2018. Efficient secondary use of representative social and health care data in Finland: Isaacus data lake, analytics and knowledge management pre-production project. Value in Health.
  • Stevens, M., 2018. Implementing safeguarding and personalisation in social work: findings from practice. Journal of Social Work.
  • Szilassy, E., 2017. Making the links between domestic violence and child safeguarding: an evidencebased pilot training for general practice. Health & social care in the community.
  • Taylor, J. L., 2017. The impact of transforming care on the care and safety of patients with intellectual disabilities and forensic needs. BJPsych bulletin. 41(4). pp.205-208.

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TASK 3

3.1. Existing working practices and strategies designed to minimise abuse in health and social care context

Minimisation of abuses and risk within healthcare is an essential practice and must effectively be implemented within the health and social care organisations. It is an essential element that must be prioritised and must be most important aspect of such associations. Moorwood Cottage Care Home have started using various practices and strategies within their care home to achieve this purpose. These practices and strategies are mentioned below:

  • Intentional Rounding: Within Moorwood Cottage Care Home, a new strategy has been implemented where employees are engaged in intentional rounding up which consists of monitoring residents at care home effectively. The intention of adopting this strategy is to effectively check elderly people who have high dependency needs. In addition to this, this rounding up is being done on various purposes such as recording information related to their repositioning, changing incontinence pads and to monitor their fluids.
  • Staff Rota: Another strategy which is being adopted at Moorwood Cottage Care Home is the reorganisation of staff rota to achieve better healthcare standards and to enhance their performance within the care home. Under this strategy, nurses will be completely in charge regarding care provided to elderly people, whereas, care workers would be operating in teams along wit an extra care giver as assistance. This strategy was implemented with existing staff without recruiting new individuals. Thus, it denotes that effective care could be provided by staff of Moorwood Cottage Care Home by shifting their roles appropriately.

Both of these strategies aimed at improving the care standards within the organisation and implement a culture which treats health of residents as a prime concern.

3.2. Evaluation of effectiveness of working practices and strategies used to minimise abuse in health and social care

Each strategy applied in health and social care are required to be evaluated as there is always a scope of improvement while providing quality healthcare to patients. Evaluation is necessary as each new modification could be appropriately used to enhance services within health and social care organisations.

Moorwood Cottage Care Home, applied various strategies as there was a dire need of improving its quality of services given to elderly residents. Out of these, two strategies seemed to have maximum effect and helped the firm in achieving its goal for improvement and protecting their residents from any sort of abuse.

However, there are various advantages and disadvantages of these strategies that are mentioned below:

  • Advantages and Drawbacks of Intentional Rounding: One of the most effective strategies used by Moorwood Cottage Care Home was setting up staff for intentional round-ups. This was a contributor in achieving the desired standards and its biggest advantage was that appropriate care would be given to patients. Moreover, this would help in removing any sort of inconsistency as proper monitoring would support all the needs of elderly people within the care home. However, intentional round-ups denote that there is no specific timetable followed by the staff, which might rise incompetence in long run. Moreover, immediate needs might not be addressed due to absence of regular and consistent round-ups.
  • Advantages and Drawbacks of Staff Rota: Reorganisation of staff was another strategy followed by Moorwood Cottage Care Home, which was associated in giving different duties to various healthcare professionals, mainly nurses and care workers. Its prime advantage is that adopting this method would enhance competence within the workforce of care home. Moreover, each member would be developing their skills in relation to provide the most appropriate care to elderly people. However, there are some drawbacks of this approach in various elements. While giving specific roles to individuals within Moorwood Cottage Care Home, it might cause burden among the staff members as same role would be kept on repeated by them daily. It might cause work stress which could lead to incompetence. In addition, no recruitment of outside staff might further enhance the burden that is never good in places where consistent performance is required.

3.3. Possible improvements to working practices and strategies to minimise abuse in health and social care

Consistency is the key to provide utmost effective healthcare to residents of Moorwood Cottage Care Home. This is because these patients require severe medical attention and care which is essential and must be treated as priority at the care home as per CQC inspection. Thus, it is crucial that strategies adopted by them are evaluated and improved in case effectiveness be maintained and expected standards be delivered.

As for intentional rounding up, staff rotations seem to be one of the crucial approaches as this would allow staff members to be present in case someone needs their assistance. In addition to this, there must be at least two members who are fully present with residents 24x7 on rotational basis that would further enhance care given to them. This would result in consistency within the staff and their efforts would rightfully be subjected for improving quality of healthcare.

Where staff rota is concerned, responsibilities must be shifted periodically which would be resulting in new methods and ways in which healthcare would be provided. Furthermore, new members must be hired that would help the staff cope up with innovative methods like fluid champion. In addition, health and social care could always use extra individuals that would further provide better care to elderly and fulfil their supportive needs.

Conclusion of Task 3

Information above information denotes how strategies could be used in provision of care services to residents of a care home. However, it is also essential that these strategies are effectively evaluated which would help bring out its weaknesses and strengths. Lastly, recommendations and strategy improvement would provide consistency in operations and healthcare services.

Conclusion

It is thus concluded, that safeguarding in health and social care is utmost important and care must be provided in ways which minimises exposure of residents from abuses or any sort of risks. Action plans could serve as most appropriate strategy to help protection from any future risk. Policies and legislations guide these organisations in providing ethical and legally bound care to patients. Lastly, strategies must also be channelised, evaluated and improved to provide.

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