Reference no: EM132811626

Law, Policy and Ethical Practice in Health and Social Care - BTEC Higher National Diploma specification in Health and Social

Assessment Brief

Learning Outcome 1: Explore the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners operate

Learning Outcome 2: Describe key legislation, national and organisational policy of fundamental importance to the health, care or support service practitioner

Learning Outcome 3: Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and social care

Learning Outcome 4: Apply law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant practice setting.

You are strongly advised to read "Preparation guidelines of the Coursework Document" before answering your assignment.

Part A
Explore the legal framework within which health and social care practitioners operate by describing key legislation, national and organisational policy of fundamental importance to the health, care or support service practitioner.

Case Scenario:
You were recently presented with "Star of the Year Award"by ABC Care Home that provides dementia, nursing and residential care in London. Given that trust, the organisation has invited you to take over the training of new care assistants employed in the organisation. Your managerhas approached you to prepare a training manual for the new care assistants. You have been charged among other things to emphasise theimportance of understanding how national government, and the structures within, impact on the work of healthcare practitioners.You are required to present the training manual as an essay.

In the essay, EVALUATE the relationship between ethics and the law and their impact on organisational policy and practice towards protecting the rights and maintaining the wellbeing of users of health, care or support services in own country. Also,ANALYSE the relationship between ethics and the law in terms of their relevance to own professional responsibilities as a health or care practitioner. DESCRIBEthe relationship between ethics and legislation in relation to the work of health and social care practitioners. You will also SUMMARISEkey features of the different levels of law and policy.Your essay should help the new care assistants understand this in more practical terms by providing more specific and evaluative examples (some of which must be drawn from your own experience).

Your organisation is quite happy with the content of the training manual you produced above and has requested that the training be extended to their sister care home in another location in London. As part of your new role, you have been asked to expand your training manual (essay) by including key legislation, national and organisational policy of fundamental importance to health, care or support service practitioner. You have also been charged to use examples from your practice for clarity.

To expand your essay, REFLECT on ways in which specific tasks in health, care or support service practice meet national professional standards within a legal framework. Also,COMPARE national and organisational policies against national professional standards in terms of their impact on health and social care practice. You will also DESCRIBE the relationship between key legislation and national policies, of direct relevance to health and social care practice.

Part B
Interpret the law in relation to key ethical and professional Practice Themes in health and social care by applying law and policy in line with regulatory and ethical requirements in a relevant practice setting.

To meet the requirements of part B effectively, you will CRITICALLY REVIEW ways in which health, care and support service practitioners can ensure currency and compliance with relevant legislation and national policies through ethical practice. To support your critical review, you will be using your work placement or recent experience in a suitable healthcare setting (as mentioned below) and Whorlton Hall case study (detailed below) to answer various activities.

You will be expected to present reflections on your experience based substantially on your work in health, care and/or support services. You will reflect on your current or previous experience in working with another healthcare practitioner in a setting to demonstrate how they observe legislation, policy and standards, how they are implemented in practice and the challenges practitioners face in carrying out their duties ethically. You may need to discuss your observation informally with the practitioner being observed and note their responses. Ensure that the reflection includes a discussion on the challenges the practitioner faces in ensuring that legislation, policy and professional standards are adhered to when ensuring the fair treatment and safeguarding of service users in their day-to-day tasks. To complete the observation reflection (template attached as appendix I) by following the instructions below:

ANALYSE recent health and social care legislation or national policies in relation to their importance in informing rights and responsibilities of health, care or support service practitioners to provide safe and equitable care. IMPLEMENT different and relevant legislation and policy in regard to safe and healthy conduct in own practice. Also, EXPLAIN how specific national and international human rights law influence and inform the equitable and fair treatment of others in health, care and support services.

To enhance the quality of your critical review above regarding the ways in which health, care and support service practitioners can ensure currency and compliance with relevant legislation and national policies through ethical practice, you are also required to write a critical incident analysis on the case scenario below.

Case Scenario:
Whorlton Hall was a 17-bed independent hospital based in County Durham, which provided care for people living with a learning disability or autism and complex needs, and for people who had additional physical or mental health needs and behaviours that challenge.It was inspected by CQC on several occasions and was given a good rating on 2017. Subsequent inspections, however were not published by the CQC. It was following a BBC panorama documentary in 2019 which threw light onto the abuse, poor treatment and failure of care to vulnerable and at-risk patients which had been going on for a number of years (including in 2017 when CQC gave a good rating). As this is a recent case, a number of resources are available to provide a foundation for your critical incident analysis. It will also provide opportunities to demonstrate your learning in legal, ethical and policy issues, especially as this is a recent example of systemic failure between regulatory bodies, service providers and staff.

To complete this part effectively, complete a critical incident analysis (template attached as appendix I) by following the instructions below:
Based on the module learning and your own research, EXPLAIN in detail how chosen law, policy and ethical considerations might result in difference outcomes to the case scenario. Also, EXPLAIN the impact of relevant law and policy on the outcome of Whorlton Hall. You will alsoDESCRIBE the relationship between law, policy and ethical requirements in relation to this case scenario.

Attachment:- Policy and Ethical Practice in Health and Social Care.rar