Report on The Importance of Promoting Anti-discriminatory Practice

Scenario: You are currently on work experience at a Community Centre. The centre provides a variety of services for people in the local area, most of whom have been referred by Social Services. The centre is staffed by trained professional who are supported by a team of volunteers. As a learner on work experience you will take the role of volunteer, working with the team to provide support and care, within the boundaries of your role. You have been asked as part of your work experience portfolio, to produce a report, which shows how working procedures are used to successfully meet the individual care need, of each of three, individuals.

Please select one individual from each section of the attached case studies, on which to base your work. P1: Explain the importance of promoting equality and diversity for individuals with different needs In this report, I will be explaining the importance of promoting anti-discriminatory practices. Firstly, I will be explaining the importance of promoting equality and diversity for individuals, by explaining what equality and diversity is and giving real-life examples of these in practice. I have been asked to choose three individuals from the case studies who I will refer to as I explain the importance of equality and diversity to these individual's needs, and what laws and initiatives could prevent and protect them from discrimination. I have chosen Nusrat Patel, Alice Fernandez and Maria Montanelli as the three case studies that I will be referring to. Equality is the making sure that everyone is treated favourably, fairly and respectfully regardless of their differences. In the UK many changes have been made overtime to equalise rights among different groups of individuals, such as legal recognition of homosexuality and the legislations introduced to promote equality, for example the Race Relations Act which protects people being discriminated on racial grounds.

The murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 was a racial attack that changed the racial laws in Britain. Racism was a major problem in society especially with the police failing to respond to race-related attacks. As a result, there was a reconstructing of policing to prevent racial stereotyping and unconscious prejudicing, especially to the black and Asian community. This led to a rise in acceptance of diversity in British society, as the widespread view of racism was that it was unlawful. Diversity is recognising people's differences and treating people with value and respect. It prevents discrimination because it encourages people to take account of other people's differences. In the UK there is great cultural diversity, as the population is a split between ranges of ethnic groups. This brings a variety of cultures to society, and cultural diversity has benefitted the UK, through things such as language, food, education, social cohesion and tolerance. Due to the multi-cultural society people have become more tolerant and accepting of others with different backgrounds. Diversity was not always prominent throughout history as many key figures such as Martin Luther King were known for promoting diversity, an example is that he aspired for a society where people's character was more important than the colour of their skin. Diversity in workplaces has also evolved through time as woman were able to join the workforce during the war and the abolishment of slavery allowed for minorities to start work.

One example of equality and diversity in Section 1 of the Case Studies is when Nusrat Patel is able to attend her community centre despite her disability and health issues, and they are also able to provide the necessary aid to support her with her care needs. Such as giving her, her own personal care plan at the centre. These help with her specific needs that need tending to and not only encourages Nusrat to focus on using her abilities rather than what she cannot do, but also includes her with the others at the community centre. It gives her the advantage of having access to resources that help achieve her care needs, such as an advocate to assist her when expressing her needs. Through the advocate Nusrat will have the ability to fulfil her right of making her own decisions about her care.

The community centre prioritises recognising Nusrat's needs and ensures that the same opportunities are accessible to her, despite her learning disabilities. It is accessible for her to do activities that she enjoys like dance and drama as they are made available to her, through providing material like Makaton sheets that allow for her to participate. These would make her feel included with the others at the community centre as they work around her learning disabilities and epilepsy and do their best to provide the necessary services which she requires - this is an example of diversity and equality because they successfully recognise and tend to Nusrat's needs and they encourage social cohesion with the community by involving her at the centre. In Section 2 of Alice Fernandez's case study, she faces inequality because she is an alcoholic. This was due to the recent loss of her husband. When he speaks about her alcohol consumption, the centre manager fails to respectfully address and approach Alice on this matter. As a result of failing to consider Alice's feelings, the manager's judgement makes Alice feel distressed on many occasions. Although the centre manager tries not to discriminate against her as he suspects her alcohol habit is because of her bereavement, he fails to do this as he once again treats Alice less favourably and is only considerate towards the other attendees, as he first advises her to switch her classes and attend the alcoholics recovery class but when she refuses to do this she is given permission to participate but is made to stand by the side of her aerobics class. This is an act of discrimination, when Alice is segregated from the rest of her class and it may lead to making Alice feel excluded from her class but also neglected because she is made to feel isolated due to her alcohol habit. All these actions could possibly result in feeling lower self-worth or low confidence as she is made to stand separately although she is still an active participant of the class.

Section 3 of the Case Study similarly, presents a lack of equality because despite Maria Montanelli's mother having the ability to access a health and social care service as an Italian immigrant which shows the diversity within care settings. She also faced some issues that occurred when she required assistance for her specific needs, as a non-English speaker. The language barrier meant that she needed support when communicating with others so she had been given the right to an interpreter to help her with her care. However the bilingual care assistants in the community were not accessible to her due to a lack of funding. This would be a disadvantage to her mother as she would not have the ability to communicate her thoughts and needs with her carers who are there to help and give her support. This could lead to the service provider's failure to assess her needs and act upon them which could also result in further harm then benefit. Laws and initiatives have been put in place to protect the rights of people like Alice Fernandez and Maria Montanelli. The legislations were introduced to protect service users from employers and employees acting in a discriminative manner.

For instance the Human Rights Acts, specifically the legislation Article 14: Protection from discrimination. The discrimination which she faced was not justifiable and the treatment by the centre manager could be seen as extreme and unfair as she was made to stand aside despite signing up for the same service as the other attendees. She is not given an equal service and is given an ultimatum to choose either the alcohol support group or leaving her choice of class. This differs from Nusrat Patel's case as she was given an advocacy service. This was used to help her express herself. Supplying an advocate for Nusrat would have majorly benefitted her because it would allow her to talk about and understand things which she may not understand, help her when making decisions with her main carer and also is there to stand up for her rights in any case of discriminatory practice. In this criterion, I have explained equality and diversity and referred to my chosen individuals from the case studies as I explained the importance of equality and diversity to their circumstances and what legislations are in place to protect them from any discrimination that they may face. P2: Explain the skills and personal attributes necessary for professional who care for individuals with different needs In this section, I will be explaining the skills and personal attributes that professionals need to carry out, such as the 6 Cs, people skills, personal skills, communication skills, observation skills and what to do when dealing with difficult situations and how these are necessary when providing care to people. In order for a professional to meet the care needs of a person, a relationship first needs to be developed with the person they are providing care for. To do this you need certain skills and attributes, as these basic values influence work practice and the relationship between the service provider and user.

The 6Cs are essential for nurses, midwives and care staff as values and behaviours that are required to provide care professionally. The first C is care, and this is a service provider's responsibility to look after and provide for the needs of a person. All three individuals required care from their service provider. Nusrat Patel's care needs meant that she needed a number of service providers, who were a part of her personal care plan, they worked together to ensure that they were able to provide for her what she could not do for herself. For example, she was given an advocate to help her communicate clearly with the rest of the staff. Also the community centre assigns a volunteer to accompany Nusrat to the bathroom to prevent her epilepsy from causing her harm, by doing this they are protecting her and securing the safety of her wellbeing. Alice Fernandez requires help from her G. P. because of her dependence on alcohol and anti-depressants. And from her appointment she learns of the health issues which she requires help with, she is referred to a nutritionist, specialist consultant and a counsellor. These are all service providers who will attend to Alice's care by supporting her to eat healthily, treat her liver that has been affected as result of her drinking habits and also her mental state as she recovers from her recent bereavement, each person will help Alice improve her quality of life. Both Maria Montanelli and her mother require care, as her mother's dementia affects her lifestyle. The doctor prescribes her sleeping medication to help her as she suffers from a lack of sleep, but because of her dependence on her tablets her G. P. refers her to a counsellor to provide other means of treatment for her sleeping issues. Her G. P. also advises Maria to send her mother to a specialist nursing home due to her situation at home. She has been given a community care assistant to support her during the day and a night sitter who will visit once a week to allow Maria to rest. The second C is compassion, and this is recognising other people's needs and wanting to help them. An example of this is when the team from the community centre provide Nusrat with Makaton sheets to allow her to fully participate with others. Her learning disabilities would have previously stopped her from taking part in activities but by providing her the extra resources enables her to do what she enjoys. The crew had voluntarily decided to supply her with the support and this expresses their desire in wanting to help Nusrat. Maria Montanelli's G. P. recognises her struggle and her mother's need for care, and recommends support from social services. Similarly the social worker decides that Maria's mother will need a carer and arranges for two, one in the day and one in the night to help tend to her needs. The third C is competence, this is the combination of knowledge and expertise needed to carry out and deliver effective care, to meet a person's needs.

An example of this are some of the professionals who work with Nusrat, such as her advocate who has experience with working with individuals with learning disabilities. This will benefit Nusrat because it will support her with the difficulties which she faces when expressing herself. She has also been given a person of her choice who will support her when she is distressed, and they have completed a training course in counselling skills. This means that they have been prepared with the necessary skills such as positive communication skills, so they are able to deal with Nusrat's concerns and problems. Finally she also has a specialist nurse practitioner who is knowledgeable with epilepsy and therefore will help Nusrat with problems such as controlling her epilepsy. There are many professionals who also help Alice such as a bereavement counsellor, who Alice meets weekly to support her overcome her issue on her dependence on medication and alcohol as a result of her recent loss. She is referred to a nutritionist and a specialist consultant, both of these individuals are responsible for improving Alice's wellbeing by supporting her to eat healthier and treat the problems found in liver. Maria Montanelli would be supported by her counsellor by helping her find ways to sleep without the need for medication that she is dependent on as a result of her living situation. A social worker has been provided to assess the Montanelli's situation for her mother's referral to the specialist nursing home, and as a result a community care assistant and a night sitter have been arranged by the social worker to support Maria's mother with her personal care during the day and at night. The fourth C is communication, this is the exchange of information between people that helps provide care and support to people using services.