The Race Relations Act Equality Diversity and Rights

The Race Relations Act (1976) (amended in 2000)
In the 1950’s a lot of people from other countries were invited into the country for work as there was not enough people in the country to work and to do all of the jobs that no one in the country wanted. So, these people were invited to come and do those jobs, for example to collect rubbish. This was because of the amount of people in the UK had significantly reduced due to World War 2 (WW2). In the 1960’s there was an influx of people from the Indian subcontinent that worked predominantly in the techstyles industry. By the 1970’s there was a lot of different living in the UK with different coloured skin, race, language and religion. As the people generally tended to stick with similar people to themselves such as people of a certain skin colour tended to stay with the other people with a similar skin tone. And therefore there was mixed racial tension between these groups. Racism quickly became common and was main stream all over the country- it was featured on TV on adverts, day time TV shows and films; it was taught to the new generations by parents and grandparents and was part of day to day life. In the 1976 there were laws passed to try to stop this discrimination, in 2000 this law was amended to include nationality and religions. This amendment was made because of the attack on an 18 year old, black British, boy; Steven Lawrence was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus in East London by a group of white males because of the colour of his skin in 1993. It was because of this attack that the government realised how bad this racism was.
This act has had a huge impact in developing anti-discriminatory behaviour. This has changed the way people work with each other, it also allowed for everyone to have the same rights for jobs ect. It has also made people consider other peoples ethnicity and religions when they are doing anything, whether we are working with someone as a colleague or we are treating someone, like in a hospital, who is different to ourselves in some way; whether that is through their ethnicity, religion, beliefs or language. It also allowed for these different cultures to be accepted and understood in the society, preparations can also be put in place to make people feel comfortable and welcome with their religion- an example of this would be meeting someone dietary needs in a hospital, if a religion requires the person to eat/not eat there must be preparations in place to make sure that this is possible. In a health and social care setting it has brought attention to things such as traditions and celebrations that service users may want to take part in, an example of this would be if their religion require for them to pray at a certain time in the day.
This act has had a positive effect on discrimination in the UK in terms of jobs, opportunities people are offered and the way that people are treated and being a step forward in how people are treated equally. However this law cannot automatically stop racism, there are consequences to it now but it cannot stop people’s prejudice as people grew up with racism and were taught it from an early age therefore it can be hard and will take a lot of time to change that point of view in someone.
The human rights act
“This act may be used by every person in England and wales regardless of whether they are a British resident or foreign national”. It does not matter how old a person is and can even be used by organisations and companies (like liberty). Human rights can be used for the public as well as prisoners, however there has been an argument over what rights prisoners should receive, and for example there has been a disagreement about whether they should be given the right to vote.
These rights are relevant to any health and social care setting as the give the basic needs and treatment that the service user has to have. An example of a human rights act in a health and social care setting is the right to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs”, this has had a great impact on how people are treated in health and social care settings, for example dietary requirements are taken when they are entered to see what they can and cannot eat, this could be due to their religion, they are allowed to express their thoughts and their feelings and are offered a choice when it come to their treatment e.g. they can choose whether or not to have surgery ect. There are a lot of the rights that have relevance to health and social care, they are some most applicable to care, such as the right to “marry and to start a family”, this is important to service users as it means that the will be able to live the life they want to leave if that is what they want to do as in the past they would have not been allowed to start a family. These rights also empower the service users so if there is a problem with the care that they are receiving and the setting is violating one of their human rights they can use this law as a complaint and the situation should be sorted out. However the problem with this is the most vulnerable people are the ones who are most likely to be discriminated against and be treated unfairly. They are also the ones who are most likely to not understand or know about the laws; this means that they will not be able to do anything if they are not receiving the proper care, and therefore the law will not empower them. Therefore it is important that we promote the human rights and make sure that these rights are known to all. We can do this with the use of posters, adverts, meetings with the service users, easy reading posters and leaflets for those who need it such as service users with sever dyslexia. This law and this system is relatively effective however there are also case where people have ignored these laws and have taken away service users rights an example of this would be winterbourne view, this care setting took away many of the service users rights including “freedom from torture and degrading treatment”, this is an example of something that shouldn’t have happened and the CQC should have stopped this from happening and this is what they are aiming to do however are they going to be able to do this everywhere?
Advocacy
Advocacy is a policy that makes sure that all service users have their opinions voiced and makes sure that they are listened to so that they get what they want when it comes to their care. The appointed advocate has the best interest of the service user in mind and they are objective and they do not get anything out of either decision. An advocate is usually given to those who cannot speak up for themselves or if they do not fully understand the situation for example if someone has a speech impediment due to a stroke or if they are living with dementia. People who may be entitled to an advocate are those who have a physical disability, dementia, have been subjected to domestic abuse, if they are detained under the mental health act, are in a coma, unconscious or if they have a learning disability. Advocates are also generally given to those who don’t have someone like a family member who look out for the service user’s best interest.
Due to this policy there have been huge positive steps in anti-discriminatory practice, as service users are getting the best individual care for them, and their opinions are being listened to more. Their choices are being made in their best interest rather than a doctor or a manager who may not know them very well and would not know what their wishes are. For example if a service user was recommended for a surgery that may increase his life yet there is a certain amount of risk that they may not make it through the surgery itself, it is down to the advocate to get to know the service user and to decide what is best for the service user and what the service user would want, if the service user was not able to do it themselves.
The advocacy policy is growing and more people are gradually using it, however many places are trying to ignore this policy and don’t offer this option to the service users. It is also very costly, as the advocates need the correct training, so far this training is paid for by a charity and there are not enough advocates at the moment to help all the service users who need it.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality policy is very important in health and social care settings and is also very important to the service user. The confidentiality policy keep personal information safe from public knowledge, it respects the individual’s right to privacy, it ensures that the information is only shared with those who need to know (such as the service users doctor), and it makes sure that the service user gives consent to share this information. It will also make the service user feel more comfortable in the setting and feel secure knowing that only the people who need to know these things will have access to this information.
Private information such as and illnesses or disease, amount of money they have ect can result in the service user being discriminated against or abused in anyway if the wrong person knows this information. It is hard to stop some people from prejudices that they have, for example if a service user has AIDS and all of the staff and other service users around them are aware of this then they could be abused for this and discriminated against, this confidentiality act is a method from preventing this from happening.
Nursing and Midwifery Code (NMC)
The Nursing and Midwifery Code, is the code that all nurses and midwifes must sign and comply to, they must be aware of what this entails and therefore be committed to what they are signing up to. If they do not comply with this or do something that this code forbids then they risk losing their registration of being a nurse and losing their job, meaning that they are not able to be a nurse or a midwife anywhere. This code states that they have to put the service users first in whatever they do, whether it is treatments or caring for them and they must take in to account the service users opinions and views. To do this they must treat the service user with respect and dignity, they must be open and honest with the service users and give them a high standard of care. They must also uphold the reputation of their profession meaning that even when they are not working they must act respectfully in what they do, as if a service users family see them and recognise them as the one who is looking after their family member and they are acting in a way that is inappropriate them they will not want them looking after their family members. They must also protect and promote health care; an example of this would be if they did a presentation at a school. This has had a huge impact on anti-discriminatory practice- it is hard to get over people prejudice of some people but this code ensures that there is a big consequence to those if they act on them, it also will make them stop and think about these thing and about whether what they are doing is discriminating as they may not realise before they think about it. It also ensure that the service users are getting the best care they can as the code states that they must give this and also helps stop discrimination as it also states that they nurses/midwifes must treat all service users fairly and respect and celebrate their individuality.