unit 2

Nursing and midwifery code of practice.
Nurses and midwives will have a lot of responsibilities to make the patients as happy and comfortable.
One of their codes of practice is to treat people as individuals.
This includes:
- Respecting their dignity.
- Not discriminating against those in your care.
-Treating people kindly and considerately.
-Acting as an advocate for those in your care giving them information and support and helping them access relevant health and social care.
This promotes anti discriminatory practice as they have to respect and treat everyone equally no matter who they are everyone gets the same attention and the same quality of care.
Another one is respecting patient’s confidentiality. This relates to the data protection act which means no –one can access their personal information apart from doctors, nurses and those who are in authority and the person is aware. This promotes anti discriminatory practice as their information will be kept private no matter who they are, what they have done, for example if they are a criminal, what sex or sexual orientation they are. So it is also promoting equality and treating everyone equally.
You also need to ensure you gain consent.
Consent is needed before any treatment or care is began. Everyone has the right to consent and decline treatment and care even though the doctor may think it is in the patient’s best interest or even thinks it is not a good choice. It is always the patient’s choice. This promotes anti discriminatory practice as the doctor/nurses have to give the patient the choice as it is their right. They have the right to be fully involved in decisions about their care.
They have to maintain clear professional boundaries.
They must refuse any gifts, favours or any hospitality that may be interpreted as an attempt to gain special treatment off the nurses. This promotes anti discriminatory practice as if they were receiving gifts and accepting them they would most likely favour some patients more than the other. So this being banned will ensure all patients are treated the same which promotes equality.
They must also make sure that they establish and carry out clear sexual boundaries with the people that are in their care, the family and their carers. This is, again, to make sure that the relationship is strictly professional to ensure that no patients are favoured and this promotes equality also.
The people in your care must6 be able to trust you with their care and well-being.
Nurses must put their patients as their number one priority whilst in their care this means respecting them, respecting their individual needs and also respecting their dignity. This means not discriminating against them because of certain aspects that the nurse does not really like. They have to accept everyone. Making sure that their patients are safe and that they are receiving the correct treatment and giving them medicine at the correct times.
If anyone is put into danger whilst in a nurses or midwives care they may be accountable and may be questioned in relation to their professional practice.
Human Rights act.
The human rights act is a piece of UK law that was passed in 1998. It is an act passed to give further effect in relation to the European convention on human rights. It ensures that any individual can take legal action against any person or organisation that disrespects their human rights.
The human rights act states the 30 rights and freedoms that we all have as humans. In the act it states that these should be put in place for everyone and no one can take these rights away from us.
One of the articles is the right to the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This means that they can believe in whatever they want to and that everyone has the right to practice their religion and change their religion if they want to. It also says they can practice t in their own home and in public. This promotes anti discriminatory practice as everyone has the freedom to their own values and believes and not be discriminated against because of it.
Another is the right to marry. It says men and women have the right to marry and since the law has been passed to allow civil partnership it allows same sex marriages showing diversity and making everyone feel equal as even though they may be homosexual they still can marry and have the same rights as others.
Article 14 is the prohibition of discrimination. This basically means that everyone has the right to not be discriminated against because of their colour, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender or age etc. This promotes anti discriminatory practice as it makes sure no one can be discriminated against and if they are, because it is a piece of legislation, they can take legal action. It shows that they also promote equality as everyone should be treated the same no matter their colour, sex, etc. And diversity because it makes sure that everyone is accepted.
The Children’s Act.
This act provides the legislation to improve children’s lives. Covering all the services the child accesses. Its aim is to provide better services and provision for all aspects of children’s well fare and health.