Equality doesn’t mean treating everyone the same as it is mostly about

Equality doesn’t mean treating everyone the same as it is mostly about treating people so they can have similar opportunities as others. They should be treated equally regardless of their race, ethnic background or whatever religion they are. People need to be treated how they deserve to be treated so they don’t feel indifferent and their needs aren’t taken into account. Equality also means valuing someone as an individual and giving them choice and dignity. Equality is important to us today as it helps healthcare professionals deliver good quality care to patients. It also ensures that people’s needs are met. By having equality there will be less arguments and as everyone will get along with each other as trust will be increased between everyone and everyone will be happy. Therefore there will be less discrimination and prejudice so this will allow successful employment and more jobs for everyone.There are protected characteristics that a person shouldn’t be discriminated against:Age shouldn’t be discriminated against as its one of the protected characteristics, this can be done by direct or indirect discrimination. For example direct discrimination may be that an 86 year old patient needs an operation and a teenager needs it as well. But instead the operation is given to the teenager because they are young and the old patient is thought to be too old because they are close to death anyway. This is direct discrimination because a patient is favoured over the other. Whereas indirect discrimination may be that there is a rule that applies to everyone but at the same time it makes it difficult for other patients so this is classed as a disadvantage. People with a disability or have a physical or mental condition and illness shouldn’t be discriminated against as they should be treated with respect. For example if there isn’t any braille prints on lifts or doors in a hospital then this could be difficult for blind patients because they wouldn’t know how to find their way around to an appointment or toilets. Therefore if there are wheelchair patients then there would need to be ramps or lifts so that patients could get access to places easily and safely just like other patients. Otherwise this would be inequality.People who have had gender reassignment shouldn’t be discriminated against as people should be able to live their life in what gender they like. This means they would want to live being the opposite gender of what they are by going through a medical procedure. Therefore it is discrimination to treat a patient like this less favourably than any other patient as this may make the patient feel left out and unvalued. By being pregnant a women is protected against discrimination. There may be things that a pregnant women may be discriminated against such as breast feeding in public or treated unfairly at work because they are absent. Marriage and civil partnership means someone who is legally married. This Marriage can be between a man and a woman or people of the same sex. Therefore people like this are discriminated against because other people may not see relationships of the same sex permissible. For example, discrimination about marital status can be you that a worker hires someone who is single and doesn’t accept the other person who’s married because they believe that the single person would have more time to be for work and commitment. This not equality because they aren’t given the same opportunity.Race is one of the protected characteristics so discrimination shouldn’t be done round this area. Someone can discriminate against you because you’re with someone with a race they don’t like. For example, someone may not accept you to work for them although you are well organised and qualified for the fact that you are friends with someone who the person doesn’t like because of their race. Religion is part of the protected characteristics as it is against the law for someone to discriminate against anyone because of their religion or belief. Religion discrimination occurs when someone makes you feel offended. It is also against the law for someone to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. Some people may judge what religion you are because of your appearance. For example, a Black Muslim visits a supermarket and he walks past the same person at the till and hears him whisper “he’s a terrorist” this is discrimination because the person may feel humiliated because of the comments he hears being said about him. Sex discrimination is when you are treated unfairly because you are a man or because you are a woman. Sex discrimination can be done direct or indirectly without the person meaning it towards you but this is still discrimination. It is direct sex discrimination to treat someone less favourably because they are a different gender than the other. For example a business may be putting up a poster recruiting someone to be a waiter so they don’t accept women. This can be sexist because it creates the thought that only men are allowed the job and not women. The equality act protects lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and heterosexual people. It would be direct discrimination if a person is treated with less value than everyone else because of their sexuality. For example, a nurse may treat an opposite sex couple with their child but refuse to treat a female couple with a little child because she is against same sex couples. This is discrimination because the female couples aren’t given the same opportunity so their child can be seen by a healthcare professional. Equality is important to us today because it helps society and limits discrimination. Equality should be promoted because it improves outcomes for everyone. By having equality, it is an advantage because it assists and helps healthcare professionals deliver good quality care to patients. Therefore, having to follow the equality act can ensure that everyone is taken into account and given suitable chances. This will create trusted stronger relationships and everyone will be fair and nice to each other. If people are taken in to account and accepted or who they are then there will be less assumptions and prejudice. People wouldn’t have to be humiliated about being labelled as something or someone seeing them as a particular person or image. Also this will make people understand that they shouldn’t take the route of stereotyping against a person and thinking things that aren’t true. This causes complications as no one would get along and there will be lots of discrimination going on. Equality should be promoted as https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2013/nov/18/diversity-equality-business-tips shows that Equality and diversity has never been more important as businesses try to attract and retain talented people to work for them and deliver the best services to their customers. This implies that businesses are se equality as a really important factor in order to succeed in their business. By having really good services to their customers it can help bring in more customers to the business. The website https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census/2011censusbenefits/howothersusecensusdata/equalityanddiversity shows the report on the initial findings from the Equalities data audit, which looks at the availability of data across the protected characteristics in the Equality Act (2010), including its quality, and where improvements are needed. Analysis exploring young people’s earnings progression and the effects of mobility on it, including breakdowns by sex and ethnicity; this is based on a feasibility study using Census 2011 linked to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) PAYE data. Article on inclusive growth, published in July 2018, looking at how economic growth has been distributed to different parts of the population, including inequalities trends in different regions of the UK.From this website it shows that https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census/2011censusbenefits/howothersusecensusdata/equalityanddiversity The 2011 Census explored the diversity of our society in much more detail than ever before with questions on age, ethnicity, national identity, passports held and main languages spoken. The information derived from these questions now provides one of the most detailed pictures of the true nature of diversity across the whole of England and Wales and will help organisations, both in the private and public sector, to manage diversity more effectively.There are ways in which equality can be promoted: Julie is in a care home, she is 55 years old, a carer comes over and gives her lunch but she gives her a small portion. Then she goes over to a male patient and gives him a bigger portion of food. This is because she believed that men have a bigger appetite than women. This would make Julie feel offended or indifferent. This is inequality because Julie wasn’t treated equally because of her gender, so therefore to ensure equality the carer would need to give out the correct amount of food to the patient regardless of their gender and to match the patient’s needs. Yasmin, a 32-year-old women is at the hospital and is fasting for Ramadan but the hospital has a policy that the kitchen closes at a certain time like 7 pm. This means that Yasmin will not be able to eat a proper meal when she breaks her fast because the kitchen isn’t open at the time she is able to eat. This would make Yasmin feel left out with restricted opportunities. This is inequality because she isn’t getting the opportunity she needs because of her religion. In order to ensure equality, the staff would need to take in to account her religion and needs and make sure there are proper meals available. The NHS has core values such as respect, dignity and compassion. This means everyone who needs care regardless of age, disability, religion or ethnicity is to be treated equally with respect. Many NHS staff believe that patients aren’t treated that way especially if they have a disability or of they are a different religion or if they’re gay. To ensure equality, people need to be aware of the value of each individual. They need to show respect and treat patients how they want to be treated as everyone needs to be happy. Maleekah is 25 years old and has an appointment at the hospital to see a physiotherapist. She is a Muslim woman but regardless the physiotherapist treats her in a respectful manner, he was helping her out and discussing her progress. This will boost Maleekah’s self-esteem as she will feel happier and valued. This is an example of equality because the physiotherapist is treating Maleekah fairly in a way where her needs are taken into account, regardless of her religion. Diversity means you accept a person as an individual with the respect they deserve. It also means understanding that each person is different unique and have different needs. This may mean that someone has a different race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, physical ability and religion. Therefore, individuals should be supported and valued and embraced for how they are so there is no stereotyping or labelling about anyone. Stereotyping is when you get a distorted view about something. Stereotyping causes a person to have strong ideas about things and people which may result in more hate and discrimination towards a particular religion, belief or person. Furthermore, diversity helps us find out about different sorts of races and religions and being able to meet new people and finding things about individuals. It supports us to see the differences and respect a person regardless of what they and where they come from because everyone should be treated the same. A person may value diversity by accepting someone and treating everyone appropriately and responding to them. Also they would ned to respect all learners regardless of what they are. An advantage of valuing diversity would be that stereotyping, assumptions and being disrespectful would be avoided in order for everyone to form positive relationships. A right of an individual is really important as they can be things like being treated with dignity, respect ad equal. Everyone has a right to be treated the same. Everyone has a right to live their life free from discrimination with freedom and safety. Humans also have the right to be listened to, keep personal things confidential, go to work or school and respect other people’s rights as well. There is an act called the human rights act. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/civil-rights/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/ Human Rights Act 1998. The Act gives effect to the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. These rights are called Convention rights. This suggests that an individual’s right is protected in the UK by the human rights act. Human rights are important to an individual as it helps protect and give them freedom. Human rights are mainly entitled to everyone as they are protected by the law, they give a person dignity and respect they need and they protect the individual. Many patients use professional services such as the hospital or being with professionals, so professional s need to make sure that they always treat people how they would wish to be treated in order to deliver effective care. If someone’s rights aren’t taken in to account or their rights aren’t listened to then they could get upset bout and feel unvalued. In order to support the rights of patients the healthcare professionals would need to follow the Principles of the care value base. These are: 1. The promotion of anti-discriminatory practice 2. The promotion of support of dignity, independence and safety3. Respect for and acknowledgement of personal beliefs and an individual’s identity4. The maintenance of confidentiality5. Protection from abuse and harm6. The promotion of effective communication and relationships7. The provision of personalised individual care The care value vase is a set of rules and legislations all professional need to follow. The professional would need to promote anti discriminatory practice, this means that the professional shouldn’t discriminate against anyone or any of their patients. Also promoting dignity and safety would have to be done in order for the patients to be safe and secure in the environment. It is also important to respect other patient’s personal beliefs and their identity this is because patients need to feel welcome and not discriminated against. The patients shouldn’t be feeling they are treated differently or they feel indifferent according to their beliefs. Also professionals would need to promote confidentiality to make sure everything to do with the patient and is kept safe and locked out of the way. By doing all these things and sticking to the legislation, the professional would form positive relationships in involving trust with the patient and communication would be affective.There are 4 ethical principles that the healthcare professional needs to follow in order for care to be delivered effectively. They need to promote justice as patients would need to be treated fairly no matter what their background or race is. Also the other principle is autonomy where the healthcare professional would need to respect a patient’s choices. Beneficence should be shown where the healthcare professional would act in a way that benefits the patient. Furthermore, non-maleficence would be used as if there is a harm caused by treatment then it shouldn’t be more than the benefit the treatment gives. However, there are ways of overcoming difficulties that arise when implementing anti discriminatory practices. This may be things like following the care value base, using effective language to communicate and using the whistle blowing technique.