Anti Act 2004 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Anti discriminatory practice is when actions are put in place in order to stop people being discriminated against on the grounds of: race, disability, gender, social class, family status and a lot more. The main aim of the anti discriminatory practice is to overcome discrimination while upholding the service users rights to equality. National initiatives and the promotion of anti-discriminatory practice is made up of:1. Conventions, legislations and regulations. 2. Codes of practice and charters3. Organisational policies and procedures. Conventions: a set of agreed standards known as customs. Its an agreement between parties, to attempt at resolving  problems. It’s almost like a treaty, just less formal.A legislation: is enforced by the government. Which means that everyone must abide by them. It is a law or a group of laws that have been appraised by those involved in the deliberation.The purpose of a Regulation is for organisations to maintain regulations, which make sure that health workers have the correct skills in order to work in the industry as well as keeping a professional standard of care for the organisations service users. They’re basically rules made and enforced by a council or another authoritative body like the NHS.The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) enforced by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in order to protect and prevent men and women from discrimination in the workplace or during the hiring process on the basis of their gender or their marital status. The Act also protects males and females “in education, advertising or in the provision of housing, goods and services or facilities.” Stretch and Whitehouse (2010). This law gives both men and women the power to exercise their rights if they are experiencing gender-related discrimination, by seeking justice which can be done by taking their abuser to court. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the amended regulations 2008 were amended part of the Act to include transsexual people.A strength of the Sex Discrimination Act (1975): is that it has provided not only men and women but transsexual people with a voice and a legal right to object to how they are treated. This means that people living in the UK and in other European countries are able to live knowing that they don’t have to submit and put up with  discriminatory behaviour and that they’re protected.A weakness in this Act: being that the basis’ of sex discrimination: gender and marital status. That not all acts of discrimination are committed overtly. Which can result in the victim not being aware that they are being discriminated against and not being able to prove and win their case in court?Another positive of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, being males and females now having the same terms. Which means that a person can’t be treated differently due to their gender/sex. As well as men and women receiving the same pay/equal pay for doing the same jobs.A disadvantage to this law, would be that many people’s minds may remain unchanged, and they may still believe that  men are entitled to a higher wage than his female counterpart.  Regardless of the fact that legally men and women that perform the same jobs are entitled to equal pay.The Act also promotes equality in terms of job opportunities.Another negative of this law: top positions in businesses are still being offered to men when females are just as entitled by law to receive the same opportunities as men. The Sex Discriminatory Act 1975 promotes the anti-discriminatory practice, because it protects people from being dismissed someone from a job on the basis of discrimination, because of their family responsibilities or  their sex, marital status, pregnancy, or their potential to fall pregnant. Overall, this act protects both men and women, and it’s main purpose being to achieve equality, by making sure that men and women are paid the same.Mental Health Act 1983 This act protects people with learning difficulties and promotes anti-discriminatory practice as it makes it possible for those with mental health issues to access help and services.The act allows sufferers to get treatment for their own health and safety and for the safety of other people in society too. This act promotes anti-discriminatory practices because it ensures that service users in care home settings or social setting aren’t discriminated against due to their mental illnesses.The Disability Discrimination Act 2005,  ensures civil rights for those that have disabilities and protects them from any form of discrimination. The Act promotes anti-discriminatory practice, because it encourages organisations and health services to make services more accessible. An example of this being done could be a nursing home having a disabled service user, the service providers can’t discriminate against them because of their disability/being in a wheelchair. The Act also promotes equal opportunity between those that have disabilities and non disabled people. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2010). Nursing homes would have to make sure that the premises have step-free access and are wheelchair user-friendly.This act promotes the anti-discriminatory practice because it informs service providers that they must overlook someone’s physical abilities/capabilities and still treat them in a dignified manner and according to their personalised care plan.Nursing and Residential Care Homes Regulations 1984 (amended 2002), Establishments have to apply for a special license that is issued by the local council, which basically allows them to provide services. This legislation only applies to nursing and care homes. The care homes and places where nursing treatment is issued, can face prosecution and  be closed down if they don’t adhere to the regulations of the legislation, and would be unable to continue administering services. The legislation is aimed at the service providers, and has to be abided because it’s a law. It also guides the health professionals as to how they should be treating their patients. It promotes the anti-discriminatory practice, because it protects healthcare users from having their human rights violated by service providers, in a care home setting. The anti discriminatory practice is promoted, because the setting and its service providers would have to respect and treat service users fairly which abides by the law. This could be made more aware to the carers in the nursing/Care home by having posters up to promote equality when treating residents. The Act also requires staff to have the correct training to carry out certain acts of care or certain sectors of the care industry. For example: staff must have undergone training in order to deal with a resident that has dementia, or mental health disorders because the service user would require a certain style of care that some health professionals may not possess the skill/technique in order to meet their tailored needs.Care Standards Act 2000, The settings of which Care is provided, have to meet standards, and ensure that their patient(s) are at the Center of their care. Stretch and Whitehouse 2010., The act covers the care that users of all settings receive. This includes Domiciliary Care, fostering, family care and residential and nursing care. In order for staff to promote the anti discriminatory practice, they have to make sure that the residents/service users are empowered and feel as independent as they can. Anti discriminatory practice can also be promoted by the caregivers making sure that each service user has a care plan that is tailored to fit them and only them.• The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives: In order for nurses and midwives to practice in the UK, they must be registered with Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) which is a regulatory body. This is a legislation that provides nurses and midwives with a set of important principles that they must follow in order to support their practice as well as remind them of their professional responsibilities. (Goldsmith J. Nurs Times. 2011).The practice promotes the anti discriminatory practice, by giving nurses and midwives a code of conduct to abide by and if they fail to do so, they would then be investigated by the council. The code of conduct was last revised in April 2014. Amendments and improvements were made to the code of conduct in order for it to be easier to understand and abide by, therefore making it more effective. The key principles that nurses and midwives must follow are: • Justice: people must be treated fairly no matter their background. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2010)• Autonomy: A persons choices must be respected. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2010)• Beneficence: This involves risks and costs; meaning that the health of care professional should act in a manor that only benefits the patient. (Stretch and Whitehouse 2010) • Non-Maleficence: any harm caused by treatment f from a health professional or intervention should not outweigh the benefits of the treatment being administered.The legislation promotes anti discriminatory practice, because it covers treating people kindly, respecting them, being compassionate and delivering care to service users in an effective manner. The key principles also means that care providers should avoid making assumptions and recognise diversity as well as inspire service users to make their own decisions. The code of conduct also promotes anti discriminatory practice, because the care professionals have to uphold every single service users human rights and provide their service users with the very best standard and quality of care. Not just certain service users but all of them. No matter their Race, Culture, Beliefs, Sexual orientation, Religion and their Gender. The Care Council Codes Of Practice and Rules of Conduct for Social Workers, The code of conduct basically gives health professionals and social workers that are signed up to the code what behaviours and attitudes are acceptable and expected of them, as well as inform service users of what to expect from their service providers. The code of conduct sets the standard of behaviour that is expected of healthcare and support workers and adult social workers.The code of conduct also helps the health professionals provide safe and care that’s guaranteed. (Skills for Health, no date).Working in a healthcare or social care position in England, it’s compulsory to be able to abide by these codes of conduct.Be accountable by making sure you can answer for your actions or omissions.• Promote and uphold the privacy, dignity, rights, health and well-being of those that use health and care services and their carers at all times.• Work in collaboration with your colleagues to ensure the delivery of high quality, safe and compassionate healthcare, care and support.• Communicate in an open, and effective way to promote health, safety and well-being of the people who use health and care services.• Respect a persons right to confidentiality.• Strive to improve the quality of healthcare, care and support through continuing professional development.• Uphold and promote equality, diversity and inclusion.The codes encourage the use of the anti-discriminatory practice because healthcare professionals and support workers know it’s compulsory to treat all service users and patients with dignity, compassion and respect. This means that they don’t just offer them to selective service users but every single service user. They also help care workers and support workers by making them aware of the standards that they must meet, let them know if they are working towards meeting the standards, or if they need to change their practice. These codes help promote anti-discriminatory practice by stating how those working in this industry should perform their jobs. The guidelines also make it simpler for professionals to recognise areas in their work, where further training/continuing professional development may be valuable.Staff development and training, Once a health and social care professional is fully qualified, they are required to have further training in order to keep up with all the adaptations made to legislations and to keep up with the changes in policies and procedures. It could be beneficial for health and social care settings to have training staff, as it means that other members of staff can be kept up to date with changes as they occur. This would help promote anti discriminatory practice because staff would most likely be undergoing mandatory training frequently. As they would need to be aware of new policies and guidelines they must now follow. Establishments having an employee that specialises in staff training being in on the premises, other members in care/social settings would be aware of what practice’s are acceptable and expected and which ones are unacceptable much sooner. This would ensure all staff are aware of new policies and procedures. Leaving no excuse to feign innocence. And it would enforce the fact that there would be consequences if they were to go against the policies, which would make them fearful of the consequences. Resulting in them thinking twice when treating residents/patients.Individual Rights, This allows  service users to perform things for themselves, gives them the right to make their own choices, even if it’s against their health providers opinion. as long as their decision doesn’t put them in danger then it could be accommodated. It gives them an aspect of control of their lives. Positive promotion of individual rights can be identified in numerous different places in health and social care by looking at noticeboards and in the hallways of establishments and staff rooms. Charters, policies and procedures should be on hand for those that would like to refer to them. More times than none it is referred to when a health and social care professional is unsure of something of a procedure or policy. Individual rights promote anti-discriminatory practice because service users are aware of the care and treatment that they should be receiving, because of the notice boards that they may have seen around the establishment. Which would then make residents of settings much more informed and likely to identify when they aren’t being treated properly. As a result of the noticeboards, and would be familiar and informed of when to make it known to someone who would assist them with next steps and support that they require as its part of individual right to be treated with respect within the healthcare or social care setting surrounding that they are a part of.The Racial Relations Act 1965 (amended 1968),  This legislation makes it is illegal to discriminate against someone because of their race, colour, ethnic origin and some other aspects. The legislation was established in order to stop discrimination on the grounds of race, and to provide equality. Since the law has been passed, it is illegal to discriminate on things like:• Employment and training• Housing/accommodation • Provision of Goods and Services        (banking, entertainment and transport)• Education• Access to places and facilities for use by the public• Any activities carried out by public authorities, such as: the NHS, government departments, local authorities, the police and prisons.Above information sourced from citizens advice: discrimination because of race. (Available at: )The Act made it a civil offence to deny to serve a person, to serve a person with a delay for no other reason than their race or to overcharge, based on the grounds of ethnic or national origins, race or colour. The Act didn’t apply to Northern Ireland, and excluded shops and private property. Therefore the law only covered public places like the street and possibly parks. Therefore the piece of legislation was rather weak and didn’t stop discriminatory behaviour happening. Nor did it get rid of racial discrimination in the UK. (Wikipedia Race Relations Act 1965).This lead to the amendment of the legislation. Which resulted in the act being significantly stronger and more effective than before. The Race Relations Act 1968 which was broadened to cover employment and housing which was revoked. And that caused the creation of the commission for racial equality, which was put in place to make sure that the Act rules were followed.”The Act includes the earlier Race Relations Act 1965 and Race Relations Act 1968 and was later amended by The Race Relations Act 2000, including a statutory duty on public bodies to promote race equality, and to demonstrate that procedures to prevent race discrimination are effective.” (Wikipedia Race Relations Act 1976). The Act was then annulled and superseded by The Equality Act 2010, which takes place and strengthens the previous discrimination law in the UK.The Race Relations Act turning into the Equality Act in 2010, didn’t just cover racial discrimination, but discrimination such as: age, disability, gender and more. By this happening, it created an equal chance for everyone.A strength of this legislation has to be the fact that people in the workforce have an equal chance of getting a job/promotion as everyone else, and has extended the amount of jobs available and has heightened the awareness levels of discrimination that occurs in the workplace.A weakness of this legislation being that the law can’t change people’s closed mindsets, it can only stop them saying things that would be considered discriminatory in certain situations. Another weakness of the legislation is proving that discrimination is going on or has happened would be growingly difficult as not all abusers that discriminate are brazen enough to discriminate overtly. The Equality Act 2010 is more effective than the Race Relations Act, as it’s also much more simple for employers to understand their responsibilities and  implement them in an effective manner. Overall, these issues probably still occur in the UK, but are most likely done covertly and are kept quiet which is unfortunate, as the Equality Act 2010 is in place to protect us from such behaviours. It offers much more protection from racial discrimination, harassment, and bullying in order to stop treatment that is considered unfair. Bibliography:Wikipedia Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (no date) Available at: 06/12/17Get Revising: Part of the Student Room (2013) Available at: 06/12/17Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Workers in England: Skills for Care and Skills for Health 2013. Available at: 09/12/17Wikipedia Race Relations Act 1976 (no date) Available at: 10/12/17Citizens Advice: Discrimination because of Race (no date) Available at: 10/12/17Codes of Practice for social care Workers; General Social Care Council (no date) Available at: 05/12/17Wikipedia Nursing and Midwifery Council (no date) Available at: 09/12/17Stretch B and Whitehouse M – BTEC Level 3 Nationals in Health and Social Care Student Book 1 (Pearson, 2010)Wikipedia Race Relations Act 1965 (no date) Available at: 10/12/17