'Barriers to Accessing Health Care Services\r'

'In this essay I am going to critic eithery analyse diversity at bottom the National Health Service (NHS. I leave al bingle briefly focus on barriers to narking wellness pull off armed gains in resemblance to succession, race, dis great power, gender and goal and sexual urgeual resource. I anyow for consider the barriers which throw unintention every(prenominal)y been put into place within contrary wellness services for two service users and members of stave, and the measures that render been taken in order to correct these issues by the govern handst, NHS and De piece of musicment of Health (DOH).\r\nDiversity is the inclusion of all irrespective of an individualistic’s days, race, capabilities, heathen background, gender or sexual orientation. The St. Helens and K todaysley NHS desire affirm this specimen describing diversity as, â€Å"Different individuals valuing each other sh argonless(predicate) of skin, intellect, talents or courses. † This is a quote the St. Helen’s and Knowsley go for eat used from the Equality Act 2000 on their website to evidence their feelings surrounding diversity.\r\nIn society every(prenominal) individual is born divergently, much(prenominal) as whisker colour, skin colour, male or female, sexual orientation (depending on your belief that sexual orientation is inherited and non environ intellectual), born into different apparitional and heathen backgrounds. As the U. K. has go away ever more than a multi-cultural society, issues such as diversity and anti- homophobic practices take over release ever more signifi toleratet within our society. An individual who has been set differently or received an poor quality of service based on a preconceived stem cod to a minority meeting they may identify themselves with have been discriminated against.\r\n indoors the NHS these minority roots are known as characteristics, as in characteristics which help build an in dividual’s idea of their own self- creation. Since the Equality Act was up-dated in 2010 the NHS have non only include race, culture, gender, capabilities, religious beliefs and sexual orientation however as well as now include, pregnancy/ maternity, marri get along/civil partnerships and coverrs as part of their protected characteristics insurance. (http://www. nhs. uk). For the premier(prenominal) clip the law in addition protects people who are at risk of dissimilitude by association or perception. This could include, for example, a cathexisr who cares for a disabled person” (http://www. nhs. uk) thither are cardinal forms which dissimilitude lavatory take place the first is called direct contrariety. Direct unlikeness is when an individual is treated differently usually negatively or below the belt compared to others based on the individual identifying themself with one of the higher up protected characteristics.\r\nIndirect favoritism is when a l aw, policy or procedure has been put into place, which applies to everyone, but this law, policy or procedure will disadvantage individuals who fellow or identify themselves with the above protected characteristics. until now ascribable to makeups focusing too much on anti-discriminatory practice a new controversial concept of confident(p) discrimination has begun to emerge, this is also creation called positive/ affirmative action.\r\nPositive discrimination is where minorities or individuals, who concord or identify themselves with the protected characteristics, are stipulation preferential treatment to others. An example of this would be two unwraplooks who are both equally qualified for a job, however one waddidate is a white, heterosexual male and the other grassdidate is a black, tribadistic female, by positive discrimination the second candidate would receive the position.\r\nPositive discrimination can be due to pressure felt by the organisation to employ a div erse work force, to take a quota to ensure the organisation cannot be charge of being discriminatory or historical wrong-doing for issues such slavery. â€Å"The idea of positive discrimination came from the US where an ‘affirmative action’ programme has been used to tense up and ensure the make-up of certain workplaces reflects that of society. ” (http://www. findlaw. co. uk) It has been suggested that the root do of discrimination is due to prejudice.\r\nPrejudice is a stereotyped, pre-conceived idea of the way an individual or loving group should portray themselves within society (Walsh et al, 2005). For example all Irish people drink alcohol excessively. â€Å"Prejudices can be a result of your own beliefs and values, which can often come into conflict with work situations. ” (Pg. 194, Nolan et al, 2005). There are no laws in place against being actively prejudice, this is why the law concentrates against discriminatory practices. (Walsh et al, 2 005. )\r\n agism is commonly thought of as discrimination against the ancient; some nursing and health and social care textbooks affirm this belief, Kydd et al (2009, Pg. 49) state that â€Å"Ageism is the stimulus generalization of old age as a social problem, this has contributed to the negative stereotyping and ageist practices in relation to older people. ” all the same this is a false perception. Ageism can match individuals of all ages, for example in 2004 the upper age limitations of free bosom screening were 69, (http://www. imsersomayores. sic) however due to a growing older population this age restriction was raised to 73 in 2010 and the inflict age limitation remained at 47. (http://www. genus Cancerscreening. nhs. uk). Studies carried by the cancer research charity show â€Å"The 5 or so Commonly Diagnosed Cancers in Females, Average Percentages and Numbers of impertinently Cases, by Age, UK, 2007-2009” (http://www. cancerresearchuk. org). Breast cancer is highest in both categories of women aged(a) 25-49 and 50-74, however in the group 25-49 breast cancer was more prevalent by 10% (43%) compare to the 34% in the group of women aged 50-74.\r\nThese figures show at that place is a study for the demoralise age restriction to be reduced. This NHS policy for age restrictions on breast screening needs to be reviewed as it can be viewed to be discriminatory towards women in the UK chthonic 47 who are proved to be in need of this health service. racial discrimination is the belief that one race is superior to m any(prenominal) other; (walsh et al, 2005) throughout history millions have faced discrimination and persecution due to this belief the most prevalent examples of this is in the Jewish association and the Black community.\r\nAs the UK continues to become a more diverse, multi- cultural society racial discrimination continues to plague Britain. Penketh (2000, Pg. 7) affirms this by stating, â€Å"Black people are more likely to be ‘stopped and searched’, arrested, jug and even to die in custody than whites. ” Studies carried out by Unison, the UK’s largest healthcare trades union form that 70% of their non-Caucasian client’s employed by the NHS had caused ‘racism or racial discrimination’ at work, some employees had experienced verbal abuse and physical abuse in relation to their race. (http://www. unison. org. uk).\r\nFrom this guinea pig the NHS have brought out an initiative to help supplant racism within the NHS, part of this initiative is to have a better complaints and re lay out system in place, as three quarters of the employees in this field of battle who experienced racism or racial discrimination were unsatisfied with the outcome when the incident was business relationshiped to their management. Disablism refers to prejudices against individuals who have suffered ‘mental, physical or sensory irregularitys’. In th e onetime(prenominal) words such as lunatic, spastic and stultify were acceptable words used within health care settings as a way to cite an individual with specific needs.\r\nThese terms are compose rife within society today. (Walsh et al, 2005). Goodley (2011, Pg. 24) states â€Å"People with some form of harm are likely to experience social disadvantage, a lack of opportunities and unfair discrimination. ” Barton (2002) agrees with this as Barton theorises that individuals with a sensory, physical or mental impairment will at some stage in their animation experience oppression in both institutional and individual forms, this can be due to absence seizure of choices, barriers to funding, unfore markn deterioration in their impairment or general ignorance.\r\n at bottom the NHS discriminatory practices occurs on a regular basis despite programmes such as ‘Valuing People Now’ being released by the DOH in 2009, this was a three class strategy to help improv e the quality of life for individuals with association difficulties. This year MENCAP have released a composition called ‘Death by Indifference: 74 deaths and Counting. ’ This writing highlights the impuissances within the NHS to provide an equal quality of care for those with specific needs and learning difficulties.\r\nThe main areas of failing that subsequently lead to the needless deaths of many perseverings with learning difficulties are failure to recognise pain, poor communication, symptomatic overshadowing, and delayed treatments, inappropriate DNR’s and lack of staple fibre care. Throughout the report it is emphasize the lack of residence not only to the Equality Act but also the Mental Capacity Act, in relation to DNR’s being allocated to perseverings without the consent or the knowledge of the patient’s family, friends or advocate. Again a major issue within the report is the NHS complaints and redress system in place. MENCAP,20 12) â€Å"In this report we wield with the inadequacies of the NHS complaints process.\r\nOn average it can take 18 months- 2 years to reach the Local stage, and mingled with 2 years- 4 years to complete the ombudsman stage. ” (MENCAP,2012, Pg. 7). Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior compared to the opposite sex, it is more often than not felt that women tend to be sexually discriminated against within society more so than men. (Walsh et al 2005). Within the health care job a patient may express a preference in the gender of the health care practitioner (HCP) who provides their in the flesh(predicate) care (Smith t al, 2011). This is not to be rendern as sexual discrimination against the HCP, by noncompliance with the patient’s request this can be viewed as discrimination against the patient’s religious and cultural beliefs. However due to under funding and under staffing with the NHS the ability for HCP to fulfil these requests has been compr omised. â€Å"Modesty in dress and a requirement to be treated by a doctor/nurse of the same sex is also important in some religions. NHS staff should consider these requirements in order to preserve the self-worth of the patient.\r\nHowever, it is not always possible or viable to provide same-sex attendance, particularly without adequate notice that this readiness be an issue, and this should be made clear at the time of making appointments” (DOH, 2009) The Royal College recognise the need for a review within staffing levels within their 2011 report Mandatory Nurse Staffing levels, they also acknowledge the move staffing levels have on a patient, they state, â€Å"There is a growing body of evidence which shows nurse staffing levels makes a difference to patient outcomes, patient experience, quality of care, and the skill of care delivered. (RCN, 2011). Within a female prevail profession such as nursing it is felt that males tend to be more so discriminated against se xually than females. A recent example of this on a national news level is the case of Andrew Moyhing, a male student nurse who won a sexual discrimination case against the NHS. He was told by a female staff nurse that he would need to be chaperone by a member of staff as he link an electro-cardio machine to a female patient, due to ‘ snug care’ required .\r\nMr Moyhing felt this was unfair as female students on the same ward were unsupervised when carrying out personal hygiene and intimate care on male patients. The Equality Opportunities Commission support Mr Moyhing releasing this statement, â€Å"The Employment Appeal Tribunal was proper to find that it was not acceptable to have a chaperoning policy based on lazy stereotyping, priapic nurses are still seen as a speckle of an oddity simply because there are so many more women in the profession than men despite the fact that so many doctors are male. ” (www. ews. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/health). The charity ManKin d this year released a report presenting the ‘Seven Challenges Male Victims acquaint’, it highlights various forms of sexism especially within statutory service such as the NHS, â€Å"Practically all genteelness with in the police, NHS and local authorities is aimed at women as the victims, men as the perpetrators. ” (See appendix 2). Cultural discrimination is when a society does not accommodate or recognise the needs of an individual or group of people from a different religious or cultural background.\r\nAs a society there will be expectations of what the ‘social norms’ are, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. When an individual or social group show beliefs or needs that do not equate in with our own social norms they can be met with hostility and intolerance. (Walsh et al, 2005). â€Å"Cultural barriers can prevent, for example good will of religious, relational or dietary needs that do not conform to traditional expectations. â € (www. bridgingthegap. scot. nhs. uk).\r\nThere are many areas of patient care which are can be jeopardised due to ignorance of cultural beliefs, examples of these which are emphasised in the NHS guidelines for cultural and religious beliefs are: Diet- many religions are restricted as to what types of food they can eat, and how the food was prepared, for example an orthodox Jew will not eat pork or any repast that has come into contact with a pork product, Moslems also have similar beliefs surrounding food preparation.\r\n personalized Hygiene- as mentioned before patients often express preference to the gender of the HCP who assist with their personal care. An orthodox Muslim will only wash in running play pissing, therefore offering a basin of water to wash in may be seen as offensive. Palliative care and Dying- each religion has different views are to how a body should be ‘ determined out’, when a patient dies the patient is given up the Last Offices, if a p atient is Christian a bible is also usually set in the room, however some religions find it offensive for anyone barely the family to ‘lay the body out’. http://www. bfwh. nhs. uk). This is why more importance needs to be emphasised on patient admissions and filling in the ADL forms to the best of our ability, as it can prevent any future rudeness or discriminatory practices. As you can see in the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) (see appendix one) sacred needs are mentioned, however the contents of the ADL will vary from trust to trust and all trusts do not include religion or spiritual needs.\r\nIn the caring profession patients have shown signs of frustration, surprise and anger as their cultural beliefs are not met, over looked or ignored. (Leininger, 1991). Discrimination based on sexual orientation, Roper, Logan and Tierney identify sexuality as one of the ADL (Mckenna et al, 2008), within each NHS trust it varies as to what is appreciate as an ADL. As you ca n see (appendix one) the trust I work for have not included sexuality.\r\nMany people within society see sex as a taboo win and therefore find it a difficult topic to approach and discuss openly, however sexual health is a part of holistic health and should be taken as seriously as any other aspect of health such as mental, emotional or physical. The World Health brass defines health as, â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ”(WHO, 1948). Studies have shown that the homosexual community are greatly disadvantaged and are the least likely group that identify with the protected characteristics to admittance health services.\r\nThere are a cast of reasons due to this such as, a patient may not be openly gay, when they do entrance fee health services a majority of the time assumptions are made the reason for accessing that health service is related to the patients sexual health, also when homosexua ls do access sexual health services they feel a stigma of promiscuity has been attached to the homosexual community. (Dunn et al, 2010). In conclusion from this essay I have acquire barriers to health service access are a key factor in differential health outcomes among population groups within society. WHO, 2001) Although policies and procedures have been put in place by governing bodies to decrease the item of discriminatory practice, these policies are not always in force(p); they are only effective when they are implement by the organisation. Within the health care profession we must always strive to respect an all aspects of an individual’s identify and self-concept (Walsh et al, 2005). Simple measures such as filling in an ADL to the best of your ability can be a preventative mode to causing future offence, or discrimination to a patient.\r\n'