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Dan

Explain key parts of relevant legislation relating to sexuality and sexual health for individuals and how this influences practice

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Legislation relating to sexuality and sexual health includes:

  • The Equality Act & Human Rights Act – Individuals should not be discriminated against because of disability and should be free to make the same choices as anybody else, including those relating to sexuality
  • The Mental Capacity Act – Until proven otherwise, an individual should be considered capable of the capacity to make their own choices
  • Sexual Offences Act – Outlines what is considered a sexual offence
  • Genital Mutilation Act – makes genital mutilation unlawful
  • Abortion Act – legislation regarding abortions

Legislation sets out what is lawful and unlawful as well as making it clear that everyone has the basic freedom of free choice. However, in practice, it can be confusing for people with learning disabilities to understand what is legal and what is appropriate behaviour, so it is up to support workers and other health and social care professionals to provide information, education and guidance in this regard.

Write a belief account that describes examples of inclusive practice.

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Inclusive practice is the practice of ensuring that all individuals are included in the services that you provide and promote their diversity and equality with respect and dignity. This could mean ensuring that you ask all clients if they would be involved in an activity and not just the ones you know will want to do it. It could also mean ensuring that there is somebody available to translate for non-english speaking clients or interpret sign language so that they can communicate with the group. In addition to staff with special training, you may to ensure you have access to specialised equipment to allow some individuals access to the same services (such as a wheelchair or pictorial aids) and you may need to make changes to the environment (such as widening doorways or replacing steps with a ramp or lift).

Describe ways to maintain confidentiality in day to day communication.

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Day-to-day, confidentiality can be maintained by being mindful of how personal information is stored and discussed. Social care workers should also be familiar with current legislation; the UK’s Data Protection Act and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Personal records and documentation should be kept in a secure place where it can’t be accessed by the public or non-permitted individuals.

Discussions about individuals should only be done in private, where there is no risk of being overheard by others. Personal information should only be discussed with others on a need-to-know basis.

Personal information that is stored in digital format should only be on secure, password-protected devices and, again, only people that have authorisation should have access to it.

Envelopes and letters should be marked as Private & Confidential.

Documentation and records should be disposed of securely (e.g. shredded).

Any non-compliance or breaches in confidentiality should be reported immediately.

You are a social care worker and a service user, Hannah, tells you that she is unhappy taking her new medication.  She thinks she does not need it and so she is throwing it away. You know from her care plan that Hannah does need to take the take the medication regularly and gets confused. Hannah begs you to keep this confidential and not tell anyone especially her daughter, who she sees regularly, as her daughter will be very angry.

In this case, I would explain to Hannah that her medication is necessary for her health and I have a duty of care to ensure that she takes it or contact relevant people if she doesn’t. I would discuss the reasons for her not taking the medication and explain that I could contact her GP to look at the possibility of changing the medication. Whether I tell her daughter or not would depend on the circumstances. If her daughter is her main carer, advocate or power of attorney I would explain that she has a right to know.

Identify local services that exist to support sexual health for individuals

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There are a few local services that exist to support sexual health for individuals in addition to local GP surgeries. There is a Sexual Health Clinic in Nuneaton that offers contraception, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, chlamydia screening and general advice and information about sexual health. They also offer C-Cards, which allow the holders to get free condoms (although this is only available to young people). There is a Contraceptive Service, which provides contraception and pregnancy testing. Finally, there is also a GUM clinic at the hospital which offers full STI testing.

Write a reflective account describing: How your personal preferences, attitudes, heritage and beliefs might impact on working practice. How to ensure that your own practice is inclusive and respects the beliefs, culture, values and preferences of individuals.

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As a Buddhist layman, my beliefs are those of loving kindness and gentleness and it is regarded as unskillful practice for me to harm or be involved in the harm of living creatures. Although I do eat meat, I do not believe in the killing or harming of animals for sport.

In contradiction to my own beliefs, I support a client who is an active angler and requires support to go fishing. Consequently I had to wrestle with my own values to be able to support him to do what he enjoys and what is a big part of his life. My only other option was to cease working with this client, which I didn’t want to do as I had a strong bond with him and felt I was making a positive impact on his life. I came to the conclusion that on a professional level, it was my duty to support him in his activities as long as they are legal and safe, and to respect my client’s beliefs and traditions despite what my own beliefs may be. I also felt that it would be wrong to share my own beliefs with him because that might make him feel excluded from going fishing when I was on shift.