Explain the nature of different professional relationships in health and social care free essay sample

Explain the nature of different professional relationships in health and social care. Within health and social care there are many types of professionals who work to increase service users health and well – being. The different types of professionals working with a service user may vary depending on the illness. Professionals who work along side the health and social services include GP, Nurse, CPN, Health visitor, Physiatrist, Occupational Therapists etc. (Nhscareers. nhs. uk, 2014) As I am in placement at an organisation that supports service users and their carers to build a better future, the professionals I see working together would be a social worker and a family worker. Although, within the staff members there are also support workers or project workers, these are not professional roles but at times they worked alongside the professionals as they may have a stronger relationship with service users than some of the health care professionals. Below is an example of the workers within my placement and the relationships they held with one and other. (Positive-futures. net, 2014) Below are some examples of roles and responsibilities of professionals: A Social worker is able to provide information and advice about the services which are available for service users. Work along with other professionals in a multi- disciplinary team to make an assessment of a persons situation, i. e. are they able to return home from hospital. Social workers liase with other agencies to help a person deal with their problems, i. e. benefits office, housing executive to ensure the service users receive the benefits they can. They organise care plans and take all the health needs into consideration not just focusing on one aspect of their ill health. May use counselling skills to help service users whom are suffering from depression, bereavement or not coping, this may lead to the social worker making further referrals for the service user. (Nhs. uk, 2014) If an individual has any pain or problems the first person they make an appointment with is their local GP. The GP will access their needs to see the current problems and if they need to be referred onto further services for example Physiatrists for mental health. Most people develop a trusting relationship with their GP as the GP is their first point of contact re physical or mental health problems. GP’s are responsible for running the practice, planning providing treatment commissioning health care from other health professionals. GP’s diagnosis serious illness monitor chronic diseases (long term illnesses. ) (Nhs. uk, 2014) Professionals work together to encourage the health care of service users. Professionals’ working together is called Multi – disciplinary team work. Multidisciplinary teams are groups of professionals from diverse disciplines who come together to provide comprehensive assessment and consultation in cases. While their primary purpose is typically to help team members resolve difficult cases, teams may fulfill a variety of additional functions. They can promote coordination between agencies; provide a checks and balances mechanism to ensure that the interests and rights of all concerned parties are addressed; and identify service gaps and breakdowns in coordination or communication between agencies or individuals. They also enhance the professional skills and knowledge of individual team members by providing a forum for learning more about the strategies, resources, and approaches used by various disciplines. Working in partnership includes many things such as joint working, common learning, multi – agency working, team work, collaborative practice and inter-professional working. All of these put together help us have an idea of what ‘partnership’ is and how working together to achieve joint up services is important as it will increase the quality of care provided to service users. Working in partnership is vital in health and social care. All professionals from hospitals, organisations etc can bring together their skills and its also an opportunity for workers to gain new skills and learn new things, share information, achieving continuity of care, coordination of planning services and Coordination in delivering resources for professionals to apply for the benefit of the service user. (Publicengagement. ac. uk, 2014) Frontline employee’s are best placed to understand the needs of patients, and have the skills and knowledge to develop innovative services to meet those needs. We need to devolve power in the NHS so that frontline staff has a greater say in how services are delivered and resources are allocated. Each of the health care professionals holds a level of power according to their profession. 3. 2 Evaluate personal effectiveness in promoting and supporting the rights of the individual Rights  are legal, social, or ethical  principles  of  freedom  or  entitlement. Rights are the fundamental  normative  rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to legal systems, social convention, or ethical theory. Within health and social care settings, many principles of support are used such as respecting individuality, rights, choice, privacy, independence, dignity, respect and partnership, equal opportunities; respecting diversity, different cultures and values. All of these principles are to ensure employee’s working with service users promote and respect individuals’ rights. (Legislation. gov. uk, 2014) Whilst on placement, I have to ensure I support the rights of service users. From my own learning in collage I understood that within health and social care environments legislation is in place to protect and respect service users’ rights and choices. Legislation includes Safeguarding, Human Rights Act 1998 and the Health and Safety at Work Order. Before I went on placement I had to get an Access NI police check to ensure I was legible to work with vulnerable adults. Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults Policy is developed from the Regional Adult Protection Policy and Procedural Guidance. The national legislation was introduced in September 2006 by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. As my placement is an organisation helping individuals who care for adults with learning disabilities and helping their children, this legislation was very important to me. When I was discussing the Vulnerable Adults Policy with the manager, she mentioned to me the main principles which had been set by the DHSSPSNI to ensure full protection of service users. The principles underpin the regional procedural guidance these include: privacy be treated with respect and dignity lead an independent life and be enabled to do so be able to choose how to lead their lives the protection of the law have their rights upheld regardless of ethnic origin, gender, sexuality, impairment or disability, age and religious or cultural background Have the opportunity to ful? l personal aspirations and realise potential in all aspects of daily life. (Dhsspsni. gov. uk, 2014) The Human Rights Act states all the rights which individuals are entitle to in life. This includes Human Rights considerations, particularly in relation to Article 2 â€Å"the Right to Life†, Article 3 â€Å"Freedom from Torture† (including humiliating and degrading treatment), and Article 8 â€Å"Right to Family Life† (one that sustains the individual). As I was already aware of legislation in place before starting my placement I knew I had to ensure I read policies and procedures as each health and social care environment may differ. While on placement I promote the rights of service users by empowerment, trusting relationships, respecting choice and privacy. Using empowerment means I am able to provide service users with information, advice, ability, authority or power required to perform a task or achieve an aim. Empowerment enables people to take responsibility for themselves and helps them to make decisions about their own lives. For example a service user who has just taking a stroke should be encouraged to make decisions for themselves, e. g. how do they feel about returning to their own home to continue care from there? I think empowerment is very important as service users should always be involved (Public Person Involvement.) As I was in placement in an organisation that helps adults and children with learning disabilities, activities occurred each day. The organisation, Positive Futures, has different projects within the one organisation. I have a great opportunity as I work with the Adult service, which is working with adults with learning disabilities and also their carers but I also work with the other project which is childr en with learning disabilities. This showed me that the members placed trust in me as I was able to support and work alongside carers, adults and children. Each week within placement, I would pick up a carer from the adult services and take them out for the day; this meant they speak to me about how they feel and what is happening in their lives. Some carers talk me threw their children’s care plans and daily reviews about their needs, diagnoses and targets in wish they hope to meet in the future. I feel very honored and I ensure to tell the service users this is your personal and private life you do not need to speak or show me anything if you do not wish to. (Equalityhumanrights. com, 2014) Thought I find it difficult at times as dilemmas come up, mainly when doing activities with the children, and I am unsure what to do. In many activities project workers and I would help service users if they needed it. If someone looked like they were struggling and I offered help and they said no, then I feel like I am knocking back their confidence. Within health and social care we view service users according to the medical model or social model. These views may shape our opinions. The medical model is a model by which illness or disability is the result of a physical condition, is intrinsic to the individual, may reduce the individuals’ quality of life and causes clear disadvantages to the individual. As a result, curing or managing illness or disability revolves around identifying the illness and understanding it and learning to control and alter its course. For example a disabled person is disabled because their physical make up is not what is regarded as normal in society. Everyone should normally have 2 arms, 2 legs etc. When a person is not seen as having the  normal physical makeup then they are medically disabled. Doctors tend to favor this model. While on placement, I do not judge people by looking at them through this perspective of the medical and social model. I think the medical model takes away the chance to promote individuals choices as it is very strict and this model only views the illness and how it affects the person it does not con sider a holistic approach to health. Where as the social model describes health as a person is disabled because society does not meet their physical needs appropriately. It is society’s lack of ramps, lifts, etc which disables a person in a wheelchair. (Scope. org. uk, 2014) 3. 3 Discuss ways to resolve issues encountered in professional relationships. Working within health and social care environments, it is all professionals who work with service users and along side each other. Multidisciplinary teams are teams with many professions or in some cases organisations who work with each other to provide the best care. Teams consist of staff from several different professional backgrounds that have different areas of expertise. These teams are able to respond to clients who require the help of more than one kind of professional. Multidisciplinary teams are often discussed in the same context as joint working, interagency work and partnership working. Multidisciplinary teams have evolved at varying speeds in different parts over the past 30 years or so in response to imperatives of central government. Disability services were among the first professions to adopt teams of workers from different professions. (Drinkwater, 2008) Having supervision in place for all staff members is vital within health and social settings. Supervision is a more experienced practitioner who supervisors the colleague. A supervisor will provide a professional relationship to have consulted support and give them advice on their professional work and the areas in which there is room for improvement in order to enhance all effectiveness. They will provide a safe, ethical and professional environment to find more dynamic, positive ways to approach work. Working under supervision means that a counsellor uses the services of another counsellor to review their work with clients, their professional development, and often their personal development as well. The supervisor acts not as a boss, but as a consultant. The supervision relationship is confidential and based on mutual responsibility, a clear contract and a spirit of inquiry and curiosity. BACP (2008) (Rcn. org. uk, 2014) Within my placement supervision for all Project and Support workers occurs every 4-6 weeks, each staff member would have supervision with the manger, within these they may discuss weak points, achieved goals within the few weeks, if any problems have been occurring within them and service users. Another way of resolving issues may be for staff members who maybe haven’t had as much experience in the sector or with different illness, to look up or read more about the types of illness they may be working with wither it could be physical or mental health etc. This gives staff members more of a knowledge of symptoms or reactions which may occur if people are not administering their medications. Also at staff meetings, this gives staff the opportunity to speak up about issues which have been arising lately and find ways to over come them.