Ethical Issues In Health And Social Care

Introduction
Within this report there will be a small investigation into current concerns the public and other health care professionals have in regards to service users being abused and how this has affected service provision and methods of working.
How the issues raised have affected public opinion towards the care industry and how their views have been altered towards health, social care or children’s and young people’s sector.

Main Body

In the recent years there have been allegations made against care homes and their staff, reporting that the service users that claimed residence in these homes, were being abused.
These allegations have come from a number of different sources such as: hospitals, saying that most cases of vulnerable
adults being admitted to hospital are because of dehydration.
Family member of family friends reporting that the care their loved one receives is of abusing standard examples of this are: The service user can go anything up to eighteen hours without food, that the service user has been ignored even though they need assistance for incontinence problems.
That the clients are spoken to in a horrible or rude manner by the care staff.
All of these points made by outer or individual people point to signs of abuse.
There have also been other stories in the news and throughout the care industry, that relations of the service users are putting secret cameras into the service user’s bedroom to record the behaviour of the carers that are supposed to be taking care of the service user.
These cameras that have been placed have shown that in extreme cases these vulnerable adults have been abused by carers in the respect of hitting, kicking, shouting and bullying the service user.
Cameras have also shown carers stealing items from the bedrooms of these vulnerable service users.
All of these isolated events have happened with service users that do not have capacity to realise or understand what is happening, either due to poor health or a mental health problem such as: dementia or
Alzheimer’s.

When these issues of abuse were discovered there were investigations into these specified care homes and other across the nation, resulting in the conclusion that these issues were isolated issues and staff found to be neglecting these vulnerable adults, were terminated and added to the POVA (Protection of vulnerable adults) list, which means that these people will never work within the care setting again.

Health Minister of Northern Ireland defends care workers and says "There's thousands of care workers out there who are doing an excellent job and I wouldn't want those individuals to be diminished or besmirched in any way as a result of the findings about a small number of people who aren't providing the appropriate care," (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17238190)
This statement reflects the health system by saying that most health professionals do not act in this way and only a select few have acted in these apauling ways.
Most health professionals themselves have been horrified and shamed by the stories and allogations that have come to light and have been made public, as they do not understand why and carer would act in this way.

Conclusion

What does this mean with regards to the public’s opinion?
Public opinion is made from what we hear on the news and what we read in the newspaper.
However what we do read in the newspaper is not always fact, yet many people believe that it is.
It is so easy to believe all the bad things that happen within society, so it is no surprise that the public do believe all the stories they have heard which leads to the public losing faith and trust in the services that are provided within the health sector.
The public are now thinking twice about putting their loved ones or even themselves into a care home.
The public are looking at all types of care settings and alternative care methods for their relatives. This is by visiting all care homes and speaking to the managers and staff within
them.
However home care is becoming more popular for vulnerable people who need assistance with their day to day living.
Families of dependant people are also providing care to family members that are vulnerable, because they feel this is the only way to get the best possible care for their loved ones.
Recently there have been many promotional aspects towards care homes throughout the nation, promoting the best standards of care and where is best to get these, which is accessible twenty four hours a day to the public via the internet.

The public will only put their trust into the care industry again, when they stop reading these appauling stories in the newspaper and seeing them on the news.
However this will only happen when standards of some care homes and care workers rise and the incompatible carers are dwindled out of the care setting.