Promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Health and Social Care

TASK 1: REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Fostering equality and diversity in the health and social care (HSC) makes sure that whether healthcare services are inclusive as well as cater to meet the needs and requirements of diverse population. In HSC, fostering equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is beneficial because it helps in eliminating discrimination, enhance patient outcome and experience as well as create inclusive environment for both staff and patient. This report will highlight various legislations and models that underpin the EDI in healthcare.

MAIN BODY

Define terms

Diversity: In HSC, diversity means presence of people from diverse or several cultures, backgrounds, genders, religion, capabilities, sexual orientations and ages (Rosenkranz et al, 2021). Promoting the diversity in hospitals is important for both patients and staff because it aids in enhancing the quality of services by generating the new perspectives and ideas.

Equality: In the context of HSC, equality is defined as to provide the fair treatment to all the staff that provides care to the patients irrespective of their gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religious belief and sexual orientation (Arif et al, 2023). It means ensuring that every people have right to admittance to same high-quality support and care in order to tailor their needs and requirements.

Inclusion: Inclusion in HSC is considered as effective approach where individuals are diverse backgrounds, cultures etc., are welcomes into the care services. Promoting the inclusion in hospitals is also beneficial for patients because it aids in enhancing their health outcomes, increase satisfaction and reduce disparities (Rosenkranz et al, 2021).

Discrimination: In HSC, discrimination refers to lack of consideration and negative actions which are directed towards the people or group relied on the defined ideas about their identity (Kipnis et al, 2021).

Unconscious bias: In the context of workplace, unconscious bias is defined as immediate judgement of employees based on their past background, experience and culture (Crews et al, 2021).

Protected characteristics: Protected characteristics are particular attributes that safeguard the patients and staff against the discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (Wani et al, 2022). The protected characteristics’ are disability, age, gender, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, race, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, sex, religion or belief.

Human rights: Human rights in the workplace are intrinsic to all the human beings such as employer and employees irrespective of sex, race, ethnicity, language, religion, nationality and any other status (Boniol et al, 2022).

Legislation underpinning EDI in health and social care sector

In HSC, The Equality Act 2010 is considered as one of the key legislation that underpinning the equality, diversity and inclusion. This legislation is adopting by all the healthcare organizations of the UK in order to maintain the equality and diversity with the staff’s from which they provide effective care to the staff. The Equality Act covers all the significant areas of society encompassing health and social care (Department of Health & Social care, 2024). In addition, following the rules and regulation of this legislation is beneficial for the healthcare companies because it helps in ensuring people who are uses resources are in a position where they are fairly treated in an unbiased manner or not. This act outlines the protected characteristics’ that helps in protecting the patients or healthcare providers from discrimination and inequality.

According to this legislation, promoting the equality in healthcare organizations is beneficial because it helps in ensuring that every individual who receive care that is dignified, respectful and tailored to the particular needs and requirements of the patients. Additionally, equality helps in enhancing the health and well-being of the patients as well as promoting values and sense of belonging in the society (Togioka, Duvivier and Young, 2024). On the other hand, according to Equality Act 2010 fostering diversity is advantageous for healthcare companies because it aids in driving innovation, enhance staff morale, increase understanding of patient’s needs and requirements as well as strengthen working relationships.

Models of practice that underpin EDI

There are several models such as Equal Opportunities and differences as well as diversity that help in underpinning the EDI within the healthcare sector. Equal opportunity is considered as one of the key model that helps in maintaining the equality among staff irrespective of their gender, age, culture etc. This model states that, every people must be treated the same in despite of their gender, age, sex etc. According to this model, it is important for healthcare companies to overcome potential barrier to equality as soon as possible in order to create inclusive environment (Rosenkranz et al, 2021). Additionally, the healthcare companies which promote the equal opportunities are likely to see rapid growth because it aids in attract the patients to avail services and encourage healthcare providers or staff to retain for the longer duration. In the context of HSC, providing the equal opportunities is critical for creating fair society, fostering justice and fairness as well as diversity and inclusion. It also helps in increasing efficiency of the healthcare organizations and increases engagement of the staff. Apart from this, difference and diversity is another model that underpins the EDI at workplace (Morrison et al, 2021). This model states that all the people are unique and different because they belong from the diverse background so it is important for companies to feel them valued and encouraged. To maintain equality and diversity, it is important for healthcare companies to adopt this model because it helps in influencing the staff to retain with them and provide better and high quality of services.

Impact of barriers to EDI

There are several barriers such as unconscious bias, lack of representation etc., in relation to EDI. Unconscious is considered as one of the critical barrier that directly affects the EDI in every workplace. This barrier can trickle into every facade of the workplace and it creates non-inclusive environment which impacts the performance of staff. The biggest challenge with the unconscious bias is that the individuals are unaware about it. Policy without action is another barrier that directly impacts the EDI. Executing a comprehensive EDI policy and strategy is regard as excellent step towards creating the inclusive environment at the workplace (Mullin et al, 2021). However, it is important for the healthcare organizations to back these documents up with the tangible actions. In the healthcare companies, this barrier is common because the healthcare providers are putting the EDI policies in place but don’t enough to change the behaviour which eventually negatively influence on overall environment.

On the other hand, ignoring the influence of lack of representation is another common barrier that is face by the healthcare companies and it directly impacts their EDI strategies and policies. In current times, several employers are considering the diverse workforces but many are not emphasis on it due to limited representation in the leadership roles which can create the obstruction to inclusion (Dewidar, Elmestekawy and Welch, 2022).

Effectiveness of policies on ensuring legislative requirements are met

There are several policies related to EDI are adopting by the healthcare organizations in order to maintain equality and inclusive environment of the workplace. To ensure whether legislative requirement of legislation are met or not it is important for the companies to assess their effectiveness. To ensure the effectiveness of EDI policies like Equality Act 2010 it is important for leaders check their feasibility. It helps in ensuring that the policies are making sense to the healthcare providers, not misunderstood and use the correct terminology (Baker, French and Ali, 2021). For evaluating the effectiveness, it is important for the healthcare organizations to identify the best format of policies to the staffs and set deadlines for each procedure and policy to be acknowledged. Evaluating the effectiveness of policies whether they meet legislative requirements are not is crucial for organizations because it helps in making informed or potential decisions that directly affects the health and well-being of patients.

Effectiveness of procedures in promoting EDI in the workplace

Healthcare organizations are following the systematic procedures in order to foster EDI in workplace. For fostering EDI, the healthcare companies are emphasis on recognizing and address the existence of discrimination, begin with hiring procedures, foster inclusive culture and establish as well as foster safe working environment. Evaluation of procedures that foster EDI is important part of HSC. Assessing the effectiveness of procedures is crucial because it helps in ensuring the proper implementation (Wolbring and Nguyen, 2023). Evaluating the policies helps in reviewing how procedures and policies are meeting the preferences and needs of the staffs in order to inform essential changes. Ensuring effectiveness of EDI procedures is crucial because it helps in determine whether they are accessible or transparent.

CONCLUSION

In the end of report it has been concluded that, maintaining the equality and inclusivity in the healthcare organizations is crucial because it helps in improving performance of healthcare providers, building strong workforce, supporting better care plan compliance etc. Equality Act 2010 is considered as one of the critical legislation that underpins EDI in the health and social care sector. To support the EDI in the workplace, healthcare companies can implement various models such as Equal Opportunities, differences and diversity.

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TASK 2: ESSAY

In the context of HSC, promotion of EDI and human rights are important because it helps in enhancing patient care, improve self-esteem and confidence, enhanced opportunities, increase innovation and creativity. EDI and human rights helps in improving the outcomes of individual by improving their confidence and self-esteem. In the context of healthcare organizations, if healthcare providers are feeling valued and respected in inclusive environment then it aids in increase their confidence. From this, individual are able to think innovative ideas and suggestions to make informed decision which leads to enhance mental health and well-being. Additionally, EDI and human rights helps in enhancing the outcomes for individuals because it helps in provide opportunities (Wolbring and Nguyen, 2023). Promotion of EDI is beneficial for the healthcare organization because it helps in creating the inclusive environment where individuals feel equal regardless of their age, gender, backgrounds etc.

Apart from this, promotion of EDI and human rights is beneficial for the healthcare organizations because it helps in improving the outcomes of individuals by increasing creativity and innovation. In organization, diverse people are belonging from diverse culture, background or culture so they have different perspectives and suggestions which help in developing creative and innovative ideas (Morrison et al, 2021). For example, innovative and creativity helps in making informed decisions related to the treatment of patients which aids in enhancing their overall health and well-being.

To promote the equality and inclusion in the workplace it is important for the companies to communicate with others in effective and successful manner. Inclusive communication is a practice that makes all the workforces feel valued, welcomed and competent to participate fully. To foster EDI, effective communication is crucial because it helps in developing the inclusive culture of organizations that keeps employees engaged and moving forwards them in a bright and positive manner (Tillman III et al, 2024). For example, at the time of communicating with others in regarding promotion of EDI at workplace it is crucial for the leaders to being aware of different needs and styles of communication such as passive, aggressive, assertive etc. Additionally, in case of healthcare organization effective communication styles have significant contribution to improve collaboration, understanding and mutual respects which promotes inclusive work environment (Rosenkranz et al, 2021). For example, using respectful and non-discriminatory language is another important way of communicate with others in relation to support of EDI. Using the non-discriminatory language is beneficial for healthcare providers to communicate staff and patient to foster EDI because it helps in eliminating false assumptions about the people and assist them to support respectful relationships (Rodriguez, Shachar and Bates, 2022). Emphasis on inclusive communication is beneficial for the companies because it helps in promoting the diverse workforce, improves employee engagement and satisfaction, drives creativity and innovation as well as improves decision-making and problem solving which eventually positively influence on the overall operation.

Promoting the EDI is a mission for the companies because it positively impacts on the overall operation and efficiency. Explaining the significant for everyone to be treated with respect and dignity as well as assisting them through process of mitigating the barriers are considered as effective way to support others in order to actively foster EDI in the workplace. For example, it is important for the healthcare organizations to support others in order to foster EDI by providing importance to their issues, gratifying to others and directing them about the best route (Nguyen et al, 2022). Apart from this, in the surroundings many people are victimize against or dealing with the boundaries from their societies which ultimately leads to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. In this stage of life, supporting others is beneficial because it helps in strengthening their competencies in order to overcome the hurdles experienced by them.

On the other hand, reflect on self, listen actively, supporting diversity initiatives, speak up against discrimination are also considered as effective ways to support others in order to foster EDI. Self-awareness is crucial to create the inclusive environment that is welcoming to everybody irrespective of their culture, background, beliefs etc. Creating the welcoming environment and listen actively are another effective ways to support in order to foster the EDI within workplace (Rhoten et al, 2024). Developing the inclusive environment is beneficial for healthcare organizations because it helps in encouraging and influencing workforces by providing the equal opportunities.

There are several ways of challenging the discrimination and exclusion in policy and practice in effective and efficient manner. For example, healthcare professionals are challenging or deal with discrimination and exclusion in practice through training and development opportunities, staff appraisal and management of complaints. To ensure that patient or staffs are not facing any form of discrimination, the management of healthcare organizations need to create supportive environment where they can feel equal and valued. Training and development opportunity is considered as one of the effective way of challenging the discrimination and exclusion in policy. This approach assists the employees to learn new skills and gain knowledge which assist them to succeed in their roles (Peek et al, 2021). From this, staffs are feel equal, valued and encourage to participating in all the activities which leads to growth and career advancement. Providing training sessions and conducting workshops are helps kin raising the awareness of staff in regarding discrimination and unconscious bias. For example, staff appraisal is another way of challenging the discrimination and inclusion in policy and practice. It is crucial for healthcare organizations to make sure that the new employees are fully aware of their accountabilities and roles (Ekman, 2022). From this, the employees are likely to retain with the company for the long duration and give their best performance which leads to reduce exclusion and discrimination.

Ethical dilemma is considered as one of the critical type of ethical issue that arises at the time when the accessible obligations and choices in a particular circumstance do not allow for ethical results. During balancing individual rights with the duty care, the ethical dilemmas arises related to legal rights of disclosure, sharing information, conflicts between principles of good practice etc (Dooley and Webb, 2024). For example, to mitigate the ethical dilemmas healthcare organizations can need to emphasis on applying value theory approach, brainstorm other solutions, make a plan and ask rather than accuse. To address the ethical dilemmas, applying the value theory approach is beneficial because it helps in selecting the option that provides the greater good or lesser immorality (MacIntyre et al, 2022). Brainstorm other solutions is another way of resolving the ethical dilemmas in the workplace at the time of balancing the individual rights with duty of care. Some dilemmas have the alternative options to recognize at the time of reassessing the problem from the unbiased position. To address the ethical dilemmas, the healthcare providers can need to make an effective plan. This strategy helps in giving thought and consideration to solve the ethical dilemmas.

On the other hand, managing the ethical dilemma in the healthcare is beneficial because it helps in guaranteeing the respect for equitable treatment and autonomy that receive by the patients for the best care. Emphasis on ethical principles is beneficial for healthcare companies because it directly affects the trust of the patients (Sharma et al, 2024). To manage the ethical dilemmas, the healthcare providers are accountable for understanding their uniqueness, refer to code of ethics, seeking ethics education and reach out to the professional organizations.

In the context of HSC, informed choice includes supporting the patients in making choices or decisions about their care. Informed choice is considered as one of the keystone of good healthcare practice. Informed choice is important because it helps in providing the rights to the patients to provide the clear explanation about their proposed treatment which includes alternatives and risks. People have sufficient knowledge about the screening and its consequences are considered as one of the key principle of informed choice (Trevino and Nelson, 2021). Another principle of informed choice is people who make decisions that are reliable with their values, attitudes or preferences. On the other hand, informed capacity is defined as capability of patient in order to understand the risks, benefits and alternatives of the proposed intervention or treatment.

In the context of healthcare, it is important for nurse to create the effective strategies for managing the risks at the time of balancing the individual rights and duty of care. Written risk assessment is considered as one of the effective strategy that is use by nurse in order to manage the risks which are associated with the ethical dilemmas between duty of care and individual’s rights. Adoption of this strategy is beneficial for healthcare provider because it helps in determining ethical issues and it discussed collaboratively with the individual (D’Souza et al, 2022). This strategy assists the individuals to understand about the risks and make informed choices.

REFERENCES

Books and Journals

Arif, S.A., Butler, L.M., Gettig, J.P., Purnell, M.C., Rosenberg, E., Truong, H.A., Wade, L. and Grundmann, O., 2023. Taking action towards equity, diversity, and inclusion in the pharmacy curriculum and continuing professional development. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 87(2), p.ajpe8902.

Baker, M., French, E. and Ali, M., 2021. Insights into ineffectiveness of gender equality and diversity initiatives in project-based organizations. Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(3), p.04021013.

Boniol, M., Kunjumen, T., Nair, T.S., Siyam, A., Campbell, J. and Diallo, K., 2022. The global health workforce stock and distribution in 2020 and 2030: a threat to equity and ‘universal’health coverage?. BMJ global health, 7(6), p.e009316.

Crews, D.C., Collins, C.A. and Cooper, L.A., 2021, December. Distinguishing workforce diversity from health equity efforts in medicine. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 2, No. 12, pp. e214820-e214820). American Medical Association.

D’Souza, P., Bailey, J.V., Stephenson, J. and Oliver, S., 2022. Factors influencing contraception choice and use globally: a synthesis of systematic reviews. The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care, 27(5), pp.364-372.

Dewidar, O., Elmestekawy, N. and Welch, V., 2022. Improving equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia. Research Integrity and Peer Review, 7(1), p.4.

Dooley, J. and Webb, J., 2024. “Atypical Interactions” in Healthcare: A State-of-the-Art Literature Review of Conversation-Analytic Research, with Reflections on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 57(1), pp.109-126.

Ekman, I., 2022. Practising the ethics of person‐centred care balancing ethical conviction and moral obligations. Nursing philosophy, 23(3), p.e12382.

Kipnis, E., Demangeot, C., Pullig, C., Cross, S.N., Cui, C.C., Galalae, C., Kearney, S., Licsandru, T.C., Mari, C., Ruiz, V.M. and Swanepoel, S., 2021. Institutionalizing diversity-and-inclusion-engaged marketing for multicultural marketplace well-being. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 40(2), pp.143-164.

MacIntyre, G., Cogan, N., Stewart, A., Quinn, N., O'Connell, M. and Rowe, M., 2022. Citizens defining citizenship: A model grounded in lived experience and its implications for research, policy and practice. Health & Social Care in the Community, 30(3), pp.e695-e705.

Morrison, V., Hauch, R.R., Perez, E., Bates, M., Sepe, P. and Dans, M., 2021. Diversity, equity, and inclusion in nursing: the pathway to excellence framework alignment. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 45(4), pp.311-323.

Mullin, A.E., Coe, I.R., Gooden, E.A., Tunde-Byass, M. and Wiley, R.E., 2021, November. Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility: From organizational responsibility to leadership competency. In Healthcare management forum (Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 311-315). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.

Nguyen, N.T., Yadav, M., Pande, S., Bhanot, A. and Hasan, M.F., 2022. Impact of diversity management on organizational performance in hotel organizations: a conceptual framework. International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, 13(Suppl 1), pp.186-196.

Peek, C., Allen, M., Pacala, J., Nickerson, W. and Westby, A., 2021. Coming together in action for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Family medicine, 53(9), pp.786-795.

Rhoten, B.A., Steed, J., Johnson, R. and Schorn, M.N., 2024. Evaluating and addressing the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging climate in a school of nursing. Nurse Educator, 49(3), pp.E153-E157.

Rodriguez, J.A., Shachar, C. and Bates, D.W., 2022. Digital inclusion as health care—supporting health care equity with digital-infrastructure initiatives. New England Journal of Medicine, 386(12), pp.1101-1103.

Rosenkranz, K.M., Arora, T.K., Termuhlen, P.M., Stain, S.C., Misra, S., Dent, D. and Nfonsam, V., 2021. Diversity, equity and inclusion in medicine: why it matters and how do we achieve it?. Journal of surgical education, 78(4), pp.1058-1065.

Rosenkranz, K.M., Arora, T.K., Termuhlen, P.M., Stain, S.C., Misra, S., Dent, D. and Nfonsam, V., 2021. Diversity, equity and inclusion in medicine: why it matters and how do we achieve it?. Journal of surgical education, 78(4), pp.1058-1065.

Sharma, S., Hillier, T., Parsons, M., Glanc, P., Miller, E., Nguyen, E.T., Doria, A.S., Dhillon, S., Seely, J.M., Borgaonkar, J. and Yong-Hing, C.J., 2024. Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in medicine: a comprehensive toolkit for change in radiology. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 75(2), pp.323-329.

Tillman III, F., Liu, I., Lovince, J., Mays, E., Musick, K., Sato, J. and Rao, K.V., 2024. Healthcare equity and leadership: implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion training for pharmacy residents. Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 37(2), pp.422-428.

Togioka, B., Duvivier, D. and Young, E., 2024. Diversity and Discrimination in Health Care. StatPearls.

Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2021. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.

Wani, S.U.D., Khan, N.A., Thakur, G., Gautam, S.P., Ali, M., Alam, P., Alshehri, S., Ghoneim, M.M. and Shakeel, F., 2022, March. Utilization of artificial intelligence in disease prevention: Diagnosis, treatment, and implications for the healthcare workforce. In Healthcare (Vol. 10, No. 4, p. 608). MDPI.

Wolbring, G. and Nguyen, A., 2023. Equity/equality, diversity and inclusion, and other EDI phrases and EDI policy frameworks: A scoping review. Trends in Higher Education, 2(1), pp.168-237.

Wolbring, G. and Nguyen, A., 2023. Equity/equality, diversity and inclusion, and other EDI phrases and EDI policy frameworks: A scoping review. Trends in Higher Education, 2(1), pp.168-237.

Online

Department of Health & Social care, 2024. Equality Act 2010. Online. Available through: < https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/equality-and-diversity>