Lauren Deeney

[Type here]

[Type here]

Integrated Assignment: Part One In this handbook, I will discuss the unmet needs within Northern Ireland for care users and examine the health, care and support services which are available to individuals when requiring multidisciplinary care within Northern Ireland. As well as that, I will discuss and evaluate the regulatory, statutory and legal body requirements which are involved in recording and reporting within this health care setting and how these requirements are implemented into our practice as nurses and health care practitioners. I will include in this handbook, information on how care user’s medical records and information should be recorded, handled and stored and how technology is used within this setting in order to record and report as well as storing the user’s information. Lastly, I will state in this handbook how the purposes of reflection within our practice, the models of reflection and the tools of reflection and information on how reflection has impacted my practice in health care. Within the health and social care sector in Northern Ireland there are many unmet needs. An example of these unmet needs is the current Covid 19 Pandemic. Due to the pressure on the NHS at current with the Coronavirus Pandemic it is evident to see that care users needs are not being met. For example, the Belfast Telegraph has stated that ambulances were only accepted for immediate life-threatening circumstances due to staff having to treat patients with covid and the hospital being capacitated. This evidently shows that there are needs in Northern Ireland at present which are not being met. As well as that there are unmet needs in Northern Ireland such as mental health services, the struggle for care users to get GP appointment due to Covid, and the average waiting time in out of hours in local hospitals. Frameworks available in Northern Ireland to support Integrated Care working: Integrated care involves providing care users with the care that they need, care practitioners must work together in order to provide quality care. Through integrated care and care practitioners working alongside each other as part of the multidisciplinary team, the patient can discuss their care with the care practitioner. This has had a positive affect on the care users as well as the NHS itself, as (Health Education England, 2018) has stated, “over the last 30 years the number of hospital beds have halved and despite this up to 50% of beds are occupied by patients who could be cared for in the community”. Multidisciplinary Care: Multidisciplinary care is “an integrated team approach to healthcare.” Webmedy. (n.d.). Importance of Multidisciplinary Care. Multidisciplinary care is extremely important to involve within a patients care as it promotes patient centred care, all care providers work together in order to provide optimum care for the care user. An example of this, is when a nurse will work with a doctor or consultant and converse about the patients care plan in order to understand what care is needed for this care user.

The role of a health and social care professional in supporting person centred care is to base all the care given around the care user. It is important that the patient is aware of their care plan, and this has been discussed with the patient. Although the individual may be physically unwell, it is extremely important that as a care practitioner we are looking at the individual as a whole person, we must evaluate their physical health, spiritual, social and emotional health also.

Lauren Deeney

[Type here]

[Type here]

Statutory, regulatory body and inspecting body requirements when recording and reporting information: Within the care setting, efficient recording and reporting is mandatory, health care practitioners must adhere to, understand, and implement the statutory and regulatory requirements in order to provide optimum care to care users that you are caring for and work within the requirements.

Human Rights Act 1998: While working as a nurse within this health care setting, it is important that the Human Rights Act 1998 is understood and implemented into your practice. The Human Rights Act can be implemented as a public body. The Human Rights Act 1998 states that an individual has the right: -

To respect for private life To respect for family life To respect for correspondence To respect for one’s home.

GDPR: The GDPR is the framework for data protection in Europe. The principles involved in the GDPR laws are likewise to those that are in the Data Protection Act. These principles involve information on how patients’ information should be stored within the health care setting when recording and reporting, this is vital as patients’ personal medical records should be recorded and stored efficiently.

The Caldicott Principles: The Caldicott Principles are eight principles which ensure the safety of patient’s information and medical records within the health care setting is used and stored safely as well as being kept strictly confidential. Principle 1- Justify the purpose for using confidential information. Principle 2- Use confidential information only when necessary. Principle 3- Use the minimum necessary confidential information. Principle 4- Access to confidential information should be on a strict need-to-know basis.

NMC code of conduct: The NMC code of conduct is professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives, these standards must be upheld by all nurses, midwives and care practitioners within the setting. The code has many standards involved within it for nurses and midwives to adhere to, for

Lauren Deeney

[Type here]

[Type here]

example, treat people as individuals and uphold their dignity, listen to people and respond to their preferences and concerns, make sure that people’s physical, social and psychological needs are always assessed and responded to and act in the best interest of people. (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2018).

The implications of non-compliance with statutory requirements within the health care setting: When a nurse or other health care practitioner within the setting fails to comply with statutory and legal requirements such as GDPR or the NMC code of conduct, this may bring nurses fitness to practice into question. If there is non-compliance in the health care setting, this is known as misconduct, and a nurse may need to be investigated and could face court for malpractice. In terms of GDPR, if a health care practitioner is non-compliant with GDPR principles, the setting can receive a penalty, a standard maximum (£8.7 million or 2% of the total annual worldwide turnover) or a higher maximum (£17.5 million or 4% of the total annual worldwide turnover). (ICO)

Recording and storing records in the care setting: Within the care setting, the recording and storing of care user information is extremely important, this information can be stored both manually and electronically using ECR’s. Written records have been used in care settings and are still used. This process of recording information regarding a patient has both benefits and downfalls, for example, written records are easily accessed and are written down and can be stored effectively in cabinets etc. However, written records can become built up if a care user has been accessing the service several times therefore the records can become built up. In comparison, the use of ECR in the health care setting has become widely used, with 900,000 in existence as it is the electronic version of the paper care record, with the paper record being scanned and when required, destroyed effectively. However, ECR’s can also become subject to data breach, crashing etc. which can result in the loss or misplacement of patient care records.

Lauren Deeney

[Type here]

[Type here]

References: Nursing and Midwifery Council (2018). The Code Professional Standards of Practice and Behaviour for Nurses and Midwives Nursing and Midwifery Council. [online] NMC. Nursing and Midwifery Council. Available at: https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/nmc-publications/nmccode.pdf.

ICO. “Penalties.” Ico.org.uk, ICO, 27 Feb. 2019, ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-dataprotection/guide-to-law-enforcement-processing/penalties/.