Question

Explain the legal and ethical considerations for work role boundaries and responsibilities in individual support. Provide an example to illustrate your answer.

Answer 1

The individual support is a new qualification that was released in 2015 for people who want to care and support other people who may need it due to ageing, disability or other reasons.The work involves discretion and judgement related to individual support as well as taking responsibilty of their own output. Working among this age group of people have many legal and ethical considerations.

• Decision making : Decision making is often a part of caring whether in individual setting or in an institutional settings. This decision may be related to their care methods, treatment and managing emergency situations. But every decision may not be accepted by their families. Ex: while providing a care to individual who is elderly with limited mobility, when assisted with walking, the family member may not respect this decision as they fear patient fall.
• Privacy: Every individual have the right to maintain their privacy and security. Any breech in this may result in ligal implication on the care provided. Ex: If a care provider post personal comments or photos of the individual in social media without their consent, may be subjected to law.
• Security: As these individuals are not capacable enough to carry out their daily activities, they require great care while handling to prevent any injuries or harm. Failure to protect individual from injury and other harm will subject the care provider to law. Ex: Individual falls down in bathroom while bathing when left unassisted by the care provider for attending a call. The individual develops femur fracture and the care provider is charged a case against him or her.
• In some instances, the care provider has make choices among the healthy habits for the individual and individuals desire. For example: its unhealthy for a diabetic individual to eat ice cream but the individual expresses a strong desire to to have one. He pleads to the staff several times. Atlast the care provider agrees to give one. When the family members comes to know about it they place complaint against this unethical behavior of the staff.