Safeguarding Research Paper

Even if a person with dementia can no longer make complex decisions, it is likely that they can make more basic decisions. Every effort should be made to get their input wherever possible. Once the person with dementia begins to lose capacity it is important that their carer and/or health care professionals are consulted and involved in decision making. This method is called the multidisciplinary approach. Macmillan Cancer Support (2012) describe a multidisciplinary team (MDT) as a group of doctors and other health professionals with expertise in a specific cancer, who together discuss and manage an individual patient’s care, planning the best treatment for the individual patient.

Current legislation and government policy were put in place to ensure that care providers provide the best possible care for dementia patients. Government equally provide funding to improve care environments to help to manage the condition of people with dementia as they are less likely to get confused or become distressed within an environment designed with their needs in mind.

2.1: Describe how current legislation, government policy and agreed ways of working support inclusive practice for dementia care and support

Besides, if a person lacks mental capacity to give valid consent, nurses caring for such a person should be involved in assessing the treatment to be administered. However, they must be “aware of the legislation regarding mental capacity, ensuring that people who lack capacity remain at the centre of decision making and are fully safeguarded.”6 The Mental Capacity Act (2005) offers assistance regarding ‘capacity’. The Act applies to all aged 16 and above and to those with learning disability, dementia, brain injury, autism and mental health issues.

1. UNDERSTAND KEY LEGISLATION AND AGREED WAYS OF WORKING THAT SUPPORT THE FULFILMENT OF RIGHTS AND CHOICES AND THE MINIMISING OF RISK OF HARM FOR AN INVIVIDUAL WITH DEMENTIA.

It is important to identify individual’s specific and unique needs so that they can receive the best care possible. Taking a person centred approach is vital, treating a service user as an individual person and acknowledge that

The ability to make decisions may fluctuate with someone with dementia due to the changing status of the illness. Their capacity will deteriorate over time and situations they are in can determine their mental state, for example if a person with dementia is tired or is put into a stressful situation they can find it very difficult to comprehend what is going on and become frustrated and confused therefore hindering their ability to make a decision. Knowing the persons past and present, wishes, feelings, beliefs and values can help us to better understand and help them to make decisions. As dementia worsens this can become more difficult as communication breaks down, this is where care plans are important, this will contain all the information about the individual It is also helpful to speak to family and friends to find the best ways to care for the person.

In dementia care is a key aspect of best practice. It is a way of caring for a person with dementia as an individual with unique qualities. It means looking at the world from the person’s point of view ‘standing in their place’ as it were and appreciating how they may be feeling.

Explain why individuals with dementia need to be supported to make advance care plans as early as possible

This act is designed to stop any contact between children and vulnerable adults who may have been harmed. The individuals who have harmed them will be put on to a barred list and will be banned from going into contact with the people they have harmed. This is where DBS checks come into place. This when somebody who is

When working with an individual it is important to uphold their rights to be fully involved in their own care, whilst adhering to legal requirements. It is also the individuals right to refuse any care, support or treatment they do not want. It is also essential that people not only give you their consent but also that they understand what they are consenting to and the implications of this. Gaining consent protects not just the career but the individual receiving the care and support as-well. If no consent is given then you cannot proceed with the care. It is illegal to pressure anyone into

It is necessary to involve the individual in the plan of care and support. Encourage the individual to make choices. This includes their needs, their culture, their means of communication, their likes and dislikes, wishes and feelings, advance directives, beliefs and values, involvement of their family and other professionals. This should be considered and documented. Also, there must be evaluation in assessing effectiveness in the plan of care.

Whilst undertaking the initial assessment, I always make sure that the service user is present and make sure that I am talking to them as opposed to about them with a family member or friend that also may be present. If I am doing an assessment with the service user who has Dementia or Alzheimer’s then again, I ensure that I am asking them what they would like, how they would like the care to progress and what they want to achieve from having care works. If they are unable to answer then I will look to the family for guidance, but it is important to make the service involved in their own care planning and assessment process

It is also clear that while making these decisions, the decisions ought to be made based on informed consent (Werth and Crow 195). Sometime, the patient may be experiencing dementia, clinical depression or delirium for which they may be affecting the patient’s decision making capabilities (Werth and Crow 197, 198). If such a person is allowed to make their right-to-die decision, this may be done without the patient having comprehensive information before consent and thus should not be encouraged (Werth and Crow 198).

urgent. In the case of cancer, it still is a human life that you are losing, but it might not take place for years. With a decrease in performance, it could mean that the lives of the rest of the humans on the mission could be at stake. Imagine if one of the astronauts was handling a simple task with some kind of hazardous material. Their exposure to cosmic rays could actually put the other astronauts in harms way because they could not be capable of doing the job in the correct manor.