Health & Social Care Essay

Ai Identify four key pieces of Legislation and Codes of Practice relating to handling information in social care setting. 1). Data Protection Act 1998 – Gives rights to individuals in respect of personal data held about them. It also seeks to protect individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. 2). Freedom of Information Act 2000 – The Freedom of Information Act gives you the right to ask any public sector organisation for all the recorded information they have on any subject. Anyone can make a request for information – there are no restrictions on your age, nationality or where you live. If you ask for information about yourself, then your request will be handled under the Data Protection Act. 3). Employees Policies & Procedures – To make sure that all records that are kept in the office are put away in a locked secure cabinet. And when you write out the daily report sheet in the Care Plan Book, make sure that the Care Plan Book is closed and not left open. 4). Health and Social Care Act 2008 – requires us to publish a code that sets out the practice we will follow in obtaining, handling, using and disclosing confidential personal information. Aii Explain how legal requirements and codes of practice affect the day to day work of a social care worker in relation to handling information. It is important to follow the codes of practice in everything you do in your day to day work. For example, I personally had a situation a while ago where my regular service user was in hospital for a couple of months, and a friend of Mr T’s approached me and asked if I could give her the key safe code so she could go into to his property and clean round and get him some shopping. I told her that I could not give her Mr T’s key safe code as it is my duty of care not to give out any information that was entrusted to me. And if I gave it to her then I would be breaking the codes of practice and my employees policies and procedures.