The Equality Act 2010 Essay Example

Legislation has always played a substantial role within the national health service; it is produced after investigations have been conducted into situations that could be deemed to be problematic and it is forever being amended to keep up with current implications. Such legislation is then implemented within and abided by across all services whether that be community care, hospitals, or other services ran by the NHS or the private health care sector. The Equality Act was a piece of legislation, introduced in 2010, by the Labour Government. The act helped consolidate multiple laws and legislations that hoped to achieve the same outcome; to prevent discrimination for anyone, even more so, for individuals who have protected characteristics who feel they are at a higher risk of discrimination than somebody who carries no characteristics that would fall into the protected category” The Equality Act 2010 serves to strengthen, harmonise and streamline 40 years of equalities law. The Act brings together more than 116 separate pieces of legislation into a single source and ensures that everyone who is protected under law from discrimination, harassment or victimisation is afforded the same level of protection.” (Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 2021).

The act was constructed on the foundations that everyone must be treated the same irrelevant to their age, gender, sex, disability, marital status, race and religion amongst other protected characteristics. The legislation used within the NHS services created a more equal process of receiving care, ensuring everyone receives the same care without being victim of prejudice. The laws and legislations combining into one will have meant a great deal to not only the individuals affected by discrimination but also for the family and friends of these individuals as under the act, a policy was introduced which also protected them from discrimination known as “discrimination by association”, in which an individual may feel they were victim of discrimination due to who their family member or friend is they can now raise complaints and voice their own discrimination. However, it did not only protect patients and their families but also staff too. The legislation was proven to be needed when a survey conducted by GP services found that patients of ethnic minority background did not hold as much trust in the services they received as patients of a white background did, this highlighted that there were quite clearly room for improvement to protect and support individuals with protected characteristics. “The GP Patient Survey shows variation by ethnicity in patient confidence and trust in their GP, (white) British 66%, compared with Chinese 44%, Bangladeshi 52% and Pakistani 52%. This variance by ethnicity was replicated in the same survey in terms of overall experience of GP experience. (white) British 45%, compared with Chinese 23% and Bangladeshi 27%” (NHS England response to the specific duties of the Equality Act, 2016). People with protected characteristics were proven to not only feel like they didn’t receive fair treatment, have a lack of trust in services provided but also studies conducted in 2009 were able to prove that the NHS were not taking as much action as they should have been to protect staff and patients from discrimination, this could have been due to lack of understanding and knowledge or down to a difference in attitudes of people. Although, whatever the reasoning behind it, it was unacceptable practice, and something more needed to be done to aid a change within the services. “The Healthcare Commission said only 35% of NHS trusts are meeting their obligation under race equality legislation to produce the information needed to assess whether they discriminate on ethnic grounds” (Carvel, 2009). 

All staff within NHS services, as well as other sectors, must follow and agree to abide by a shared ethos around good practice which is to promote dignity, respect and fair treatment. If followed by all, it would instil everyone with some common ground of attitudes, values and knowledge to prevent discrimination from occurring. Nonetheless, this is not always the case, and some people still struggle to interpret what is or is not socially and morally acceptable when interacting or caring for somebody with such characteristics. Difference in attitudes and values can cause conflict and confrontation within the NHS and it of utmost importance that staff understand that they are legally obligated to follow good practice and not discriminate anyone based on their own opinions or feelings. Staff within the NHS have a duty of care to deliver the same standard and level of care to all patients irrespective of anything else. If good attitudes and values can be maintained by all staff who work for the organisation and patients who attend services ran by the NHS, then the statistics of discrimination would be lower.   

Some would say, the NHS introducing of The Equality Act 2010 across all services worked well in favour of both the patients and the staff members within the organisation. The legislation will have given both parties the knowledge and information to reflectively understand what is or is not professionally and morally acceptable within an NHS service. However, others would contest that although The Equality Act 2010 has now been effective for over ten years, it is still apparent that discrimination happens within the organisation, to both staff and patients. The act has potentially failed in ensuring everyone feels they are treated the same, as even now a decade on, people with protected characteristics still feel they are victimised or discriminated against within the NHS, which would suggest that either people are not subconsciously following the policies set out for them, or as a person are choosing they do not wish to intentionally follow them “Quarter of LGBT+ people have witnessed discrimination from NHS staff while seeking treatment, poll finds” (Matthews-King, 2018). 

The key principle for this legislation being passed was to ensure that nobody no matter who they are, where they work, who they are related to or who they are friends with had to ever be victim of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or any other prohibited conduct set out in The Equality Act 2010. It is effective in all environments; it is not just solely applicable for the NHS to follow guidance in accordance with this legislation “Providers of goods and services (including social services and the NHS), of education and of housing must not discriminate against people because of their protected characteristics” 

(Mandelstam, 2017).

Abreast to legislation, reflective practice is important when working in the healthcare sector. If reflective practice is effectively used it can enhance a care workers skills and knowledge significantly over the period of their working life, resulting in a better standard of care delivered to patients who require it. Reflective practice has been proven to have a positive outcome for patients and health care workers who choose this method of critical thinking to enlighten their own knowledge on what worked in such a situation and what did not work. “When practitioners, such as healthcare professionals, are coached to make their knowing in action explicit, they can inevitably use this awareness to enliven and change their practice (Schon, 1987)” (Taylor, 2010). Some would suggest reflective practice needs to be forced upon staff, as without it, problems are not highlighted, and are left to continue festering within the services provided by the organisation. Statistics shared annually by the NHS largely show that discrimination is still occurring, this can also be subsequently established when analysing the pay difference of doctors from different ethnic backgrounds “Black doctors in the NHS are paid on average almost £10,000 a year less and black nurses £2,700 less than their white counterparts, the biggest study of earnings by ethnicity has found.” (Campbell, 2018).

In conclusion, some would argue that even with legislation and training to strengthen good practice, it is proven through recent statistics and figures that unless everyone it involved follows it, the problem cannot be irradicated and discriminatory behaviour will continue to impact both staff and patients involved with the NHS. However, others would disagree and propose that although recent figures suggest that there is still room for major improvement, since The Equality Act 2010 was introduced, discrimination has been on the incline within the organisation.