Ethical Issues in Health and Social Care

Autonomy and Empowerment

Personal autonomy is an important ethical principle that relates to the right of a person to have control over their own life and to make decisions for themselves.
Health and social care professionals must respect patients’ autonomy when delivering care, which may involve supporting them to make informed choices about their care and treatment.
Empowerment involves facilitating individuals in asserting control over the factors which affect their health. This may include empowering a person to manage their own care, or to make changes to their lifestyle.

Confidentiality is a key ethical principle in health and social care. It involves ensuring that personal information about patients and service users is kept private, unless it is necessary to share this information to safeguard someone’s health or safety.
Confidentiality is protected by law under the Data Protection Act 2018.

The distribution or allocation of resources, such as budget or medical equipment, is an important ethical issue in health and social care.
Resources in health and social care are often limited, and ethical considerations must be taken into account when deciding how resources are distributed, such as the fairness and equality of distribution.

Obtaining informed consent from patients and service users before providing care, treatment, or intervention is a fundamental ethical principle in health and social care.
Consent should be freely given, the individual should be provided with sufficient information to make a decision, and they should have the capacity to do so.

Professionals in health and social care may face ethical dilemmas when there are conflicts between the needs, rights or responsibilities of different individuals.
For example, they might have to decide between the obligation to respect a patient’s autonomy and their responsibility to promote that patient’s health.
Conflict resolution and management skills are important for dealing with these situations, which involve balancing competing ethical principles.

Health and social care professionals have a duty of care to their patients and service users, which means they have a legal obligation to provide care that meets a required standard.
This also includes the ethical principle of non-maleficence, or “do no harm”, which means professionals should avoid causing harm to their patients and should take steps to prevent harm where possible.