Choices with regard to support regimes
When providing social care support, it is very important
to ensure that individuals are listened to and that their
choices are acknowledged. In supported tenancy
environments this could mean a choice of menu,
choice of hobbies and interests and deciding who they
would like as their key worker. The choice of support
could also involve Direct Payments, which means that
the individual who is receiving care in the community
is enabled to arrange and pay for their own care and
Case study: Confl ict of interest
Will is a 28-year-old man with meningitis, who is
brought into Accident and Emergency by his partner
Patti. He is unconscious, has low blood pressure and
there is evidence of renal failure. He is seriously ill and
requires intensive care support to help him make a
full recovery. The intensive care unit (ICU) is full, with
some patients who are critically ill, but some are in
a stable condition. There is evidence that moving a
patient too soon out of ICU increases their chances
of complications. There is an intensive care bed in
another hospital 160 km (100 miles) away, but Will
might not survive the journey. The consultant has to
decide what to do.
Consider the following points and discuss in groups
your answers to the questions:
1 Maximising benefi t: what is the benefi t to Will –
he might not survive even with treatment? What
would be the benefi t of moving another
patient out of the ICU?
2 Responding to need: Will is in urgent need of
intensive care; does the hospital have a moral
responsibility to respond to such an urgent
need even if his chance of survival is small and it
person. However, working in this way can be
counter-productive, resulting in individuals ignoring
the guidance and support that would enable them
to stop self-harming. Effective social care practice
now focuses on harm minimisation, which means
accepting and respecting the individual’s right to
make decisions...