End of Life Care

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1.1 Outline legal requirements and agreed ways of working designed to protect the rights of individuals in end of life care In health and social care, we have a moral and legal responsibility to look after the individuals in our care and keep them safe. In end of life care therefore, we must focus on an individual's right to safety, but also to comfort, nutrition and hydration, freedom of choice, privacy and confidentiality to name just a few. A right that is often overlooked in end of life care due to its unexpected nature is the individual's right to refuse care or treatment. This can be very difficult to deal with as withdrawing care will conflict with our provision for their rights of comfort and safety, but it is ultimately the individual's choice. We are legally governed by the Human Rights Act to respect and protect an individual's rights first and foremost in everything that we do. It is a legal requirement of all health and social care staff to attend training enabling them to appropriately meet the needs of every individual in our care. Individuals have the right to receive the relevant support and treatment required for them to lead a comfortable life. A predominant focus of the training is the safety of the individual and how to maintain a safe, comfortable environment. Our policies and procedures within the work place protect the rights of individuals by making sure that we follow a person-centred approach and treat each case individually, but most importantly equally to any other case. Agreed ways of working help to ensure that all staff work in a standardised way which should mean we automatically focus on the rights of every individual, rather than those of a select few. The risk assessments that we have in place govern the day to day procedures that we use in the work place. In end of life care, the time may come when it is no longer

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