Promoting privacy and dignity in health and social care

You should always provide personalised care and support that puts an individual at the centre of their care enabling them to be as independent as possible.

Working in this way reduces the risk of an individual being treated in a way that is degrading or harmful and respects their privacy and dignity.

Know as much as you can about an individual

Talk with them or look at their care plan to find out how they want to be treated in different situations. In particular, it is important to find out how the individual would like their carer, family members or friends to be involved or kept up to date about their care and support.

Support their choices

They may want to be totally responsible themselves for passing on information or about how far they want to involve them in their personal care or life. You should respect and support them in their choice which will sometimes involve having to sensitively challenge the assumptions that others have made.

Respect their personal space

Each individual has a different view of what they see as their personal space so it is important to find out from them what is comfortable for them.

In general these are some examples of ways that you should protect their privacy and dignity:

Always ask individuals before touching them in any way
Knock on the door or speak before you enter the particular space or room they are in
If your role involves supporting individuals to wash or dress make sure you protect their dignity and privacy by making sure curtains, screens or doors are properly closed
Clothing or hospital gowns should always be arranged in a dignified way
If someone needs support to go to the toilet they should not have to wait or be left too long for you to return

Build trust

Part of providing good care and support involves building trust and confidence and having the best interests of individuals in mind.

Individuals may tell you private information that they trust you to keep to yourself. Unless it is necessary to pass this on for health and social care reasons you should keep this confidential. That will have the added benefit of helping to build trust.

Privacy of information

Confidentiality is a very important right of individuals who receive care and support.

Information should be shared on a need-to-know basis only, for example with other workers involved in their care. You should not share personal information with anybody else, even the person’s family or friends, without their permission.

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Personal information includes things like:

Health conditions
Sexual orientation
Personal history
Social circumstances

Supporting active participation

Active participation is a way of working that supports an individual’s right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible.

Which of the following statements are true in regards to active participation?

The individual is not an active partner in their own care or support
The individual is the ‘expert on themselves’ who knows best the way of life that matters to them, and the worker must listen and take this into account at all times
Taking control of their own care and support helps an individual build their identity and self-esteem
Keep equality and diversity in mind, giving every individual an equal opportunity of achieving their goals, valuing their diversity and finding solutions that work for them

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2, 3 and 4

Enabling self-care

Skills for Care and Skills for Health have developed the Common Core Principles for Self-care.

The purpose of the principles is to enable all those who work in health and social care to make personalised services a reality. They put people at the centre of the planning process, and recognise that they are best placed to understand their own needs and how to meet them.

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When working in health or social care you need to be positive, open-minded and show respect for other people’s attitudes and beliefs, especially when they differ from your own. Your job is to care for the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of an individual and allow them, as far as possible, to live their life the way they choose or to get back to the best health possible to allow them to do this.

Prejudice and stereotyping have no place in health or social care and should always be challenged. Reflecting on your own attitudes and beliefs is crucial to making sure that you do not allow them to affect your quality of work.

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