Law and Ethics in Health and Social Care

Explore the ethical and legal theories and principles that underpin health and social care, such as consent, confidentiality, duty of care and human rights.

All staff working in health and social care have, in some shape or form, felt the impact of the Francis Inquiry (2010-2013) in the wake of failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, where the key focus for patient safety policy and ethical practice made 290 recommendations including the need for compassionate care, empathy, problem solving and ethical reasoning. Additionally, the Department for Health recently published a review of 'never events' – incidents that should never have occurred.

Our course will give you the opportunity to study the ethical and legal issues that arise in medical and healthcare practice. It will explore the moral problems you may face in the course of your work, provide the background for recognising issues that may raise legal liability, and reflect on the legal, social and ethical context in which healthcare practice is situated.

Throughout the course, you'll have the chance to deconstruct legal cases and practice putting forward your own contentions to construct, categorise and criticise different ethical arguments.

Learning outcomes include:

• developing a critical understanding of health and social care law and ethics in relation to generic aspects, eg consent, confidentiality, duty to care and human rights
• select and critically analyse relevant statutory provision, case law, moral or ethical principles and theories in relation to your practice or personal area of interest, for example mental health, child protection, euthanasia, abortion, medical research and resource allocation
• critically evaluate selected aspects of health and social care law and ethics and their respective operation in contemporary practice
• apply this knowledge and understanding to identify changes and improvements in professional practice.

This module is particularly relevant to health and social care professionals who wish to develop critical insights into legal and ethical issues in practice.