As a healthcare professional (HCP), the 6’C values of health and social care motivate me more than anything else. I was compassionate towards people and looking for chances to serve before joining this profession. I learnt about the 6 c values while starting my health and social care career. It guided me to regulate and optimise my enthusiastic compassion for better service. I got a deeper understanding of what “health and social care” is and how the 6’c values impact it.
Here, I defined health and social care with examples, gave ideas of industry opportunities, and explained 6’c values and their impact on health and social care.
What is Health and Social Care?
“Healthcare” and “Social care” combined are known as “health and social care”. Health and social care collaboratively provide services to ensure physical, mental, and social well-being. These services include both medical treatment and daily assistance to the incapable persons. They may also differ in some cases. Healthcare and social care together create a holistic support system for the citizens. For a better understanding of the term “health and social care,” here I explained health care and social care individually as well as their differences.
What is Healthcare?
Healthcare generally focuses on providing medical treatment through infrastructures and facilities. Broadly, healthcare is provided in three categories of services. These are: hospital care, primary care, and public care.
Hospital care is acute and long-stay care in the hospital for specialised health and psychological issues.
On the other hand, primary care is about non-hospital primary treatment settings like pharmacy, optics, therapies, etc.
Public care is for global well-being by taking measures to prevent diseases. These measures may not always directly relate to health services, like ensuring public area hygiene.
What is Social Care?
Social care focuses on children, adults, and elderly citizens at risk of physical and mental health. Agencies and activists take action to help people suffering from illness, disability, and poverty. Philanthropists and different private organisations generally fund social care. Social care includes social work, personal care, protection, and social support to ensure the overall well-being of citizens.
Through social work programs, citizens’ micro and macro-level problems are solved. It can be solving an individual’s and small group’s concerns or working with any community to solve a collective problem. For example, giving free yoga training to the elders of a community.
The personal care projects work to provide personal care products to those who can’t afford them. Like distributing hand sanitisers and sanitary pads.
Then the protection measures protect people from falling in situations where they are most likely to be vulnerable. Such as being unemployed.
Lastly, social support aims to create a holistic guard to create a better social identity by removing gender and cultural discrimination, providing financial assistance, and giving personal counselling.
How do Social Care and Healthcare Differ?
“Health and social care” is the ultimate care set for UK citizens. Health care and social care are two different set-ups creating a care umbrella to ensure care for all. Healthcare providers are mainly known as healthcare assistants, and socialcare providers are sometimes called caregivers. Here, in the following chart, I mentioned the key differences between health care and social care:
Why is Health and Social Care a Valuable Career?
As a care enthusiast, I found the health and social care industry perfectly suitable. Many healthcare professionals like me and carers choose these professions just because they care. They care for those who are suffering. They want to use the best of their knowledge, time, and energy to serve people. Additionally, a caregiving role in health and social care is a highly demanded well- paid job now. In the UK there are many career opportunities open for care enthusiasts like me.
Nurses, social workers, healthcare assistants, care workers, childcarer, health educator, therapist, counsellor etc are some of the examples of job roles. Every day new opportunities come with tremendous skill crises.
I must thank IOMH for providing timely training to cover up my skill gap. I got my first idea of 6CS in health and social care there. That was inspiring enough to make me determined to join this valuable career
What are The 6'Cs in Health and Social Care?
We, the care workers, care for people. We give our best to serve. But how would we articulate care? How will our efforts be recognised and standardised? Giving care practice a standard guideline was the primary goal of launching 6C values in health and social care. Jane Cummings (the chief nursing officer of NHS England) in December 2017 formed the idea of 6C values.
Being an active listener, showing respect toward divergent beliefs, and expressing willingness to help are good examples of care. The 6C values set these care examples as a standard of care to ensure the same service to everyone.
The First C is Care
It is the first and the core of it. The most important value a HCP should carry is a sense of care. The journey of a health or social caregiver starts with a strong desire to provide care.
People expect to be cared for and counted when they need health or social care. Care should be given continuously and demonstrated in behaviour.
Listening attentively is a form of care. Listening to the problems, pains, and expectations, showing respect for opinions and beliefs, and showing interest in assisting
The Second C is Compassion
Compassion is the relationship with patients that is based on empathy, respect, and dignity. It can also be described as intelligent kindness, central to how people perceive their care.
The Third C is Courage
Courage enables caregivers to make the right choices throughout their careers and do what’s best for their patients. It’s about speaking out loud of their concerns and having the strength to adapt to each new environment and overcome any challenge.
The Fourth C is Communication
Communication is essential to successful care. It enables carers to build caring relationships with their patients and work well with their colleagues as a team. Listening is also important when it comes to caring for patients, as they need to be kept informed about decisions but also feel they are being heard.
The Fifth C is Commitment
Care professionals stay committed to their patients. It builds trust and pushes them to improve quality to ensure a positive care experience.
The Sixth C is Competence
Competence is the relevant skill set of a caring role They must have the natural ability to understand their patient’s health and social needs. The combination of experience, knowledge, and strength to satisfy the patient’s concerns.
What is The Impact of 6'C Values in Health and Social Care?
When care is the rule. How can we avoid caring? This is the work ethic for us. We are encouraged, accountable, and appreciated to make everyone feel supported. The 6C values reduce negligence and poor care service to encourage carers to take responsibility on their own. These are the written values a carer must have along with other qualities. Thus, the health and social care industry is positively impacted by 6C values.
Showing care makes people feel comfortable while sharing their problems and getting help.
Whereas, compassion in the care creates a friendly environment for making all feel included.
Courage in that case ensures timely action to prevent any unexpected situation and provide proper attention to needs.
Then, communication also makes patients feel heard. Effective communication skill makes a huge difference in the service. The first step of the care approach starts with verbal and non-verbal communication. Here, either the carer fails or succeeds to build the trust.
After building trust, commitment keeps the carer determined to maintain and continuously improve the quality of service. Lack of commitment hampers the standard of the service. Care professionals must be committed to the job and the responsibilities they have.
Lastly,
Competence is everything at the end of the day. All other quality fades away if competence is absent. Expertise in the relevant area makes the service goal achievable. This is what at least people expect from a care professional.
Caregiving is a stressful job. Care professionals and enthusiasts go through a lot of stress, trauma and challenges. According to a report published in the Carersuk portal,
“Over half (54%) of carers said that their physical health had suffered because of their caring role, with one in five (20%) suffering a physical injury from caring.”
Crazy! right? Who cares about these carers? It’s the 6C values that help them to stay motivated and serve endlessly. These values, blended with their duty, ensure a safe health and social care environment. So, that is the reason why 6C values are so important in the health and social care industry. The 6Cs are the core of the service industry.
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