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Health and Social Care

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Health and social care is the study of human growth and development and providing care to individuals to meet their needs. The health and social care sector comprises of two sub-sectors; health care and social care. Within our ever-growing society the demands on both of these continue to increase and adapt and as a result it is a major employer, employing almost four million people across the UK.

With more than 300 distinctive career paths into this sector this course is designed to help you develop the transferable knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to successfully progress directly to employment, apprenticeships and higher education.

This course aims to provide an introduction to the study of the sector for students interested in learning about health and social care. You will gain an understanding of physical, intellectual, emotional and social growth and development throughout the life stages. Students will learn how needs are identified and diagnosed, how effective care and treatment is delivered and the variety of roles involved in the process. You will investigate the importance of sector related legislation, policies and procedures and the impact they have on individuals, service providers and the sector. The programme provides awareness of the necessity of equality, diversity and anti-discriminative behaviour in order to effectively deliver care.

Within the PE Department, the aims of the Health and Social Care course are;

To develop knowledge and understanding subject knowledge including human growth and development during a lifespan, physiological disorders including causes, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and care and legislation, policies and procedures
To develop awareness of safety and risk
To develop cognitive and problem-solving skills:
To develop the use of critical thinking and creative solutions,
To develop knowledge of using systems and technology
To develop practical transferable skills
To provide practice in developing employability skills.
To develop the ability to work effectively within a team and as an individual
To develop confidence and abilities
To develop intrapersonal skills such as communicating, working collaboratively, negotiating, influencing and self-presentation
To develop interpersonal skills including self-management and self-monitoring
To develop adaptability and resilience
To develop the ability to apply knowledge and skills appropriately and effectively in a variety of situations

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Year 10

COMPONENT 1: HUMAN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT

Human growth and development across stages – Main life stages and PIES
Factors affecting growth and development – Physical, Social and cultural and Economic
Different types of life events – Physical events, Relationship change and Life circumstances
Coping with change caused by life events – How individuals adapt to these changes, Sources of support and Types of support.

COMPONENT 2: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICES AND VALUE (LA – A and B1)

Health and social care services – Different health care services and how they meet service user needs and Different social care services and how they meet service user needs
Barriers to accessing services – Types of barrier and how they can be overcome by the service providers or users
Care values – empowerment, respect, maintaining confidentiality, dignity, effective communication, safeguarding and duty of care, promoting anti-discriminatory practice

Year 11

COMPONENT 3: HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Factors affecting health and wellbeing (positive and negative effects)- Definition of health and wellbeing, Physical and lifestyle, Social, emotional and cultural factors, Economic and Environmental. Impact of life events
Physiological indicators – Used to measure health, interpret data and potential significance of abnormal readings
Lifestyle indicators – Interpreting lifestyle data
Health and wellbeing improvement plans – Importance of a person-centred approach and Information
Obstacles to implementing plans – Potential obstacles

Year 12

UNIT 1: HUMAN LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT – EXAM IN MAY

Human growth and development through the life stages – physical development across the life stages, intellectual development across the life stages, emotional development across the life stages and social development across the life stages.
Factors affecting human growth and development – the nature/nurture debate, genetics, environmental, social and economic factors that affect development and major life events that effect development.
Effects of aging – the physical changes of aging, the psychological changes of aging and the social effects of an aging population

UNIT 5: MEETING INDIVIDUAL CARE AND SUPPORT NEEDS

Examine principles, values and skills, which underpin meeting the care and support needs of individuals – promoting equality, diversity and preventing discrimination, skills and personal attributes required for developing relationships with individuals, and empathy and establishing trust with individuals.
Examine the ethical issues involved when providing care and support to meet individual needs – ethical issues and approaches, legislation and guidance on conflicts of interest and balancing resources and minimising risk.
Investigate the principles behind enabling individuals with care and support needs to overcome challenges – enabling individuals to overcome challenges, promoting personalisation and communication techniques.
Investigate the roles of professionals and how they work together to provide the care and support necessary to meet individual needs – how agencies work together to meet individual care and support needs, roles and responsibilities of key professionals on multi-disciplinary teams, maintaining confidentiality and managing information.

Year 13

UNIT 2: WORKING IN HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE – EXAM IN JANUARY

Learning Aim A – The roles and responsibilities of people who work in Health & Social Care settings.

The roles and responsibilities of people who work in health and social care settings.
Specific responsibilities – promoting anti-discriminatory practice, empowering individuals, ensuring safety, information management and communication and being accountable to professional bodies.
Multi-disciplinary working and monitoring the work of people in health and social care settings.

Learning Aim B – The roles of organisations in health & Social care settings.

The roles of organisations in providing health and social care settings, issues that affect access and ways organisations represents interests of service users.
The roles of organisations that regulate and inspect health and social care services.
Responsibilities of organisations towards the people that work in health and social care settings.

Learning Aim C – Working with people with specific needs in the health and social care sector

People with specific needs and working practice.

UNIT 14: PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS AND THEIR CARE

Learning Aim A – Investigate the causes and effects of physiological disorders.

Types of physiological disorders and their effects on body systems and functions, causes, signs and symptoms of physiological disorders.

Learning Aim B – Examine the investigation and diagnosis of physiological disorders.

Investigate general and diagnostic procedures for physiological disorders.

Learning Aim C – Examine treatment and support for service users with physiological disorders.

Provision of treatment and support and types of carers and care settings.

Learning Aim D – Develop a treatment plan for service users with physiological disorders to meet their needs.

Care methods and strategies and treatment planning processes.

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Students completing the BTEC National Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care will gain a broad introduction to the subject. The qualification develops learner’s knowledge and skills necessary to prepare them to successfully go on to employment and higher education courses. This is done in close collaboration with experts from professional bodies.

As the Health and Social Care sector grows, so do the job role opportunities. This vocational course develops behaviours and transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, research and analysis, all of which are valued in both higher education and the workplace.

The following lists some examples of the wide range of careers in Health and Social Care;