Health Profile of a Community: People with Disability in the UK

1. Introduction

The people with disability in the UK have been chosen for their health profiling. The reason behind emphasizing the health of disabled people in the UK is that the people with disability in the UK often face discrimination in availing the quality and adequate health care, due to which they have to suffer adverse health outcomes, along with catastrophic health expenditure. So, the health profiling of disabled people in the UK supports them in the provision of the appropriate healthcare opportunities by informing the health status of disabled people of the UK to the policymakers, health administrators, research workers, and many more. This thus compels them to think over the strategies, for providing adequate and qualitative healthcare opportunities to the disabled people of the UK, to improve their life quality.

So, to put more light on this subject, this essay will discuss health and illness and health promotion. This is then followed by the health profiling of the people with disability in the UK, which includes the description of the chosen community, health needs of the community, and factors that impact the disabled people in the UK. After this, in the essay, the role of the nursing associate will be elaborated on, along with the opportunities for promoting health and preventing ill health.

2. Health and illness and health promotion

3. Health profile

Further on estimation, it has been found that there are 11 million disabled people in Britain, among this, there are around 7 million disabled people in Britain that falls under the working age category. According to the employer’s forum on disability, it has been found that there are 2% of working-age people become disabled every year, and the most common disability with which they are suffering is a mental or psychological disability, this is due to the prevalence of the factors such as discrimination at the workplace, workload stress, unemployment, and many more. In Britain, around 10 million of the population which is 18% of the population, are suffering from long-term illness, impairment, or disease. In Britain, the most common disabilities among adults are issues with mobility, carrying, and lifting. Besides, in Britain, children are mainly suffering from psychological or mental health conditions which include learning and communication disability, instead of physical disabilities. Apart from this, around three in four people in Britain believe that there is some sort of pre-justice in Britain or an environment of inequality, for disabled people in the UK. This is the reason, why people of Britain are more vulnerable to mental or psychological disability (GOV.UK, 2022).

Moreover, it has been found that most disabled people in the UK are living in poverty and poor housing conditions. As it has been found that there are 25% of the people in families with at least 1 family member with a disability live in poverty in comparison to the 16% with no disabled member in the family. Further, on estimation, it has been found that there are 27.3% of the households with disabled persons are living in poor infrastructures and accommodation, in comparison to the 25.4% of the households with no disabled person (GOV.UK, 2022).

Key health needs

So, through the government health reports, demographic data, and epidemiological data, it has been found that the disabled people of the UK, require a positive, violence-free, and equality-promoting workplace environment, for the promotion of psychological well-being of disable people in the UK. Along with this, the disabled people of the UK, also require good infrastructure or housing conditions, income, employment, and education that alleviates their poor health conditions by providing them complete access to healthcare services or opportunities.

Factors impacting the health of the community

Many factors are majorly impacting the health and well-being of people with disability in the UK. The health determinants that influence disabled people in the UK include income, social status, employment, and working status, education and literacy levels, access to health opportunities and services, and environment. Due to the stereotypes regarding the ability of people with disability, they are mocked in public places and workplaces. Along with this, they are also not provided with equal education levels, which further impacts their employment status, and they end up being unemployed. While, the disabled people who are employed, often face discrimination in terms of pay in comparison to non-disabled people. The lower incomes bring a downfall to the living standards or the conditions of the people with disability in the UK. This is the reason why, the disabled people of the UK are living in poor infrastructures and due to lower incomes only, they are unable to access adequate healthcare services or opportunities, due to which they have poor health conditions in comparison to the non-disabled people of the UK (cdc.gov, 2022).

Priority areas of health promotion interventions

4. Role of nursing associate

According to the nursing and midwifery council standards, it has been found that it is the responsibility or the duty of the nursing associate to work in the interest and needs of the patients. Along with this, the nursing associate must provide compassionate care to the and for this, the nursing associate consistently monitors the patients, to acquire their needs or requirements of the patients. In promotion of the health, the nursing associate empowers the patients, due to which sufferers are capable of making their healthy choices, and also take important health decisions, to manage the condition of the patients. Further, it has been found that the nursing associate promotes the health of the patients and prevents their ill health, by identifying opportunities for it. Nursing associates consistently monitor the patients or the sufferers. So, with the help of this, the nursing associate can able to identify the health needs or the requirements of the patients, which can be further used by them as an opportunity for promoting their health and preventing ill-health. It has been found that the nursing associate plays a major role in providing compassionate care to the patients. So, through empathy, the nursing associates can able to know the interests of the patients, through which the health illness of the patients can be prevented, and thus, their health outcomes can be improved. Furthermore, it has been found that nursing associate has adopted the individualistic approach and has a behavior-changing perspective, so using this, they can easily identify the health-promoting and disease preventive opportunities (Kemppainen, Tossavainen and Turunen, 2012).

Moreover, it has been critically observed that all this information is critical for planning the promotional activity. As nursing associates know the interests as well as the needs of the patients through consistent monitoring and by providing compassionate care, the nursing associate can easily develop health promotional activities that align with those patients' needs and interests. Further, it has been known that nursing associate has a role in empowering the patients for promoting their health. So, the nursing associate at their local level, designs the health-promoting activities, by collaborating with different health professionals and clinicians in the healthcare sector. The nursing associate can also develop health promotion activities at the national level, by educating the patients about the effectiveness of health promotion and its measures, and also informing them about the national and social care policies. Furthermore, the nursing associate has adopted the individualistic approach, so using that nursing associate can easily able to develop health promotional activities at their level. As they can help in patients' stress management and promotes their healthy eating and sleeping(Kemppainen, Tossavainen and Turunen, 2012).

Conclusion

References

GOV.UK, 2022. [Withdrawn] Disability facts and figures. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures> [Accessed 27 July 2022].

GOV.UK, 2022. Employing disabled people and people with health conditions. [online] GOV.UK. Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employing-disabled-people-and-people-with-health-conditions/employing-disabled-people-and-people-with-health-conditions> [Accessed 27 July 2022].

Appendices

2. This figure shows that disabled of UK are less likely to acquire the degrees than the non-disabled people of UK.