What is Culturally Appropriate Care?
Posted on 15th January 2024
Culturally appropriate care is an essential aspect of delivering effective, responsive & a caring service. CQC introduced culturally appropriate care in 2022 and describe it as, 'Culturally appropriate care (also called 'culturally competent care') is sensitive to people's cultural identity or heritage. It means being alert and responsive to beliefs or conventions that might be determined by cultural heritage.' It covers three separate regulations:
Regulation 9: Person Centered Care,
Regulation 10: Dignity and Respect
Regulation 11: Need for Consent
In this article, we cover all you need to know including (click the sentence to head straight there):
What is cultural care
How will it be inspected
How do I ensure my service carries it out
Lets get straight to it!
What is Culturally Appropriate Care?
Culturally appropriate care (also called 'culturally competent care') means being alert and responsive to beliefs or conventions that might be determined by cultural heritage.
For example, it might be based on ethnicity, nationality or religion. Or it might be to do with the person's sexuality or gender identity. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have a particular culture. All the elements of culturally appropriate care are embedded in the Equality Act 2010; these are our 9 protected characteristics. You can find out more about the UK governments regulations on Equality and Diversity here: UK Home Office
Cultural values are a culture's core beliefs about what's good or right.
We all have cultural values. These are sometimes called 'cultural value preferences'. They’re informed by the cultures we most associate ourselves with. These values are neither positive nor negative - they're just different.
Cultural values can influence the way we treat others and want others to treat us. Being aware of your own cultural values and other people's can affect:
Relationships between people using the service and the staff
Whether people take part in activities
How likely they are to speak up if they're unhappy about something
Examples of Cultural Differences
1. Some cultures value being still. This might mean you're happy watching the world go by, talking to people or listening to music.
People from a different culture might see this as laziness or unwillingness to get involved in activities.
2. In non-expressive cultures, people are more likely to communicate without showing emotion and may hide their feelings. Other people might see this as cold and even rude. There are also cultures where people express feelings in a more visible way. Less expressive people might see this as over the top, aggressive or potentially threatening.
How Will It Be Inspected?
CQC will use their regulations to help guide them on what to look out for when inspecting your service.
The three regulations they will be using are:
Feel free to click on the regulations above to head straight to CQC's website to take a closer look at their regulations.
KLOES and Culturally Appropriate Care
Below we have headed each of the 5 CQC KLOEs and how culturally appropriate care affects these areas.
Safe
• Recording and acting on cultural considerations about medicines.
• Protecting people from discrimination and harassment over characteristics protected by the Equality Act.
Effective
• Looking at people’s needs overall and protecting them from discrimination.
• The service takes cultural, ethical and religious needs into account when planning meals and drinks. Cultural needs are reflected in how premises are decorated.
• If someone lacks capacity for a particular decision, the service takes their cultural preferences into account when applying the Mental Capacity Act – for example, by consulting people that know them.
Caring
• Staff support people in culturally sensitive ways. They recognise when people’s preferences are not being taken on board or properly respected.
• Knowing and respecting people, and showing them compassion.
• Making visitors feel welcome.
Responsive
• People, their families and carers are involved in developing their care plans. This includes identifying their needs on the grounds of equality characteristics and looking at how those needs are met. It also includes finding out about their choices and preferences. The plans are reviewed regularly.
• Staff have the right learning and development to help them understand and meet these needs.
• Helping people take part in activities that are culturally relevant to them.
• In end of life care, people feel their needs relating to equality characteristics have been considered as part of the planning process. People's religious beliefs and preferences are respected.
Well-led
• The service has a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empowering.
• Leaders, managers and staff have a good understanding of equality, diversity and human rights.
• Leaders, managers and staff encourage people to express views and concerns. They listen and act on them to help shape the service and culture.
• The service promotes equality and diversity.
• The service looks into any instances of workforce inequality and takes action. Staff feel they are treated equally. The service makes sure it hears the voices of all staff and acts on them to help shape the service and culture.
We hope this has been useful for you and answered any queries or concerns you've had about culturally appropriate care.
Free feel to check out our other blogs for more information about a whole range of topics.
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Care Planning & Risk Assessment Course
Care planning and risk assessing is an essential part of delivering any care, especially culturally appropriate care. Click the link below to head to our course page!
End of Life & Communication Course
Getting it right is never more important than at the end of a person's life. This course helps you and your team to prepare and get it right.
Person Centered Care & Dignity
If you would like training on the most essential area of care, this course is for you. Transform your staff's understanding and develop them to be able to deliver culturally appropriate care.
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