The document discusses the importance of communication in health, social care, and children's settings. Effective communication is a two-way process that involves sending, receiving, and interpreting information correctly. It is important for expressing needs, sharing ideas, building relationships, and preventing misunderstandings. Barriers to communication can include environmental factors, characteristics of the individuals communicating, and care workers. Overcoming barriers requires adapting communication methods, the environment, and assisting those who need help communicating.

1. Promote communication in
health, social care or children’s
and young people’s settings

2. 1 Understand why communication is important in
the work setting
2 Be able to meet the communication and language
needs, wishes and preferences of individuals
3 Be able to overcome barriers to communication
4 Be able to respect equality and diversity when
communicating
5 Be able to apply principles and practices relating
to confidentiality at work.

4. Communication is a two-way process
between people, where information is
sent, received and interpreted.
For communication to be effective,
information needs to be understood
correctly.

5. It is important to communicate this information
because it could include peopleʼs needs and
emotions such as:
 fear
 anger
 hunger
 pain
 joy
 love.

6. In health and social care good communication skills are
essential, we need them to communicate with
 Colleagues
 Children
 Managers
 Other health care professionals
 People who use services & their families and friends
It supports the development of effective relationships
and helps to build trust, aids understanding of
individuals’ needs, prevents misunderstandings and
supports the development of your own knowledge and
skills.

7. There are many reasons to communicate but the main
basic reasons can be identified as
 to express needs
 to share ideas and information
 to reassure
 to express feelings and emotions eg fear, love, hate,
pleasure, pain ….
 to build relationships (personal & professional)
 to socialise
 to ask questions and find out information
 to share experiences

8. Communication is at the heart of every
relationship both professional and personal.
Professionally you will be communicating with
everyone you come into contact with and even
with those you don’t!
NB. Remember communication isn’t just verbal
nor is it one way.

9. Think about the consequences of poor
communication (both by you and to you) with :
• Your manager or team leader
• Your colleagues
• The people you support
• Their friends and relatives
• GP’s & Nurses
• Hairdressers etc. etc.

10. The results of poor communication could include:
• The person not knowing your needs or you not knowing theirs
E.g. If you don’t tell your manager you feel that you have not received enough training they
won’t know how you feel or if your manager is unhappy with your performance but doesn’t
say anything then how do you know you need to improve?
• Inaccurate information being passed on to others or you
E.g. If you don’t complete records accurately, people following you at work won’t know what
you have or haven’t done or may not know of any changes
• Individuals you are there to support feeling unsupported, un-cared for, depressed etc.
• You feeling stressed and let down by your manager and/or team and vice versa

11. How else does communication affect relationships at
work?
Well without good communication you wouldn’t be
able to
build relationships
 resolve conflicts or stop them happening in the first
place
 you wouldn’t be able to build a team and support
each other.

12. Appropriate
touch
Communication
methods
Hand
gestures
Space and
position
Tone
of voice
Facial
expressions
Body
language
Eye
contact
Pitch
of voice

13. We need to watch / observe the reactions of people we are talking
to, things we need to pay attention to are:
 Speech - tone, pitch, silence (does the person sound angry,
upset, happy, sad or are they just not communicating?)
 non-verbal communication e.g. body language, facial
expressions, eye contact, gestures, touch
These can give us clues to understand the emotional state of the
person, remember when the body says one thing and the words
another trust the body it rarely lies. They can also help us to
decide if information has been understood, again people may say
they have understood what you have said but facial expressions
may show confusion.
Another reason to watch the aforementioned is so that we can tell
when and how to adjust our communication methods to suit the
individual and aids in recognition of barriers to communication.

14. The first thing you should do when supporting an
individual new to you is to find out the
Communication Needs and Preferences
of the person that you support.
Can you think of ways that you should be able to
find this information ?

15. Looking in the persons care plan, in the communication
section this is especially useful when the care plan has been
written with the person and their family and/or with
information from specialist communication professionals.
Asking the persons family and friends, they can be a valuable
resource of information, especially if the person themselves has
difficulty communicating, but you need to remember that whilst
they may be able to help they are not professionals and may not
be aware of the all the needs of the individual and the individual
may not be happy for them to pass on info.

16. When communicating with people, it is
important not to make assumptions about their
communication preferences. You need to
consider their:
 beliefs
 values
 culture.

17.  Asking your colleagues or the persons Key worker, If the
person has a key worker they should be aware of all the
communication needs of the individual. It is part of their role to
be able to pass this type of information onto colleagues. If a
colleague has already supported the individual they may be
able to pass on information on their communication needs
• Asking the person themselves. If they are able to communicate
with you, the person themselves are best placed to give you
information on their needs, wishes and preferences, after all they
know more about themselves than anybody. But this may not be
possible if they have dementia, mental health problems or are
unable to use standard forms of communication.

18. Barriers to effective communication can be
caused by:
 the environment
 the person
 the care worker.
 Can you think of a how each of the above can be
a barrier to effective communication?

19. To overcome barriers to effective communication,
you could:
 adapt your communication methods – for
example, use different communication methods
 adapt the environment – for example, move to a
quieter location
 assist people with their communication – for
example, use assistive technologies.

20. Do not give
information over
the phone
Ways to maintain
confidentiality
Log off when
finished with
computer
Keep records
secure
Confirm the
identity of people
Do not talk about
work issues in
public
Use passwords on
computers

21. Sometimes care
workers need to obtain
additional advice to
support the
communication needs
of people. This advice
and support can come
from organisations
who have extensive
knowledge of certain
communication
issues.
Organisations giving support to communication may
include:
● translation services
● interpreting services
● speech and language services
● advocacy services
● Alzheimer’s Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk)
● Royal National Institute of Blind People
(www.rnib.org.uk)
● Royal National Institute for Deaf People
(www.rnid.org.uk)
● Scope (www.scope.org.uk)
● Stroke Association (www.stroke.org.uk).

22. Sometimes it is necessary to breach
confidential information. If this is the case, you
should inform the person involved as soon as
possible.
Confidentiality may need to be broken to:
 comply with a court order
 protect the public
 protect the person
 aid the police with their enquiries.