When staff are just starting out on their NVQ and SVQ in Health and Social Care, or when new staff who have qualified from abroad start working in the UK they can be uncertain and confused by the different terms, such as policy, regulations, legislation, etc. NVQ and SVQ Assessors can also be uncertain of the differences. In many ways the starting point to understanding the differences is actually Government policy.
The Government decides it wants certain things to happen in health or social care. Examples could include:
** more older people to be cared for at home, rather than in residential care ** more children, who are looked after by local authorities, to be cared for in foster care or adopted ** more adults with learning disabilities or mental health problems to be assisted into employment
Whatever the intention the Government’s aim becomes a policy. Sometimes this policy is a Green Paper or a White Paper.
The Government then has a choice as to how it pursues its policy. From the Government’s perspective it will rely on other organisations to actually apply the policy on a day to day basis. If the policy relates to health it is an NHS organisation. If the policy relates to social care it is likely to be local authorities that have to apply it or the local authority will have to make clear to organisations it contracts work to that various expectations need to be met.