Health and social care

BTEC health and social care allows students to learn about how we grow and develop throughout our lives; students will gain an understanding of how the health and social care sector works and the core values that underpin it. They will also investigate what ‘being healthy’ means to different people and how to improve someone’s health and wellbeing.

Students complete a piece of coursework in which they explain how individuals grow and develop through the life stages, factors and life events that influence development and how people cope with the changes caused by life events. A second piece of coursework allows students to investigate and explain the range of health and social care services that individuals use and the barriers they may experience in accessing these services, as well as investigating the care values that underpin current practice in health and social care.

Students will also have to use a case study to assess an individual’s health and well-being and create a suitable improvement plan to help them become healthier.

Students build a bank of theoretical knowledge about a variety of Health and Social Care settings and practices, developing transferable skills in collaborative practice and communication, which are core skills needed to work in these settings.

Curriculum information

Year

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Human lifespan: Infancy, Early childhood, Adolescence, Early Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, Later Adulthood.

Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Social (PIES) development through the human lifespan

Physical factors affecting health and well-being including ill health, diet, exercise, substance misuse and personal hygiene.

Social, cultural and emotional factors influencing health and well-being including interactions, stress and willingness to seek help.

The impact of lifestyle on health and well-being.

Economic factors affecting health and well-being including financial resources.

Environmental factors affecting health and well-being including pollution and housing.

The impact of life events on Development.

Sources of support to cope with life events.

Adapting to life events.

Application of knowledge of PIES development and factors influencing development to a real-life case study.

Application of the effects of a life event and how to adapt to a life event to a case study.

Completion of coursework assignment one.

Types of health care services.

Types of social care services.

Health care services including primary, secondary, and allied health care.

Social care services including services for children and young people, services for older adults and services for individuals with specific needs.

Barriers to accessing services, including physical, sensory, social, cultural, psychological, language, geographical, intellectual, resource and financial barriers.

Overcoming barriers to accessing services.

Care values including dignity, respect, confidentiality, communication, safeguarding and duty of care, anti-discriminatory practice and empowerment and independence.

The use of health and social care services to meet the specific needs of a given individual.

The use of care values to provide appropriate care to a specific individual.

Completion of coursework assignment two.

Factors affecting health and well-being including physical, social, cultural, economic and environmental.

Physiological indicators of health (pulse rate, peak flow, blood pressure and body mass index) including interpreting data and the significance of abnormal readings.

Interpreting lifestyle indicators of health including the significance of abnormal readings and national guidelines.

Health and well-being plans, including short-term and long-term targets and sources of support.

Obstacles to achieving health improvement plans, including emotional, time constraints, availability of resources, lack of support and individual needs.

Application of factors affecting health, measuring health and health improvement planning to a specific individual.

Subject spotlight: Health and social care