In health and social care there are numerous acts, policies and procedures that are implemented to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all individuals and employees. Within the context of this assignment I will focus upon and consider the influence of legislation and national standards and explain how they promote and maximise the rights of service users. These will include “ The Human Rights Act 1998, The Data Protection Act, The Care Standards Act 2000 and the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) I will also illustrate how other factors such as communication, policies and procedures play an important role in promoting and maximising he rights of service users of health care services. Learning Outcome 1.1 - Explain how current legislation and sector skills standards influence organisational policies and practices for promoting and maximising the rights of users of H≻ services. ˜Legislation (or "statutory law ) is law which has been produce by a governing body in order to regulate, to authorise, to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict. In terms of events, Legislation defines the governing legal principles outlining the responsibilities of event organisers, and other stakeholders such as the local authority, to protect the safety of the public.' http://www.londoneventstoolkit.co.uk (last accessed 3/12/13) Legislation aims to get rid of direct and indirect discrimination, promote positive outcomes, to guide others in their practice of care and to allow them to learn from their past mistakes. Both legislation and policy are always evolving and changing, this is in order for them to serve and protect clients from discrimination. Within my placement I ensure that I attend all mandatory training so that I am aware of all new policies which will enable me to provide a better quality of care to my service users. However, the law will always override policy, meaning it is essential to keep policy and procedure under review. The first legislation I am going to discuss is the ˜Human Rights Act 1998.' This act came into force within the United Kingdom in October 2000 and includes the basic rights of a human being. It is a UK Law that allows human beings to defend their rights in the UK courts and that public organisations treat all individuals equally, with fairness, dignity and respect. The rights within this law are based on articles of the European Convention on human rights and are relevant in our day-to-day life. They protect our freedom to control our own lives, effectively take part in decisions made by public authorities which impact upon your rights and get fair and equal services from public authorities. The human rights act includes quite a number of rights, such as the right to life, education and the right to marry and start a family. (See appendix 1) However Legislation requires services to have policies and procedures in specific areas which can be shown through the complaints policy within my work placement. This policy promotes the rights of each service user as it ensures each individual the right to complain and openly speak about the quality of care they receive. It also empowers service users in that it helps them to understand why certain things happen. The Care Standards Act also empowers service users as it introduced the Care Standards Commission, who where responsible for arranging inspections and the publication of National Minimum Standards. One of the main strengths of this Act is that it is inclusive, having been developed in partnership with health professionals, patients, carers, health managers and voluntary agencies. It was passed in July 2000. It aims at extending the regulation of social care and makes sure that the care of vulnerable people, in different types of supported housing is properly regulated in order to improve care standards and introduce consistency in the regulation of services provided. It is vital that health care organisations such as nursing homes are registered with The Care Standards Act as they inspect most hospitals, care homes and home care agencies at least once a year. They have two inspections a year, one announced and one unannounced. Inspectors spend most of their time on an inspection directly observing care and talking to patients or people using the service and their families or carers, as well as staff. There are three types of inspection “ Scheduled, Responsive and Themed. The inspections are tailored to the type of care provided and the information held about the service, including the concerns that people may have brought to their attention. The inspectors focus on a minimum of five of the standards for most types of service. The standards within The Care Standards Act cover areas such as choice of home, personal care, social activities, complaints and protection. However, the Mental Health Order also ˜provides a framework for the care, treatment and protection of all persons with a mental disorder and establis