Code of Ethics Assignment: Governance, Ethics & Sustainability of Ramsay Health Care

Question

Task: You are required to research recent news articles and other information about Ramsay Health Care.

Here are a couple of examples of recent news describing some corporate governance issues in the Health Care Industry: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6919951/lost-opportunity-toimprove-healthcare-audit/ and https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/
You must then draft a Code of Ethics assignment on Ramsay Health Care. The word limit is 2000 words. Your Code of Ethics for Ramsay Health Care must specifically address:

A. Discrimination
B. Exploitation
C. Corruption
D. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behavior
E. Whistleblower Protections
F. Enforcement
You will be required to include a minimum of 5 references in your Code of Ethics which must come from academic journals or textbooks.

Answer

Ramsay Healthcare Code of Ethics
The current code of ethics assignment sheds light on the concept of Code of Ethics of Ramsay Health Care which is a statement on the values of the company and the manner business is conducted by company. Code of Ethics holds guidelines and defines various behavioural standards expected from every individual who are associated with the organisation (Saygili and Ozturkoglu 2020). The standard and guidelines holds the framework of the behavioural aspect which is to be put forward when in contact with others (Schmidt, MacWilliamsand Neal-Boylan, 2017). This enables the organisation to put forward the best capacity in ensuring the wellbeing of each member associated with the company.

At Ramsay Healthcare, the work culture recognises every individual associated with Ramsay-the doctors, nurses, brothers, employees and staffs. These individuals are the prices asset of the company and they are the key to the company’s success.

Ramsay Healthcare follows certain principles while conducting business. The company believes in caring for their workers, progressive in nature and the ambience allows each individual to enjoy and work with a positive spirit. Company always works towards building constructive relationships leading to achieving the outcomes for one and all. Ramsay Healthcare truly believes that success comes from encouraging and recognising the value of the teams and each individual aiding our business to grow.

Ramsay Healthcare takes the compliance with the Code of ethics extremely seriously. If the company come to notice any breaches, the suspect will be thoroughly investigated and the individual will be facing severe disciplinary action including the termination of employment. In case of regulatory or legal breach, the individual may be referred to regulatory body. ?

A. Discrimination
Ramsay Healthcare holds the slogan of “People Caring for People” and it has been followed since over the years of running the healthcare business. Ramsay Healthcare operates in an industry where care is just not only a value statement but it is essential part of the business conducted by Ramsay Healthcare. Each and every healthcare staff and patients are taken care of and the company strictly stands against any kind of discrimination at work place. The company is committed to improve work ambience and believes of an inclusive work culture. The company welcomes workers across diverse culture and is extremely inclusive in that manner. Social inclusion and non-discrimination are fundamental for the working community of Ramsay Healthcare. Individuals at work should never face discrimination in regard to their caste, colour, creed, race, age, disability, marital status, gender identity and sexual orientation (Miller 2017). Inclusiveness in workplace provides an extremely healthy environment for work and here people can feel themselves regardless of their racial background or even sexual orientation. At Ramsay Healthcare, the value is given to the quality of work provided by each individual and the company is committed in employing from diverse backgrounds. If there has been any instance where any individual is feeling harassed due to their culture, colour or any kind of discrimination, the individual has every right to raise a complaint with higher authority or speak to the HR head for immediate assistance and support. In case of misconduct, the individual will face necessary penalty.

B. Exploitation
Ramsay Healthcare is extremely cautious with the working environment for its workers and patients.The company does not support any kind of exploitation at work and is strictly against such misconducts at workplace. The company believes in treating each and every individual equally and taking care of them. The company has expectations from each working member to treat one another with utmost respect, dignity and courtesy. The employees are expected to be honest, fair and perform the right things. The company does not engage bullying, exploitation, and harassment of sexual kind. Exploitation can include unreasonable behaviour, deliberate passing of rude comments, using of abusive and offensive words, intimidating conduct and practical jokes (Petersen et al.,2018). Sexual exploitation and harassment include that of sending or requesting offensive pictures, unwelcoming and derogatory comments passed regarding a person’s appearance or personal life, deliberate physical proximity which can be invading someone’s personal space or even touching someone inappropriately (Jeong 2017). In case of such an experience the individual must inform their team member or other heads about the kind of inappropriate behaviour. The company is against victimisation and violence. Victimisation involving negative treatment made against someone due to a raise of complaint. Ramsay healthcare expects its member to have a voice and be fearless in reporting such incidents on work campus. If any member of the company faces any such situations, it is required of them to immediately informing the team leader or a senior leader. The company also encourages its member to raise the problem to the HRs and People advisory council for immediate assistance in severe cases of exploitation.

C. Corruption
Ramsay healthcare has a zero tolerance policy with regard to corruption and bribery at places business are performed. Corruption is against the law and it completely undermines the integrity of the economy and the government (Desbois 2020). An individual must never accept or offer bribes, any payments of kinds for the purpose of winning or influencing business activities favouring Ramsay Healthcare. This directly applies to every member associated with Ramsay healthcare. Bribe can be in the form of kind, entertainment, gifts, benefits, cash or any secret commissions. Ramsay Healthcare strictly prohibits the facilitation of any kind of payments. It is to our knowledge and we understand that individuals might receive or give gifts during their tenure in Ramsay Healthcare. The gift received or given should not be of exaggerated value and it must be appropriate as it should not raise any conflict or any kind of undue influence. The company requests not to attempt to influence an official improperly. Any dealings with any influential individual on the government relating to Ramsay Healthcare must not provide any perception of attempts in gaining advantage. Employees are requested to seek advice from their corporate heads and department in case they are to represent Ramsay healthcare at any political event or elected official party. Engagement in any type of corruption is not an acceptable business practice and shall not be tolerated by Ramsay Healthcare. Individuals at Ramsay healthcare is expected to act with high ethical values and utmost integrity at all times while fulfilling their responsibilities and duties.

D. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour
Ramsay Healthcare is committed in providing an ethical work environment for their members where the company shall not tolerate theft, dishonest behaviour and fraud. In case of such an incident has come to notice the members of the company should responsibly report such cases of dishonest behaviour and fraud which they are aware of. Individuals should prevent cases of waste of company resources, theft and fraud occurring and must act at all times in relation to the company’s code of ethics requirement. Fraud includes potential financial loss to the society, company and to the individual (Airlines 2018). Dishonest behaviour involves incidents which causes damage and lost to the society or to the company due to misuse of information, confidentiality and privacy breach, accepting personal favours or gifts over certain condition of providing confidential information. Ramsay healthcare does not support baseless allegations that are made to disregard the truth or falsify the right facts. Such individuals shall be subjected to disciplinary actions or even legal claims by the person who is accuse of such misconduct. Dishonest conduct includes that of financial irregularities such as embezzlement, forgery of documents, and falsification of reports. Any kind of unauthorised alteration of data, computer files, fraudulent reporting of financial transaction, authorizing or receiving compensation for hours not worked shall not be tolerated by Ramsay Healthcare. Ramsay Healthcare expects there working individuals to report any kind of fraudulent activity at the earliest. The heads of the company are requested to maintain a manageable control system to deter any fraudulent activity and misconducts. In case of such scenario the person may face adverse action leading up to dismissal from work. When an individual facing with fraudulent conduct and dishonest behaviour, the person should not discuss the case in public and all inquires should be directed by an attorney to the management or administration office. Reasonable actions are to be taken in such cases to avoid any kind of point less allegations and violation of the person’s right under law.

E. Whistleblower Protections
Abuse of Authority refers to decision, conduct or act that lies outside the scope of violator’s duty scope. Failure in taking actions which are within the alleged violator's authority may constitute abuse of authority if the violator's motive or purpose is to treat the employee unreasonably, intimidate or harass under the applicable facts and circumstances (Anna, Sentot and Ismail 2020). The whistleblower policy of Ramsay Healthcare, the organization strives in providing an independent, secured, structured and transparent format for the purpose of reporting in good faith for suspected violations of ethical code or any kind of improper event or practice. Employees, retainers, directors, professionals and business associates engaged with the organization are eligible in submitting protected disclosure under the whistleblower protection policy. It is hereby clarified that patients / attendants of patients are also covered under the definition of whistle blower. In case of an employee or director is found to be demonstrating or disclosing evidence relating to an unethical occurring may constitute the ethical breach of code and the individual may be held against potential retaliation. A whistleblower plans to reports of any unethical activity is recommended to do so only after collecting adequate and correct facts for the purpose of substantiating the complaint raised by him and it should not be based on mere hearsay or perception. The whistleblower can choose to remain anonymous but if comfortable the person can share their identity. If and when the identity of the whistle blower is provided, the fact shall be kept confidential and under no given circumstances shall the name of the person be released unless there is a requirement by the legal or regulatory body. The whistleblower is expected to cooperate with the proceedings and actions conducted by the ethics committee and the company has the right in sharing the investigation outcome with concerned whistleblower. The whistleblower in such a case must hold strong reasons to back his or her allegations. The role of the whistleblower lies in reporting an event with all known information and facts and he is neither expected to act as an investigator. Protected disclosure will be dealt by Ramsay’s Ethics board as the case may be. This means that no action as such will be taken if and only if the complaint raised by the whistleblower is seen to be made in good faith and there should be no misconduct confirmed during the course of investigation. The company will provide complete protection to the whistleblower against threat, disciplinary action, retaliation, and termination of service, promotion refusal, demotion or any kind of indirect means to cause obstruction for the whistleblower to continue his work in the office premises in an independent manner. In case of victimization of the whistleblower is noticed, the ethics committee will take action against it and a warning for the same will be provided.

F. Enforcement
Code of ethics establishes parameters for professional conduct. The code provides proper standards that enable the worker to refer to in any situation of moral dilemmas. Enforcement of Ethical Code is significant in protecting professional integrity and at the same time establishing responsible and fair practices. Enforcing code of ethics includes the creation of investigation procedure for imposing sanctions and investigating allegations, fraudulent behavior on individuals violating the code. If there has been any instance where any individual is feeling harassed due to their culture, colour or any kind of discrimination. Ramsay healthcare expects its member to have a voice and be fearless in reporting such incidents on work campus. Ramsay Healthcare ensures in protecting their members. The employees are expected to be honest, fair and perform the right things. The company does not engage bullying, exploitation, and harassment of sexual kind. The Ethics committee consistently and constantly reinforces the ethical code for maintaining established set of standards.

References
Airlines, E., 2018.Code of ethics and business conduct. Retrieved in Dec.

Anna, M., Sentot, I.W. and Ismail, R., 2020.Business Ethics for Hospital Business Sustainability. In PROCEEDING THE 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BUSINESS, ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMICS (The 2nd ICBAE 2020).

Desbois, D., 2020. The IFIP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: Some elements of context, content and reflection. HAL.

Jeong, G.S., 2017. The influencing factor of consciousness of biomedical ethics, moral sensitivity and critical thinking disposition on the Code of Nurses Ethics of nursing student. Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society, 18(11), pp.544-555.

Miller, B., 2017. Nurses in the know: The history and future of advance directives. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 22(3).

Petersen, C., Berner, E.S., Embi, P.J., Fultz Hollis, K., Goodman, K.W., Koppel, R., Lehmann, C.U., Lehmann, H., Maulden, S.A., McGregor, K.A. and Solomonides, A., 2018. AMIA’s code of professional and ethical conduct 2018. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 25(11), pp.1579-1582.

Saygili, E. and Ozturkoglu, Y., 2020. Patients’ rights and professional conduct issues in hospitals’ codes of ethics. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare.

Schmidt, B.J., MacWilliams, B.R. and Neal-Boylan, L., 2017.Becoming inclusive: a code of conduct for inclusion and diversity. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(2), pp.102-107.