Evaluation of Mental Health Policies within the UK Health System

This report delves into the realm of mental health within the UK's healthcare system, concentrating on the National Service Framework (NSF) and its specific implications for older adults. The assignment begins with an introduction to health and social care services, highlighting the NSF as a key policy initiative designed to improve the well-being of older people. The main body of the report provides a detailed discussion of the NSF, including its standards, strategies, and measurable goals. It explores how the framework addresses the unique challenges faced by older individuals, such as issues related to respect, intermediate care, and the promotion of an active, healthy life. The report also examines the evolution of the NSF, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvements and technological advancements in delivering better services. The conclusion reiterates the significance of health and social care, emphasizing the importance of government policies, quality standards, and technological upgrades in enhancing the well-being of all users, especially older people.

Mental Health in the UK
Health System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Discussion of the National Service Framework (NSF) in Relation to Older People..................1
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Health and social care services are referred to those services which are provided to an
individual for the betterment in their in their health and well being (Zeanah, 2018). The examples
includes about the hospitals, health care centres, community centres and many more which
works for the providing health and social care services to their users. The following assignment
is based on the policies which have been framed for some specific group for the improvement in
their health and providing them with the specific needs as well. NHS has introduced a
framework of several policies which are made for making improvement in the health and well
being of older people, the name of framework introduced is “National Service Framework for
Older People.” In this assignment, the discussion will be made on the policies included in this
framework and the how these current policies are developed in relation to the group of older
people for making improvement in their conditions.
MAIN BODY
Discussion of the National Service Framework (NSF) in Relation to Older People
National Service Framework were formed by NHS as the ten year programs which are
formed with the purpose of making improvement in the health and well being of the older people
suffering from various diseases (Prasher and Janicki, 2018). NHS (National Health Services) had
set measurable goals for the achievement of the goals and objectives for which it has been
developed and the application this programme was only in England. The description of this
framework has been provided as under:
 Standards were set to which it is important for them to provide the users with the
services.
 Strategies were also made for the proper implementation and success of the plan.
 Measures were also taken to make progress in the plan within specified period of time.
 It was also focused on making improvement in the quality of services and making
reduction in the variations and deviations caused in the work.
However, the first framework was formed in September 1999 and also the quality
standards were set for the improvement in the mental health services. It was mainly concerned
with the improvement in treatment of several diseases such as heart disease care, diabetes
services and care for the older people.
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There were many policies which are made for the improvement and betterment of older
aged people as they do have many issues and diseases impacting upon the their health and well
being. As earlier the older aged people were not provided with due care and importance in
providing them with the services (Berry and et. al., 2018). There were also many reasons due to
which these old aged people were facing these kind of issues in the properly getting treatment for
the betterment in their health. Due to lack of availability of proper equipments, it is not possible
for the health care organisations to provide them with the proper treatment. It was also related to
the ignorance of condition of old aged people as they remain unreported and were hot given any
preference at all so that they could also be provided with proper treatment important for making
improvement in their conditions as well.
The behaviour of the employees working in the health and social care service
organisations were also not working in a good way as without proper way to behave, it is not
possible to know about the exact situation of the patient and the treatment which is needed to be
provided to them (Kilbourne and et. al., 2018). The medicines available for providing treatment
in the health and social care organisation were also available for providing treatment to the old
aged people but these medicines were not able to be provided to them in the case of some critical
situations to the users of those services. So in order to make improvement in the condition of
older patients suffering from chronic conditions, there were four themes which were introduced
and the discussion is provided as under:
Respecting the Individual: Due to the increased infringement of dignity and unfair
discrimination of the individuals working in the health and social care organisations, this theme
was proposed so as to increase in the concern of well being of old aged people. So due to the
increased age discrimination in the people in different ages, the following framework was made
and these themes were also implemented so that they could help in providing the aged people
with better health and social care services (Bensonn, Thistlethwaite and Moore, 2018). So in the
following theme, every individual is treated equally and the employees in the health and social
care organisations will work for the betterment in the well being of the health and social care
users.
Intermediate Care: There are also several activities which are occurring the working of health
and social care organisations which are also an important aspect to be taken into consideration by
the health and social care organisations such as related to the unnecessary admissions in the
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hospitals, early discharges than needed impacting negatively on the health and well being of the
users. So it is important for them to keep their services on time and make the admission and
discharge of the patients on time and when needed. This will help in the development of better of
services to be provided to the old ages people. The main benefits of these services will be
provided to the old aged people as they should be provided with utmost care for their good
health, well being and easy recovery from the disease or illness (Mulvale and et. al., 2019).
Promotion of Active Healthy Life: In the health and social care organisations, the patients
should be provided with good care and should be made aware about the ways with the help of
which it will be possible for them to make improvement in their daily life and well being. Such
as the nutrition diets, which are important for the well being of an individual so that they could
prevent themselves from the diseases and also their families as well. There are different nutrition
diets, exercises for people of different age groups and hence, it becomes important for the health
and social care organisations to focus on providing their users with the best possible services.
With the help of governmental and non governmental agencies have worked a lot in
making improvement in the current ways of providing services to the users. So looking upon the
increasing concerns and quality issues in the services delivered by the health and social care
organisations, these improvements has been made such as setting up quality standards which
helps the organisation to make improvement in the services provided by them to their users. In
addition to this, non governmental agencies has also contributed in enhancing their ways of
providing services to the users. For exmaple, with the help of training and development
programs, it has been made possible for them to provide the employees of health and social care
organisations to learn new ways of working so that they could be implemented in the working of
organisations. Training and development programs not only makes the employees aware about
the way of providing services but also makes the personal and professional development of the
employees possible. This will help them in getting the ways to interact with the users to find out
and develop new ways to provide them with better care and support for their good betterment
and recovery from the disease (Semrau and et. al., 2018). In today's world, the health and social
care organisations are equipped with the latest technology with the help of which, there are
several changes which are being made in the health and social care services providers such as
with the installation of new machines, it becomes important to provide the employees with
training programs which will enhance their knowledge and acknowledge that ways with the help
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of which they will be know how to make use of these equipments in order to make improvement
in the services of the organisation. In this way, the impact of the changes in the provision of of
services in the health and social care organisations have impacted upon their ways of working
and provided them with the new ways of working. This has led to improvement in delivering
services to not only to adults but also to the older people as well with the improved ways of
working and delivering best possible services.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment, it has been concluded that health and social care is an
important sector which works for the betterment and well being of the individuals as well as
adults also. In addition to this, the proper implementation of the policies made by the
government and following properly the quality standards set will also help the organisations to
deliver better services for healthy and well being of the users of the services. Lastly, the
conclusion has been drawn about the continuous upgradation of the technologies in the working
of health and social care organisation which will provide them with better services.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Zeanah, C. H. ed., 2018. Handbook of infant mental health. Guilford Publications.
Prasher, V. P. and Janicki, M. P. eds., 2018. Physical Health of Adults with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities. Springer.
Berry, H. L. and et. al., 2018. The case for systems thinking about climate change and mental
health. Nature Climate Change. 8(4). p.282.
Kilbourne, A. M. and et. al., 2018. Measuring and improving the quality of mental health care: a
global perspective. World psychiatry. 17(1). pp.30-38.
Bensonn, J., Thistlethwaite, J. and Moore, P., 2018. Mental Health Across Cultures: a practical
guide for health professionals. CRC Press.
Mulvale, G. M. and et. al., 2019. Lost in transition or translation? Care philosophies and
transitions between child and youth and adult mental health services: a systematic
review. Journal of Mental Health. 28(4). pp.379-388.
Semrau, M. and et. al., 2018. Developing capacity-building activities for mental health system
strengthening in low-and middle-income countries for service users and caregivers,
service planners, and researchers. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences. 27(1). pp.11-
21.
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