Exploring Healthcare Systems and Policies: A Critical Analysis

The provided assignment content consists of a collection of journal articles and book chapters related to health care, risk, safety, clinical practice, and public health. The topics covered include electronic health records, healthcare reform, patient-driven health care models, risk communication, and quality improvement in health care. Additionally, the content includes references to legislation such as the Data Protection Act and Health and Safety at Work etc Act. Overall, the assignment content appears to be focused on exploring various aspects of health care and public health.

Health and Safety in HSC

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................1
Task 1a.......................................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.1 Reviewing systems, policies and procedures for communicating information on health and
safety......................................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.2 Responsibilities for management of health and safety..............................................................2
task 1b........................................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.3 Analysing priorities related to health and safety.......................................................................3
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................................4
LO 2.1 Care planning for individuals through information from risk assessment................................4
LO 2.2 Influence of one aspect of health and safety..............................................................................4
LO 2.3 Dilemma encountered in implementing systems and policies for health and safety.................5
LO 2.4 Analysing effects of non-compliance of health and safety legislations.....................................5
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................................6
LO 3.1 Ways to monitor health and safety policies and practices.........................................................6
LO 3.2 Effectiveness of health and safety policies and practices..........................................................6
LO 3.3 Own contribution to health and safety needs of individuals.....................................................7
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................................10

Table of Figures
Figure 1: Organizational Structure 3
Figure 2: Gibb's Reflective Cycle 8

INTRODUCTION
One of the most crucial aspects to which a society and its governing bodies need to pay a lot of
attention health and social care. It is a crucial part because of reason it has a direct impact over
working, progress as well as development of the society (Swan, 2009). For firms in health and social
care industry, it is crucial that health and safety of employees as well as various stakeholders is
ensured. Present research assignment discusses about different health and safety legislations which are
developed and implemented by management at a care setting in East London.
TASK 1A
LO 1.1 Reviewing systems, policies and procedures for communicating information on health and
safety
Reviewing Systems
The health and social care industry is governed and regulated by numerous kinds of legislations and
policies to ensure that firms in this sector are able to contribute their maximum towards
betterment of the society. Keeping this in mind, UK government has developed large number of
regulations to effectively monitor working of organizations in this sector and regulate their
working to a great extent (Nyblade, 2009).
Policies and Procedures
It is necessary for enterprises working in this industry to comply with such rules and regulations, or
else it can create a negative impact over image of the firm as well as its market position. Further,
there are various regulations that govern how health care organizations communicate and share
information on health and safety at workplace. Sharing information related to working of
healthcare enterprises is essential, mainly because of reason as it helps in ensuring health and
safety at the workplace. Over the years, various regulations have been developed by UK
government for the same (Blas and Kurup, 2010).
One such policy is of the Care Home Regulations Act 2003. It states that, manager(s) of a health
and social care organization needs to be highly trained and proficient in different aspects of
leadership and management. This means that they must possess the relevant skills and use them
regularly at the workplace.
Communicating Information
Herein, the abilities such as communication skills and cognitive have a crucial role to play for
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managers of the care home. It is mainly because of reason that, it would enable them to
communicate and share information on health and safety at workplace in an efficient and effective
manner (Lagu and et. al, 2010). Further, the act also states that these managers must carry out their
duties in such a manner that wastage and risk of hazards can be kept to a minimum. This piece of
regulation has proved to be very effective and useful for organizations in the health and social care
industry because they have been able to communicate and share information on health and safety
at workplace.
LO 1.2 Responsibilities for management of health and safety
Health
Management, as the term suggest, need to organize functioning of an enterprise in an effective
manner so that, health and safety of different stakeholders can be ensured. For firms in the health
and social care industry, it is crucial that an effective organizational structure should be developed
and implemented at the workplace (Pittet, Allegranzi and Boyce, 2009). It plays an important role
in determining success of the organization. There are many kinds of organizational structures but
line structure is followed in the given healthcare. Main reason behind selection of this structure is
that, the firm faces a lot of pressure from different environmental factors and forces. Through the
line structure, company can face such kind of pressure with great ease and comfort along with
attaining organizational goals of providing highly effective health care services to users or their
patients (Sheldon, 2011). According to this reason, a chain of command is followed at the
workplace as employees are required to consult and take permissions from head(s) of their
department before deciding on which treatment is to be given to patient(s). Herein, management of
the care home has developed various departments at workplace, such as Oncology Department,
Gynaecology Department, Physiotherapy Department, etc. (Blumenthal, 2009).
Safety
In context of health and safety at workplace, one of the major responsibilities of the department head is
to conduct regular meetings with employees to ensure compliance of all rules and regulations.
These meetings are important for the department head because it allows the concerned head(s) to
discharge their responsibilities and also ensure health and safety at the workplace. Additionally, the
department head also has to conduct training of employees so that; they can have thorough
understanding of health and safety practices which must be followed at the workplace (Kaplan and
et. al, 2010).
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Figure 1: Organizational Structure
TASK 1B
LO 1.3 Analysing priorities related to health and safety
Health and safety of employees as well as various stakeholders who may be present at workplace
of the given health and social care firm is of utmost importance, primarily because of reason that it has
a direct influence over working of the organization as well as effectiveness of its operations (World
Health Organization, 2009).
Health
In this sense, management of the health care firm has prioritised its health and safety needs and tries to
meet them according to the same. One of the major priorities for the organization is related to ensuring
that patients or the care users do not get injured while undergoing physiotherapy sessions. Herein
doctors as well as the care workers need to pay special attention to such sessions of the patients so as to
ensure that they are doing it in the correct manner and are not overdoing the exercises prescribed to
them (Hasson, 2010). In most scenarios, it has been observed that patients sometimes get hurt because
either they do the exercises in a wrong manner or they over-do it.
Safety
Another priority decided by management of the organization is related to safety of the equipment.
It is a well-known fact that tools and equipment which are used in delivering physiotherapy sessions to
relevant care users, are very expensive, due to which they need to be provided extra care and caution.
Therefore, hospital management tries to ensure that these equipment are not damaged in any manner,
rather they are properly maintained (Stringhini, 2010). If they are not cared in a prescribed manner,
then there are chances that those who would use the machine may get injured.
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TASK 2
LO 2.1 Care planning for individuals and organisational decision making through information from risk
assessment
Risk assessment is a key component of operations and functioning of enterprises such as the
given care setting, as it helps management of the organization in developing effective plans for
individuals with different needs and demands. A risk assessment of the care setting was conducted and
it was observed that management of the organization do not pay attention to regulations provided by
the Data Protection Act (Data Protection Act, 1998).
For Individuals
Due to this very reason, on many occasions, data and information about care users is accessed and
obtained by different unauthorized individuals. Furthermore, the given scenario also has proved to be
very dangerous for the organization on many occasions, as its functioning got affected in a significant
manner. Due to reason, activities such as organizational planning and decision making systems are
affected in a negative manner. In this sense, it may not be wrong to say that the organization is facing
severe risks as its activities are now being very closely monitored by various regulatory bodies such as
the Care Quality Commission (Marmot and et. al, 2012). An impact of this risk faced by the firm can be
assessed in terms of decline in faith and loyalty of the customers.
For Organisation
Further, the risk assessment also provided vital information that performance of staff at the care
home is not as per guidelines developed by authorities and that of the organization itself. This proved to
be a hindering force in delivery of care services to the users and help them to lead a healthy life
(Aveyard, 2014). Herein, it was observed that quality of operations of organization were getting
adversely influenced, which in turn was leading to development of a negative image in the market as
well as among the stakeholders.
LO 2.2 Influence of one aspect of health and safety
Health and safety policies have a crucial role to play in the process of working of different
organizations in the given industry. This is mainly because of reason that it determines success or
failure of the firm and also its very existence in the market.
Influence of Impact
In the above question it was observed that the HSC institution's practices are not in total compliance
with that of the norms stated in Data Protection Act (Chandler, Fletcher and Volkow, 2009). It is an
important aspect of working of health care organizations, primarily because of reason that it helps in
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measuring performance of the given firm and also assesses impact of its working over health care
practices of the industry as well as on the users. In UK's health and social care industry, it is one of the
most prominent policies which govern working of institutes and firms in this sector. It is the main piece
of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the country. According to this law, there is
no need to keep records and data of activities for domestic use; but anyone holding the same
information for some other purposes need to comply with norms of the data protection act (Vogus,
Sutcliffe and Weick, 2010).
This would affect operations of the care home in sense that it will help in encouraging hospital
administrators in keeping and maintaining clear records of patients, along with taking steps to
safeguard it. Furthermore, this act also has significant impact over working of the organization and also
its existence in the market. It can be supported through fact that compliance of this act will enable the
hospital management to develop effective systems with which performance of the institute can be
improved by great margins (Reeves and et. al, 2011). Additionally, record keeping and data protection
would help management at the hospital to deliver much effective care services to the patients.
LO 2.3 Dilemma encountered in implementing systems and policies for health and safety and security
There can be numerous situations and circumstances wherein health and social care organizations
may have to face dilemma while delivering care services to users in terms of their health and safety.
Because of this reason on many occasions, functioning of the organization may get negatively affected.
Health and Safety
While implementing systems and policies for health and safety one of the prominent dilemma that
was faced was related to guidelines and regulations described in Data Protection Act (Heyman,
Alaszewski and Shaw, 2010). It is a very crucial component for working of health care firms such as
the given care home to safeguard data about its patients in every possible way. For the same latest
advanced technologies can be used.
Security
But while implementing the same in present organization, it was observed that management was
reluctant in using new methods for protecting and maintaining data about the care users. Rather they
were more interested in using old methods, i.e. paper and pen technology to maintain data about the
service users. This created a dilemma because authorities were insisting on using traditional techniques
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of data base management, there were some members of the management team who stated that latest
and advanced technology must be executed at workplace so as to create, maintain and safeguard data
about care users (Vance, Howe and Dellavalle, 2009).
LO 2.4 Analysing effects of non-compliance of health and safety legislations
Health and social care industry is one of the highly regulated market places in the country, as
there are numerous rules and regulations which govern working of firms in this sector. Therefore, it
becomes important for companies in health and social care industry that they follow rules and
regulations in terms of health and safety, or else their operations could get negatively influenced along
with development of a negative image among various stakeholders (Moffitt, 2011). One of the
prominent aspects that could be affected is that of service quality. According to Blumenthal and
Tavenner (2010), a major reason that explains development of such legislations in the first place is that
it helps in developing as well as maintaining certain quality standards at workplace. Decline in quality
of services could mean that the given health care organization may not be able to deliver high quality
services to patients and care users. This could result in non-attainment of its objective to help people
lead a healthy life. If in a situation, patients are provided with bad services when could put their life
into a state of jeopardy, then it could be very dangerous for the firm, as its license could be cancelled
(Purnell, 2012).
TASK 3
LO 3.1 Ways to monitor and review health and safety policies and practices
It is a well-known fact that health and safety is a crucial aspect of operations of firms in health
and social care sector, because of which management of firms in this sector need to spend considerable
amount of time developing policies and systems that ensure the same.
Monitoring
Authorities of the given organization need to monitor and review these policies and systems on a
constant basis, to ensure that they are helping the organization in delivering high quality services
(Blumenthal and Tavenner, 2010). There are many ways through which such a monitoring can be
carried out. Conducting regular meetings is a very effective method that can help in monitoring and
reviewing health and safety policies at the given workplace. This is mainly because of reason that it
would enable authorities to discuss this aspect amongst themselves and attempt at developing the best
method through which health and safety of different stakeholders in hospital can be ensured (Catalano,
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2009). Further, in these meetings, staff members can also be included.
Reviewing
This would result in identifying different loopholes that were negatively affecting health and safety
policies of the organization. This would happen mainly because of reason that such employees work at
would have great knowledge about actual operations of the company as well as the areas that it needs to
improve, in terms of health and safety. In addition to it, conducting mock drills and tests can be very
useful as well to monitor and review health and safety legislations and policies of the hospital. This
would provide good amount of details to the management and help them to understand whether or not
their health and safety policies have proved to be effective for cited organization (Adashi, 2010).
LO 3.2 Effectiveness of health and safety policies and practices
The given health care organisation follows a wide variety of policies and regulations for
developing and maintaining health and safety standards at the workplace. Although the firm follows
many such policies, but one of the most important ones for the organization is that of Health and Safety
at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA). This act states that it is the responsibility of employer of an health care
organization to safeguard and protect whosoever may be at premise of the organization, whether it may
be customers, care users, or any other such stakeholder (Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974). For
the same they need to conduct regular training and development sessions. This policy has proved to be
highly efficient and effective for the organization over the years, as it has allowed the authorities to
develop a unique image of firm in market and also provide effective care to the users. This is mainly
because of reason that it has provided management of the firm the capability with which it can improve
its performance by great margins, as they would have to conduct regular and thorough risk assessment
of the organization and also its working. Through the use of this policy, individuals such as care users,
employees, etc. have been made a lot safer (Best and et. al, 2012). It can be supported through fact that
regular risk assessment systems have had enabled the authorities to obtain thorough information about
areas where individuals in the organization may be put at risk; and thus work to eliminate the same.
LO 3.3 Evaluation of own contribution to health and safety needs of individuals
Reflecting upon own contribution towards workplace is very essential, mainly because of reason
that it provides concerned person with information about ways to improving the same.
 For me it is crucial that I assess my contribution to identifying and assessing health and safety
needs of individuals at the healthcare organization (Bennett, 2010). For the same I have used
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Gibb's Reflective Cycle. I decided to use this model mainly because of reason that it would
enable me to recognize different stages of my performance in the care home and gain a
comprehension about positives and negatives of my working (Barnett, 2012).
 First stage of this cycle is 'Observation'. During my tenure with the organization, I had noted
that one of the major issues in the hospital was related to data protection. Herein, data base
systems of the firm were so poor that any third party or unauthorized individuals could gain
access to it. In this context, I felt that the organization must use latest technologies in order to
protect data about its employees and care users and safeguard it.
 I was of the opinion that approach of management towards the same was negative and in
appropriate. Third stage of this cycle is 'evaluation'. Because of data about users and employees
being accessed by unauthorized personnel, I made an assessment that it was negatively affecting
image of the organization among its various stakeholders.
Through this situation, it can be analysed that lack of appropriate data protection measures was
one of the main reasons behind declining performance of the care home. Main reason behind it being
that employees and customers were not confident on the organization. And in many cases they did not
share accurate information about themselves in fear of their data being stolen. Therefore, in conclusion,
it may not be wrong to say that in appropriate and ineffective data management systems caused major
problems for the company. In this sense, I suggested to authorities of the care organization that they
must use latest technologies to manage and maintain data about the care users as well as the employees.
This recommendation proved to be very good, as performance of organization in market improved
substantially.
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Figure 2: Gibb's Reflective Cycle
(Source: Finlay, 2008)
CONCLUSION
Health and safety at workplace is very crucial because of reason that it is a way through which
performance of a health and social care organization can be improved by great margins, along with
motivating the employees to give their best performance and make significant contributions. During the
present study it was observed that the healthcare organization followed numerous policies, systems and
procedures which helped it in development of a healthy and safe workplace. But it does not follows
norms set out by the Data Protection Act.
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