Contemporary Issue In Healthcare Management : Assignment

Contemporary Issue In
Healthcare Management

INTRODUCTION
Health care is the most emerging sector in the United Kingdom which covers the medical
and dental practices, hospital activities and other health care activities. This field includes private
and public sector to give a better healthcare to the public in an effective manner. This report is
about the issues that are rising in the field of health due to some reasons and that's why it is
struggling to meet its requirements(Cherry and Jacob, 2016). It includes the major issues like
policies, resources, structure and some other issues that are related to healthcare opportunities. It
involves the key hurdles which are involved in restricting to achieve the highest goal which it
supposed to, through offering treatments. This report is finding out various key issues which are
related to National Health Service widely known for offering health care programs across the
United Kingdom.
MAIN BODY
The major objective of Healthcare management is to combine all departments under one
umbrella with unique equipments, specific problems and unique yet differing view points and
lack of finance. There are two criteria in healthcare management that has an impact on patients
and management staff. The management is one unit which is employed by the hospitals to satisfy
their patients, yet the healthcare teams are striving to improve the requirement to serve the
society best. There are various attributes in health care management on which the healthcare
survives including operations, human resource, financial, strategic, quality maintenance and
health reform(Brown and et. al., 2017).
Healthcare management is defined to be an administration of the service of an healthcare
institution and make sure that they match with the established standards (Modell, 2012). The
major functions which are carried out in this approach are administration, management and
overseeing of medical facilities which are being offered to the public. Every institution have
people assigned in this domain who are responsible in making sure that all the operations are
carried out in an smooth manner. There are two kinds of people which are considered in this
approach which are generalist and specialist. Generalist are responsible in overlooking of
situation and operations and specialist are confined to their domains exclusively. There are
numerous key features which could be considered as of interest to people working in healthcare
management. A brief description of key features related to healthcare management are as
follows:
Optimum use of resources: The first and foremost feature which has been available for
healthcare management is that it ensures that resources are utilised in the right manner leading to
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formation of right results. A healthcare institution is provided with numerous resources such as
financial, technology, machines and equipment which are to be utilised in their best capacity so
that better results could be availed. This is segment which is crucial as most of the organisation
fail in getting best out of available resources. The National health service abbreviated as NHS
has failed on the management on making optimum use of available resources which led to
decline in the quality which is being offered by them.
Value services: The value in terms of service are defined to be services which are worth
against money which have been charged for the same. The minimal disruption on the operations
segment helps in providing quality patient care to the clients. The value services have been
offered by institution through forming and building a suitable culture of welfare, safety and
security which further makes sure that practices which relates to patient care match with specific
requirements of patients (Disler, Gallagher and Davidson, 2012).
Customer oriented practices: A healthcare institution is known to provide suitable and
quality health and social care services to its clients. The attempts are made out in order to fulfil
medical and health requirements of the people leading to better results. The outcomes in terms of
health are taken into consideration so that better services are offered to service user. The
outcomes based care which is considered relates to provision of adequate services to people. The
people working in an institution are known to comply with strategies and practices which are
formed to make sure that there is an improved collaboration and cooperation leading to higher
patient satisfaction.
Employee Engagement: the people who wish to be a part of healthcare institution aim to
give back to the society and achieve something bigger than themselves. It is essential for
employers to provide a decent extent of autonomy to people and embed compassion and empathy
in services which are being offered by them. The employee are to be considered an integral part
of the institution and must be equipped with resources and authority so that they are able to
maintain harmony and cohesiveness in the working environment (Spector, Zhou and Che, 2014).
Benchmarks: The benchmarks are defined to be the reference to which services of an
institution could be compared. The government have formed numerous benchmarks relating to
service provision which are to be conformed by NHS so that ideal service could be catered to the
employees. The targets for excellence which have been formed by the government are to be
carried out in form of reduction of expenses and simultaneously identify manner through
improved service delivery could be achieved.
Organisational resources and structure
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An organizational structure has its own importance to perform its functions and grow,
similarly the healthcare sector is also divided in several structure, it is segmented to get reduce
the problems but it is may lead to some hurdles and inconvenience. Organizational structures
refers to the level of management within a healthcare institution such as NHS and these levels
allow efficient management of in various departments. It has several levels on the top of the
chart it has administration like board which is responsible for all the decisions and new changes
in the NHS, but it can put some strict decision that may raise some problems for service user.
They invest money to improve the structure of the organization but what happened if they stop
funding for equipments, service and resources that will be the most harmful thing for patients
because there treatments and basic needs are funded by them(Berman and et. al., 2012).
After board members the administration has all the rights to take decision and they
provide the services on the ground. They manages each and every requirement of the staff and
patients too that make them comfortable and treat them best. The administration is liable to
follow the code of conduct, they can't give personal information about any service user and staff
member. However, they keep the entire record of a person such as their name, medical report,
etc., if they miscommunicate the information then they have to pay for it. Because any wrong
information or lack of communication can will give a dangerous result. They take decisions on of
for the patients but that can be wrong for service user. For an instance, a disable person can't go
to the next floor of the building. Their attendants and the patients themselves face trouble cause
changing the floors that can be jeopardize for them. They can get injured by falling down. Under
administration there are various departments which directly deals with patients one of them is
information services which provides information about the facilities, they admits the user ,
prepares bill and also maintains records. But there small mistake can mess with a patients life
when they interchanges the record of one person to another(Wagner, Alves and Raposo, 2011).
There are various resources in National Healthcare Service in terms of equipments,
human resources, amenities for the patients. But there is no proper maintenance of the
equipments increases the disease of a person cause until there is no diagnose their actual
problems till then their treatments will not get started and that is really unfair to them. Inefficient
equipments leads many problems and that is one of the major issue in treatments. If an employee
is not able to aware about the patients then that patient will suffer from disease for a long time.
For example, if a special child is not getting the appropriate therapy, as they don't like loud
music but the care taker plays a loud music then the patient will get hyper and loose their control.
They will get in a situation where their problems are going increasing.
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The human resources department hires care takers and other staff that will take care of
service users. Care taker can be doctors and nursing staff who treats the patients but there
irregularity in training is not good for the patients. Nursing staff should be well trained because
there are numerous kinds of patients and they must be able to deal with different patients, there
carelessness can be bring many issues such as if an Alzheimer patients would not get the
therapeutic treatments then they can be in big mess cause they are not able to tell their address
or name to someone. The human resource department needs to conducts training for patients
because training and support is essential for them(Holzmann, 2013).
The patients pays fee for service what they get in NHS to ave the time for painstakingly
documenting care, to assure the correct coding of patients diagnoses and procedures. But they
feel that it not worth for them cause they are getting problems and not get the expected outcomes
even they are not getting the organized medicine routine that is essential to be followed for a
better result. Lack of modern technology is also a drawback because technological advancement
gives a huge range of equipments that is needed to communicate between departments and also
capable to diagnoses several medical disease and also gives a better and quick treatments in a
better way so that a patient live their life, but absence of these kinds of equipments and
instruments is not efficient for the patients and it is one of the big issue.
Healthcare policy and practice
As it is every necessary for every organization to maintain a policies and practices to pursue its
operations effectively in order to serve the society effectively and efficiently. There are
healthcare policy and practice is one of core issue in NHS. NHS has its specific code of conduct
which has to be followed by every staff member. The healthcare policies contains such practices
through which it seeks to improve health and safety management system to meet its vision and
goal according to expectations. It maintenance the environment at work place to minimize the
the incidences. This includes proper legislation which describes some rules and regulations
which is must be followed by its employees. To accomplish its services it investing money in the
training of volunteers and employees both so that they can satisfy the needs of service users. It is
enabling the learning techniques to get offer the contentment to the user through productivity and
positivity at workplace(Northcott and Ma'amora, 2012). It ensures that all the employees should
get worthwhile and rewarding jobs that gives them confidence, but to do this it conducts tanning
and support programmes to increase their trust and safety measure. After doing so many things
still the NHS is not up to the mark of safety standards. Even NHS commits to provide support
and opportunities for staff to maintain their health, well – being and safety. Thus, the employee
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also has priorities towards the end user to give them best treatment through cooperating with
other employees. The policies and practices are related to the employees or volunteers or staff
which is providing treatment to the service user, they has some liabilities towards the client, they
are responsible to take care of people who affected because of them, if they experience any kind
of perils then they should inform to the authorities who needed to take appropriate actions. They
should coordinate with other employees. All of these are the policies which have to be followed
by the employees because they has a drastic impact on patients as in terms of conducting policies
framework so the employees are abide with these policies but there are some loop wholes that
are limiting it to improving the health of patients. For example, it has a policy to coordinates
with the other employees but may be they are not associating the with each other and that's why
there is no betterment in the service user health. Because this coordination can give some better
results but their improper communication draws the user in hazardous situations that fails the
policies and procedures that are govern by the organization. Thus, these conditions leads to huge
problems and that's why it is not able to meet the standard and safety of healthcare
sector(Kiersma, Plake and Darbishire, 2011).
A healthcare institution undertaken numerous practices which are related to safety, care
and security so that right environment is created along with offering of right services. All
practices and efforts which are undertaken by healthcare institution are aimed to provide clients
with safe and high quality services residing in clinical settings (Huber, 2017). The reason for
which these care and safety practices are emphasized upon is that NHS have been exposed to
major accidents and allegations which state that services which offered by this institution are of
sub-standard quality. This have emerged to be one of the biggest consequence of management
failure by the concerned in an organisation. Therefore it has become crucial for organisation such
as NHS to create a culture of safety and encourage the same so that circumstances which can
cause potential harm to safety of care givers should be minimised.
Healthcare practitioners are known to be possess in-depth knowledge and skill which is
helpful to them in rendering effective services and at the same time experience advancement in
their career goals. But their lack of proper utilisation in provision of services which does not
match with the industry benchmarks. The government have formulated numerous policies and
practices which ensure that right services are facilitated along with conformation to safety
standards. The lack of specialist care have been one of the crucial reason for provision of
improper care and services. It is essential for this institution to critically consider the health
requirements of people so that better results are availed (Vom Brocke and et. al., 2014). The
complex organisation structure and absence of communication amongst supporting reason
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encouraging improper use of organisation resources which ultimately leads to mismanagement of
the organisational resources.
It is essential to gather enough information on present circumstances through research
and available evidences so that best practices for this institution could be identified. The best
practices are to be supported with a framework which ensures that plan formulated matches with
present requirement of an organisation. The primary practice which is to be considered is that
people should be hired on the basis of their roles which will be catered by them within institution
(Candlin and Roger, 2013). The management structure which has been formed for the
organisation should be capable of defining clear authority and responsibility among members
aided by communication channel so that there are lesser chances of misshapen in healthcare
delivery. When it comes to measuring safety metrics are to be improved so that physician and
practitioners are aware of what's important for the organisation.
Making customer's a priority for the institution will carry a positive impact on the manner
services are delivered to service users. It is essential to provide feedback to clients as well as
their families so that they could be encouraged and supported in leading a healthy life. There is a
vital need to exercise control over the distinct resources which are possessed by an organisation
so that they could be utilised in best possible capacity (4 Best Practices for Successful Hospital
Management, 2011). The assets inclusion of workforce should be tracked so that there is
minimum chances of under-utilisation. There are numerous resources and services which are
outsourced by an healthcare service provide which is to be ensured that it is availed from the
right sources and companies. The justification for same is that clients in the healthcare institution
are vulnerable and low on immunity therefore, they are to be catered with best quality and value
oriented services.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that care and safety are referred to as crucial segments
in the service delivery. The failure of the management to deal with resources in proper manner
should be countered through forming a right system leading to attainment of goals and
objectives. The formulation and implementation of right practices make sure that there is a
significant reduction in the morbidity and mortality of people. The opting of safe practices has
enhanced quality of services of healthcare institution. The framework which has been catered
through safe practices have been successful in achieving safe outcome on behalf of organisation.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
A business institution avails numerous opportunities through which aspects of care and
safety related to people. Some of the recommendations are as follows:
 It has become crucial for institution to incorporate a systematic approach which leads to
identification and prevention of medical error leading to provision of right care.
 There is a need for development of culture for safety and care of patients so that distinct
needs of service users are fulfilled.
 Forming a right collaboration between quality and safety team so that alteration can be
carried out in existing approach to service delivery.
 The communication within an institution should be emphasized in which finding and
errors are to be conveyed to patients families and management. The adequate language
and cultural beliefs so that right discussion could be carried out.
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REFERENCES
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Wagner Mainardes, E., Alves, H. and Raposo, M., 2011. Stakeholder theory: issues to resolve.
Management decision. 49 (2), pp.226-252.
Holzmann, V., 2013. A meta-analysis of brokering knowledge in project management.
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Northcott, D. and Ma'amora Taulapapa, T., 2012. Using the balanced scorecard to manage
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Kiersma, M. E., Plake, K. S. and Darbishire, P. L., 2011. Patient safety instruction in US health
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