Healthcare System Analysis and Reform Strategies

This assignment requires an in-depth analysis of the UK healthcare system, including its strengths and weaknesses. It also involves examining various reform strategies and best practices in health care management, such as integrated care, partnership working, and social media adoption in healthcare. The assignment draws on a range of sources, including academic papers, books, and online resources, to provide a comprehensive overview of the UK healthcare system and its potential for reform.

Running Head: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 1
Contemporary Issues in Health and
Social Care

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 2
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.1:......................................................................................................................................................3
Task 1.2:......................................................................................................................................................5
Task 1.3:......................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Contemporary health issues are the modern and current situations in the health and social care. It
includes various issues like elderly care, hospital care standards, funding and governments.
Social and health care issues are the issues which are of the public interest and there are several
components which may affect the public debate on these matters (Aveyard, 2014). Contemporary
concept of social and health care has developed the Health and Social Care (HSC) to a next level,
offering provisions as well as the capacity to deal with the social issues. It has made the health
care more advanced and it plays a vital role in the society to provide the medical services to the
sick people. The major objective of this report is to throw light on the significance of imparting
accurate and right health care related information to the population and avoid the situations of
confusion and misunderstandings due to exaggerated or improper data. So, it is very important to
use appropriate ways to approach the public domain.
This report discusses that how the information on social and health care assist the behaviors in
the health care context. In the report, the questions are answered on the basis of given case study.
The case study shows that the local Social Services Department did not provide proper care to
Mrs. Tata that has affected her health adversely. After few weeks of treatment in residential
homes, she died. Thus, the case study clearly shows the issue of safeguarding and negligence of
elderly care (Boyle, 2008). The below report includes different ways through which information
on health and social care could reach to public domain. There are some techniques which can be
used to disseminate this information to people. In the final task, it describes the ways in which
data relating to elderly care is presented that can affect the thoughts, attitudes and behavior of
population.
Task 1.1:
Health and social care sector is not only a sensitive sector but also it plays a crucial role for the
health of public. Normal people are very much aware about the social and health care issues and
most of the time they do not have data about the health and social care. To resolve this issue,
mass media came forward and they have succeeded in resolving the issue of information gap of
the public. For the people, it is very important to keep informed and updated about the health and
social care issues. Information is a significant component to develop the flow of knowledge via
society and it has various benefits (Cherry and Jacob, 2016). The information on social and

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 4
health care is very important when devastating current problems in health care. There should be
some effective ways to deliver the health and social care information to public domain. Health
care service providers are the major source of information that can create the knowledge base.
This knowledge base and information includes health issues, habits, prevention of diseases,
healthy life style, care services and rights of people for enhancing health among community
(Drummond, et al, 2015).
As mentioned in the case, the patient Mrs. Tata was not aware about her health issues,
precautions and the food that she could eat while suffering from Alzheimer. Elderly Care is one
of the biggest issues which information should be communicated to the public domain
effectively. Health care professionals can play an important role in this process as they collect
the information through researches and experiments and they develop the information after an
analysis process. So the data on social and health care is generated via process of evaluating and
gathering information. The information of health and social can care be reached to public domain
through media and other technologies (Glasby, and Dickinson, 2014). Modern technologies like
televisions and internet can be used as most popular ways to gather the information. In addition
to this, there are various health care professionals who write reports and articles which can be
referred by the society via World Wide Web. On the other side, these health care providers create
the information forums which any individual can use and collect the related data they need. As
per the case, television is the best way to approach the elderly people as they are not much active
on social media sites and internet (Weaver, 2016).
In addition to elderly care, the population should be aware about other issues also like
resourcing, care delivery, health care standards, child abuse, sexual harassment so that they can
receive and entitle for the services with higher standards in safe environment as per the given
standards and policies. This essential information can be reached to public domain by the health
care professionals via documentaries, newspapers, word of mouth etc. Furthermore, there are
various institutions that have responsibility to spread the needed information to the people such
as World Health Organization, Health Protection Agency and Centre for Disease Control
(Glasby, 2012). These organizations need to give the information to the people that where they
should make contact and whom they should contact of they are mistreated by the health care
centres and local social service departments. They should have the information related to the

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 5
treatment of the severe diseases and elderly care. This information can be availed through media,
journals, reports and newspapers. Sometimes, people fail to receive the right data of health and
social care that may have adverse impact on their health. In the given case, Mrs Tata was not
able to get right information about her care and health. The news given in the most popular
newspapers of UK can set an adverse image of Local Social Service Provider Agencies as they
failed deliver effective care to Mrs Tata (Jhonston and Andy, 2013). Thus, along with giving
information to the population, this is also essential to ensure that right information is reached to
the public domain.
Task 1.2:
Information is a vital component to enhance the flow of knowledge across the society and it
offers various advantages to the people. To the society, information can be disseminated via
newspapers, internet, television and educational campaigns. In addition to this, there are various
other modes through which information can be disseminated to population. These modes are
Social media networking sites, leaflets, posters, visual messages, radio, websites of health
institutions etc. There are several sources that play a crucial role in developing awareness among
population. With the help of tabloid newspapers such as Sun and Mirror, significant information
about the health and social care can be provide to the people in United Kingdom. For instance,
the information related to the elderly care can be disseminated through newspapers and
televisions because elderly people read the newspaper and they are rarely active on internet and
social networking sites (Grajales III, et al, 2014). To enhance awareness about the obesity, the
information can communicated through websites of gyms and health care centers. Generally, the
people join he gym to overcome the issues related to obesity so their gym trainers can assist them
towards this health and social issue i.e. obesity.
In this way, internet is the best way for information dissemination that allows the people to
access different information at the same time. Research results and written reports have been
shown by the health care service providers to grab more attention and give information towards
community. This is the most effective technique as with the advancement of technology, the
number of people using internet has been increased so presenting the knowledge on internet will
open the window to use information. In comparison to television, internet is more effective as
people may have the opportunity to refer the same article again. Television and newspapers have

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 6
not got that much advantage like internet as it is faster than newspapers (Grosios, Gahan, &
Burbidge, 2010). Thus, the internet is more referable and faster than other communication modes
with the elderly people. Moreover, there are various other benefits of accessing internet as a
mode of communicating data to the people. As the internet is much attached to the life of people
and they generally refer internet. Internet assists the health care professionals and domestic
health authorities to get the concern of people. The people who don’t have internet facilities, they
can gain the information from public campaigns and television. In addition to television and
internet, public campaigns are supported, but mass media can provide the audio visual effects to
the people to make it more efficient and grab more attention of people. Health care centers can
assist the people in getting the information about the appropriate service care and funding
structure for the care delivery. Heath care professional can make the people clear that to whom
they need to contact in the situation of abuse of health and social care (Mozley, 2017).
Thus, the above-mentioned communication techniques are effective but sometimes, the
information disseminated by these sources can develop panic situations among population by
overstraining the figures and enhancing fear in the people. Sometimes, people do this for
promoting their website but it has adverse impacts on public (Pharoah, and Harrow, 2011). These
panic conditions are created by the social media sites and newspapers which increase the fear
and anxiety to a specific situation like child abuse, AIDS, Elderly Care etc. So, it is very
essential to help the public so that they can deal with the conditions by giving real figures, facts
and information through above communication modes, developing creative messages provided to
public health, offering education via campaigns, awareness programs and seminars by availing
support from local government and private health care institutions. In the brief, it can be stated
that these techniques will be very effective in context of health and social care because these
techniques assist in taking the maximum attention of the society people. But they can cost more
money to information providers (Munn-Giddings, and Winter, 2013).
Task 1.3:
As mentioned-above, communication of heath related information is essential but more
important is the way in which the information is disseminated and presented to society’s people.
The way of information delivery can affect the attitudes, behaviors and thoughts of population.
In addition to this, the information should be disseminated by the use of suitable and reliable

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 7
source according to the needs of audiences. The preferences and requirements change with
different characteristics such as age, gender, education and social class. To communicate the
information, media sources are used by everyone and everywhere (Simonet, 2010). Due to that,
media has more power to make the public think, provide them ideas and make changes in their
behaviors. Confronting the health and social issues have various ways, they are control,
prevention and treatment. With the changes in behavior, the people can be forced towards the
cure and prevention from these emerging health issues. The advancement in technology and
globalization assisted the population in gaining more access to the internet and television (Tzeng,
2011).
In this, media plays a primary role in altering the lifestyle of people. Videos and shorts films are
the effective ways which can deliver the required information to the people and make an impact
on people’s behavior and thoughts. Mass media can make the people think about the particular
matter by providing them the required data. For example, there are various researches who have
mentioned that children mostly prefer to watch television and series (Ventola, 2014). By
watching this, they learn through this content and follow it. This effect of television can give a
significant advantage to the public. The health information related to contemporary health and
social issues and their cure can be telecasted on television so that young people can grab its
content. Through this, health care service providers can take first step towards the prevention of
these health and social issues. There are two ways in which media can communicate with the
people, one way is to give the information and another one is to shows the positive and negative
outcomes. Indicating the negative outcomes will give the people chance to think about the cure
and prevention. According to the Social Cognitive Theory, people learn and change their
behavior by observing other people. So, presenting negative results of health issues can
encourage the people to follow appropriate methods and make the changes in their behaviors and
attitudes (Glanfield, 2015).
For instance, by taking the given case into consideration it can be stated that elderly people
prefer to access TV, radio, newspapers and pamphlets etc. while young people use social media
sites to get the information on health and social care issues. To communicate information to
parents, the information servers can use leaflets, posters at different places like child care
centers, schools etc. In the given case, the negative aspects of care homes are shown that may

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 8
have adverse impact on perception of people towards elderly care homes (Zolkepli, and
Kamarulzaman, 2015). There is one another news about the care homes in UK which went
public and it was also published by the same publication house. This news shows the positive
aspects about the care homes that care homes turn its lounge into pub so that residents can enjoy
there. Elderly people’s home has created its pub to allow the older residents to socialize in
comfortable fashion within the safety of facility (Boyle, 2018). This news has positive impact on
the behavior and perception of people towards elderly care homes in UK.
In this way, giving the information is a primary factor to grab the attention of public on elderly
care. If the social and health do not present the right information on elderly care, they will not
have impact on attitudes, behaviors and thoughts of people. According to my understanding, the
care homes should improve the health care delivery to the people as they are their responsibility.
In addition to this, I realized that media should show the news of health and social care in an
effective way. However, this type of news should not be published in the newspapers as it affects
the behavior of people adversely (Parahoo, 2014). To prevent such events in health and social
care, media and newspapers should give the information in an appropriate manner so that it can
affect the behavior and perception of people positively. In United Kingdom, local care issues can
be overcome by conducting awareness and education programs.
Conclusion
Contemporary thinking in health and social care services has caused various developments and
changes in the provision against elderly care. Information in the context of health and social care
is created by the use of different resources and this information is gathered from various valid
and reliable sources. From the above report, it can be concluded that media plays an important
role in disseminating the information of health care to the people and changing their perception
towards health and social care. Public should understand the requirement of media while dealing
with contemporary health and social issues like elderly care, obesity, malnutrition, smoking etc.
Selecting an appropriate information and treatment will assist the people to fight against these
health issues more efficiently. Health care professionals, government and media play a crucial
role in disseminating the information to the public domain. From this, it can be stated that these
sources can affect the attitudes, behaviors and perception of people towards elderly care. The
report includes different examples of health care issues. In United Kingdom, local care issues can

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 9
be overcome by conducting awareness programs. In this way, they can affect and change the
behavior of people.

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE 10
References
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