Improving Service Quality in Health and Social Care: A Case Study of Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust

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INTRODUCTION
The health and social care sector is consist of a wide range of roles, responsibilities and skills to
fulfil the varying level of demands and needs of the general people, society or a community. It
includes the services within the care homes, hospitals, hospices, rehabilitation centres,
sanatoria and nursing homes etc. it is very essential to maintain a good quality of services in the
health and social care sector (Martin, et al., 2010). The quality concept in the healthcare sector
is been interpreted and perceived in many ways. It is the most significant factor for both the
users and the external stakeholders or service providers in the HSC sector. This assignment will
help in gaining information and knowledge about the different aspects and ways through which
the service quality in the healthcare sector could be improved. The quality of service could be
improved by empowering and involving the service users and by meeting the needs and
requirements of the external regulatory bodies.
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1.1 PERSPECTIVES OF STAKEHOLDERS REGARDING QUALITY IN HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
There are several stakeholders are involved in the HSC sector such as service users,
government, employees, professionals and external agencies etc. each and every stakeholder
has a different perspective regarding the quality of the services in the sector. For instance, the
service quality as per the professional or service providers may be best but according to the
service user, the same service could not be up to the mark. In the presented case study, the
quality of the documentation and record keeping services of the royal united hospital was
founded informal according to the care quality commission (CQC) (Renedo, et al., 2015). It
results in the action of revising and improvisation by the trust to maintain the quality to meet
the standards and norms of the care quality commission.
The case study has shown the importance of keeping quality standards as per the requirements
of the stakeholders in the HSC sector. The perspectives of quality as per stakeholders are
discussed below:
SERVICE USERS: the service users are the personnel who seek the services of the care service
providers have their own perspective regarding the quality of the services provided to them.
The service provider must ensure the better quality of services through fulfilling the essential
needs and demands of the customers (Renedo, et al., 2015). The trust must provide essential
facilities such as appropriate medication, privacy, cleanliness and safety to the service users to
guarantee best quality services for its customers.
GOVERNMENT OR LEGAL AGENCIES: the government or the legal government agencies such as
care quality commission (CQC) has formulated some guidelines and norms on which it assesses
the quality of the services of social and health care organizations (Care Quality Commission,
2012). The organizations must possess the set standards and norms to ensure best quality
services according to the government’s perspective.
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WORKERS AND PROFESSIONALS: the workers and the professionals responsible for providing
care services to the customers are needed to deliver better quality services according to the
needs of the service users and the norms and policies of legal bodies to ensure high quality of
services (Brett, et al., 2014). It is vital to provide proper motivation to the workers, staff and
professionals to maintain the quality of services in the royal united hospital bath NHS trust.
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1.2 THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL AGENCIES IN SETTING STANDARDS
The external agency plays a significant role in setting up the standards of quality for ensuring
best quality care for the service users in the sector. These external agencies are usually
formulated by the government and are the legal agencies that formulate the guidelines, norms
and policies for the service providers in the sector. These agencies set benchmarks such as
safety measures, nursing care, use of technology and equipment, sanitization facilities and etc.
that need to be followed by the service providing institutions and organizations (Brett, et al.,
2014). These external agencies set benchmarks to monitor and control several aspects of the
health and social care services within an organization.
The external agencies also conduct the regular inspections and tests to make sure that the
system of the organization is working as per the set standards and benchmarks for providing
quality services to the users. In the case study, the Care quality commission has inspected the
royal united hospital bath NHS trust to ensure the service quality of the trust as per the set
benchmarks. The CQC is an autonomous regulator in the health and social care sector which
regulates the care services provided by the NHS, voluntary organizations, authorities and
companies for protecting the interests of the service users.
Apart from regulating and setting quality standards, the external agencies also provide training
facilities to the health and social care professionals such as caretakers, medical practitioners,
nurses etc. these agencies imparts latest trends and updated health care to the care trusts and
organizations (Marmot, et al., 2012). These normally work in partnership to facilitate the
healthcare institutions, trusts and organizations and deliver better quality services to the
customers. The external agencies also help in resolving the problems and issues in the trusts
and provide appropriate advice on the several health issues.
The external agencies also conduct surveys and collect information and feedback from the
general people regarding the health care services to analyze the set standards and formulate
new strategies and decision for delivering high-quality health care services to the local people.
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