Leading Practice in Health and Social Care

This document discusses the importance of leadership styles, role of leaders in promoting organizational vision, theoretical concepts behind fostering teamwork, importance of developing a team, and legislative frameworks in the field of health and social care. It provides insights and recommendations for healthcare professionals. Find study material, solved assignments, and essays on Desklib.

LEADING PRACTICE IN
HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1.....................................................................................................................................3
Critical analysis of leadership styles............................................................................................3
Role of leaders in promoting organizational vision.....................................................................4
Theoretical concepts behind fostering team work.......................................................................5
Importance of developing team...................................................................................................5
Development of team members...................................................................................................6
SECTION 2.....................................................................................................................................6
Personal Development Plan.........................................................................................................6
SECTION 3.....................................................................................................................................8
Legislative, Statutory and Non-statutory Frameworks................................................................8
SECTION 4.....................................................................................................................................9
Project Plan..................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Leadership in health and social care is a much more detailed and intrinsic process than its
application in the corporate organizations (Al-Hussami, Hammad and Alsoleihat, 2018). In the
current report, NHS has been taken as the chosen healthcare sectors where the evaluation of the
entire report has been done accordingly. In the first section an evaluation of different leadership
styles will be done and the best leadership style for healthcare sector will be recommended. In
the further section the importance of team work will be evaluated. Section 2 will involve
development of a personal development plan to work on the skills that the manager lacks and in
the section 3 the legal frameworks governing healthcare sector in UK will be evaluated. Section
4 will involve development of a project plan after identification of a current issue that is being
faced by NHS.
MAIN BODY
SECTION 1
Critical analysis of leadership styles
In the NHS, there can be different leadership styles that can be applied for ensuring
quality care for the patients: Transactional Leadership Style: This leadership style helps in developing a proper
exchange process between the leaders and followers. This will help the NHS leaders in
integrating strong budgeting and planning skills with the organizational objectives. This
will help in increasing the efficiency and robustness of the manner in which the
employees perform their task. However, implementation of this leadership style will not
foster development cognitive or competence skills. Therefore, application of this
leadership style can help in increasing the efficiency amongst employees but the
emotional development can be affected due to this leadership style and this can affect the
care provided to patients. Charismatic Style: When this leadership style ins adopted by the leaders, it motivates
them to place the interests of the organization as a whole i.e. place the interests of NHS
which is to provide better quality care to the patients, above their own personal interests
(Eckelman and Sherman, 2018). The leaders implicating this style are able to portray a
clear vision for their followers but this style does not focus on development of technical

efficiency. This can lead to increase in the emotional support but a backlog in the aspect
of technical development. Transformational Style: This type of leadership style requires the leaders who have a
strong or robust vision and belief for the organization and have the capability to foster
development of relationships on the basis of such shared values. This leadership is the
least suitable one for the organization like NHS because it is not easy to implement
changes at an organization operating at the scale that is this wide. This leadership style
helps in facilitating change implementation at organization who are operating at the
initial phase.
 Servant Style: Leaders adopting this style of leadership place the needs of not only
organization but even the needs of others before their own needs. Leaders at NHS can
apply this leadership style where the leaders implement lot of cognitive and affective
competence but the leaders still lack the technological efficiency.
The leaders at NHS can apply the Transactional as well as charismatic leadership style in
the healthcare organization as this will help in addressing both the aspects of the employee
leadership for providing a quality care to the patients. The charismatic style will help in
increasing the motivational quotient and the transactional style will assist in implementing the
technological upgrade in the operations of the healthcare facility.
Role of leaders in promoting organizational vision
Leaders are not just the creators of the strategies for achieving the organizational visions,
but they also promote such vision amongst the employees where they are motivated to accept the
vision effectively (Trakulsunti and Antony, 2018). The leaders are expected to initially evaluate
and understand the portrayed vision themselves, and then they have to simplify the manner in
which such vision is communicated to the employees or care takers in the present context of
health and social care. The leader than creates a collaborative process where the vision is
integrated with the strategies developed for the employees and then collectively with the
employees they create the shared vision where the strategies are focused towards achievement of
the objectives thus set.
However, the leaders fail to acknowledge that however vast the vision of an organization
might be, some categories of employees fail to incorporate their benefits in the changes that have

been developed. The role of the leader is to identify such redundant employees and try to
position them in those areas where the impact of vision is less implicit or remove them.
Theoretical concepts behind fostering team work
Working in a team is a very complex and interrelated task where the team leader plays a
key role in increasing the productivity of the work performed by the various team members
(Özer and et.al., 2017). There are a variety of theories that lie behind the fostering of the team
work and the coordination, collaboration, communication and cooperation act as the fostering
tools or theories behind the team work. As a team leader focusing on these four C's can help in
addressing the problem. The Coordination aspect helps the team leader in increasing efficiency
where every member knows when they are to perform the task designated to them and how they
shall do it. Collaboration on the other hand signifies the capability of the leader in collection or
the bringing together of work done by different individuals working in a team. Communication
shows clarity in the desired goals and purposes or reason behind which the task that is to be
performed that is conveyed by the leader. Lastly, cooperation signifies the sharing of the ideas in
the team and also learning how to accept other's ideas and developing the shared goals where
everyone works collectively to achieve similar goals.
Thus, in this manner, the team leader can foster the development of coordination between
the different personalities of the team members in the group.
Importance of developing team
While working in a team in a corporate setting or in a professional context, it is essential
to integrate and implement certain attributes or characteristics that pertain to the manner in which
work is to be performed: Professionalism: When the employees belong to specializations in different fields it
becomes necessary to work in a professional manner because these skills are necessary
for the completion of different aspects related to the team work project (Almajali and
Tarhini, 2016). The success can be attained in the project completion from development
of the professional aspect because the team members will be able to recognize the
expertise of different individual and in healthcare such as NHS it is necessary to value
and adopt the judgement of the person who is the specialist of their own fields. Apart
from this, professionalism in all contexts help in reducing conflicts and collectively
increasing the performance.

 Mutual trust: The trust amongst the different team members is necessary where a team
leader must know and trust the capabilities of different members. This helps in increasing
their confidence level and when the entire team is dependent on the individual members
for different aspects of a project completion, this makes them more responsible (Lega,
Prenestini and Rosso, 2017). This can help leaders at NHS in ensuring that the members
understand their importance in the team work.
Development of team members
A team leader is tasked with the role of not just completing the work that they are tasked
with successfully, but they also have to ensure the development of professional values in the
members:
Motivation: This attribute is necessary in keeping the members focused towards the achievement
of the goal that was developed initially. This helps in increasing the performance of the members
collectively and in a healthcare setting, giving regular care to the patients can be a tiring task
(Horstmann and Eckerth, 2016). It is necessary to adopt a positive and cheerful attitude at all
times for the recovery of the patient.
Relation Development: While working in a professional setting, the members must acknowledge
the opinion of one another and what they have to say to each other. This will help in knowing
whom to address when different situational contexts arise. Especially, in the healthcare setting,
different cases can arise while working on the patients and when the care takers know who will
be able to address the problem correctly, this can lead to a quicker solution development.
SECTION 2
Personal Development Plan
Currently, I am working as a manager in the health and social care setting of NHS and my
primary responsibilities are to supervise the working schedules of the care takers, managing the
different tasks being performed in the entire unit as a team and the patients are being given the
care that they deserve. Although, my analytical skills are very strong but I fail to communicate
the objective or vision that I have developed clearly to the team members or the workers. Apart
from this, my emotional intelligence is also not very keenly developed (Chiarini and Vagnoni,
2016). However, I am quick to adapt to different scenarios that might arise and consequently my
decision-making skills are also very advanced or well-developed.
Develop Prio Activities to be Resources Star End Criteria for

ment
Objecti
ves
rity undertaken t
Date
Date Success
To
improve
on
commun
ication
skills
Hig
h
Developing better
speech skills,
communication skills
and working on the
body language.
Accommodating
hand gestures and
eye movement while
speaking to an
audience.
Listen to the
mentors or
superiors while
they are speaking.
Join a coaching
class that will
teach me how to
use hand gestures.
01/0
3/20
01/0
4/20
Take reviews
from the mentor
or the targeted
audience.
Record the
communication
and listen
afterwards to
retrospect in a
better manner.
Develop
ing
emotion
al
intellige
nce
Ver
y
high
Engage in
relationship
development with
the patients.
Learn to be
empathetic and not
just sympathetic.
This will help in
learning how to react
in different situations
accordingly.
Read books of
different authors
so that
retrospective
thinking can be
developed.
Watch how the
seniors or other
managers interact
with the patients
and the
subordinates in
order to comfort
them.
15/0
3/20
20/0
7/20
Feedback from
the patients &
from
subordinates as
well.
Teamwo
rk and
Ver
y
Increase the group Formulate group
activities that are
15/0
6/20
25/0
7/20
Feedback can
be collected

collabor
ation
high activities so that
these skills can be
fostered.
to be undertaken
in increased
manner i.e. more
frequently.
from team
members and
supervisors
Quality
Improve
ment
Ver
y
high
Regularly check and
compare the actual
performance in
comparison to the
standards that have
been set.
Implement quality
check techniques
and strategies so
that the work done
can be evaluated
in measurable
terms.
5/08/
20
10/0
9/20
Supervisors or
seniors can be
referred to in
order to collect
relevant
feedback
SECTION 3
Legislative, Statutory and Non-statutory Frameworks
There are certain legislative acts such as Health and Social Care Act, 2012 or the Equality
Act, 2010 etc. that regulate the practices and policies being adopted in the healthcare sector and
for NHS, various commissioning acts have been set up that help in ensuring legal compliance
(Eckelman and Sherman, 2018). Organizations such as Care Quality Control (CQC), General
Medical Council (GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or polices such as Enabling
Excellence are the governmental departments who overviews different associated aspects of the
entire healthcare sectors.
NHS is the largest government healthcare system where the organization has a lot of
governance documents compliance and implemented systems such as Equality Delivery System
(EDS), organizes regular summits, have developed a NHS constitution and also promotes a
grievance section. The organization has been working relentlessly towards minimizing the
corruption percentage and has been developing policies that are helping in increaser the quality
of care and facilities given to the patients being treated in NHS.
Complaints, Compliments and Suggestions Policy and Procedure can also be implemented as it
helps in addressing the different grievances that might be faces by the patients and also brings
into review the different activities that are associated with the care taking of the patients and
caretakers practices and attitude.

Whistle blowing policy helps in controlling the illegal actions that might be taken by the higher
authority ad also minimises the undue exploitation of the power that has been bestowed upon the
selected few members of the top authority. This ensures that the activity of the organisation are
controlled and ethical.
Data protection policy is in juxtaposition with the whistle blowing policy and here the aim is to
protect the confidential data of the organisation so that it does not gets leaked out or in the wrong
hands which might lead to misuse of data. Collectively all these policies help in addressing the
security of the patients and monitoring the practices adopted by organisation.
There are certain points however where the employees working in NHS need to develop
themselves:
Personnel: The personnel that are being hired in the organisation must be properly trained and
skilled so that they can fulfil the complicacies of their job roles accordingly to maximum
efficiency.
Instruments: The instruments being used to treat the patients must be properly structured and
approved and further properly sterilised in order to avoid any potential risks.
Medications: The medications and dosages that are being written down must be properly
authorised and done in a legal manner where sale of certain drugs such as sleeping pills etc. must
be done after proper authority has approved.
Technologies: Organisation should aim towards implementing latest technologies in the
organisations that causes least harm to the patients and gives maximum output so that the health
and well being of the patient can be protected.
SECTION 4
Project Plan
A project plan can be developed for the problem of hiring more medical practitioners in
the coronary treatment department and integrating their personal details in the IT system as
quickly as possible. There are five key stages:
Initiate: Under this stage the need for the development of a new project is identified and then the
importance of such need is evaluated (Agarwal and et.al., 2018). Currently NHS is facing a
shortage of medical practitioners especially in the department of heart surgeries where the
experts for critical evaluation of the situation are in a few numbers. Additionally, the IT system
for enrolling the details is also weaker. The details of the employees is not properly needed and

therefore it gets difficult to develop a proper working schedule so that no time lapses over the
another. Therefore, in order to address this aspect satisfactorily in the operation of NHS, a
project needs to be developed. At this stage, the reason for this project, the relevant scope and the
potential costs along with associated risks and outcomes is presented before the approval
committee.
Plan: After the approval regarding the project is achieved, the plan for the project completion is
developed. A budget is developed taking into consideration all the potential costs that could be
incurred, the timescale is designed where all the activities that are required to be performed are
identified and the probable time period is also ascertained. A team is gathered where the people
with different skills are identified and these are then hired for the achievement of the project
goal. All the resources are gathered together to develop a comprehensive plan for the hiring of
the practitioners and the improvement of the existing IT system.
Execute: This stage involves implementation and execution of the plan that has been developed
in the previous stage. Here the recruitment plans will be implemented so that the required staff
for NHS can be hired (Al-Hussami, Hammad and Alsoleihat, 2018). Also, the assistance of either
external or internal parties is taken for the improvement of the existing IT system in order to
develop a more comprehensive system that can be used for the creation of a better software. The
steps that have been developed are implemented in a chronological manner and the project
progresses towards the completion of its objective with which it was initiated. The entire plan is
adjusted and manipulated a multiple time so that it can help in addressing the flexibility aspect.
Monitor and review: While the implementation process is ongoing and even after its completion,
the project needs to regularly reviews. This is a very intense phase in the healthcare setting
because there are literally lives at stake when such practitioners are hired and there is no test
drive in such scenarios (Karamitri, Talias and Bellali, 2017). The hiring of such professionals
will impact other departments as well because gaining experts of the department will improve the
overall productivity and quality of care provided and the better system can help in development
of more rewarding schedules. For monitoring, there are a variety of techniques that can be used
such as performance review, 360 degree feedback etc. that will point out how the implemented
changes have been giving results.
Closure: After the success of the project is ensured, it is brought to closure where the objectives
with which it was launched have been satisfactorily achieved.

CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the report above helps in concluding that as a leader or
manager there are a variety of leadership styles that can be adopted in the organization. The
report helped in identifying what are the leadership theories applicable in the healthcare and
found transactional and charismatic leadership style were found to be best for the NHS. It was
also identified that the importance of working in a team that was professional and trusted each
other completely was critical in addressing the different problems that can arise in fostering team
work. The report also created a development plan for improving emotional intelligence and
communication skills and identified the legal frameworks such as CQC, GMC that are applicable
on the healthcare sector along with the policies of NHS itself. A project plan for hiring medical
professional was developed and improving existing system was developed for NHS.s

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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Al-Hussami, M., Hammad, S. and Alsoleihat, F., 2018. The influence of leadership behavior,
organizational commitment, organizational support, subjective career success on
organizational readiness for change in healthcare organizations. Leadership in Health
Services.
Almajali, D.A. and Tarhini, A., 2016. Antecedents of ERP systems implementation success: a
study on Jordanian healthcare sector. Journal of Enterprise Information Management.
Chiarini, A. and Vagnoni, E., 2016. Environmental sustainability in European public
healthcare. Leadership in Health Services.
Eckelman, M.J. and Sherman, J.D., 2018. Estimated global disease burden from US health care
sector greenhouse gas emissions. American journal of public health. 108(S2). pp.S120-
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Horstmann, D. and Eckerth, H.L., 2016. The need for healthy leadership in the health care
sector: Consideration of specific conditions for implementation. In Healthy at Work (pp.
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Karamitri, I., Talias, M.A. and Bellali, T., 2017. Knowledge management practices in healthcare
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Lega, F., Prenestini, A. and Rosso, M., 2017. Leadership research in healthcare: a realist
review. Health services management research. 30(2). pp.94-104.
Özer, Ö. And et.al., 2017. A study on toxic leadership perceptions of healthcare workers. Global
Business and Management Research. 9(1). p.12.
Trakulsunti, Y. and Antony, J., 2018. Can Lean Six Sigma be used to reduce medication errors
in the health-care sector?. Leadership in Health Services.
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