Managing Quality in Health and Social Care

Managing Quality in
Health and Social Care

INTRODUCTION
Quality in health care is characterized as the extent to which health care services that are
given to individuals increase the chances of desirable results so that the health of patients can be
reinforced which also help in bettering the overall health of society (Androniceanu, 2017). It is
important to check the attribute of health care systems so that they can be improved which will
help in making the lives of people better and also enhancing the trust of population in health and
social care institutions. Quality measurement is done by evaluating the healthcare data so that
their performance against health plans and recognized quality standards can be judged and
necessary improvements can be made. Quality is a necessary constituent of health and social care
services to both the service providers and service takers which help in improving the health of all
its stakeholders and increasing customer satisfaction. In this report Royal United Hospital is
taken which is a leading acute-care hospital located in Weston suburb of Bath, England, UK and
has about 565 beds which hep in taking intense care of its patients. In this report perspectives of
various stakeholders regarding quality will be discussed along with the role of external agencies
ion setting standards. Further the impact of poor quality of service on stakeholders, approaches to
apply quality standards, barriers in delivery quality services, methods to evaluate quality of
health care service etc. will also be discussed in the report.
LO 1
1.1
Stakeholders are the people who affect and get affected by the actions, activities,
decisions, objectives and policies of an organisation (Bryans, 2015). In wellness and social care
these stakeholders who are dependent on each other so that the services can be used and health
can be improved thereby enhancing the profits of healthcare institutes (Dietz, 2015). Royal
United Hospital needs to consider the interests of all stakeholders and provide them quality
services by following quality standards set by bodies like CQC so that it can continue to provide
acute services to its patients. Perspectives of various stakeholders are discussed below: Perspective of service seekers: These are the people who seek health care services given
by Royal United Hospital so that their health can be improved. They have certain
perspectives regarding services given to them like the nature and comfort of
environment, time taken to receive service, confidentiality of information provided by

them, professionalism of staff, outcomes of treatment etc. (Gradinger, 2015). These
perspectives need to be fulfilled in order to enhance the quality of service which help in
increasing customer satisfaction. Perspective of staff: These are the people who work in the health care institute and try to
provide high quality services to customers in order to improve their health and satisfy
them with their service (Hardyman, 2015). Some important perspectives of staff are the
effectiveness of treatment given to patients, least side effects must be caused to patients
due to medications and treatment, scientific proved treatment must be given following
ethical guidelines etc. These perspectives if followed in healthcare institute then high
quality of service can be given.
 Perspective of legal bodies: The perspective of CQC, health service commissioners etc.
like number of patients treated, conformity to guidelines and standards, justice, access
and value for money for service seekers etc. must be strictly followed which help in
intensifying service given by healthcare institutes (Krachler, 2015).
Thus it is important that Royal United Hospital manages technical quality, functional
quality and focuses on quality control, quality audit so that high quality of services can be
maintained and health of its patients can be improved in an efficient and effective manner.
1.2
There are different external agencies and authorities which analyse the conditions and
needs of patients in ever-changing environment so that effective services can be provided to
patients which help in increasing the sustainability of business and enhancing customer
satisfaction level (Mason, 2015). It is important that health care institutions follow standards and
quality benchmarks so that effectiveness of treatment can be improved. Some external agencies
that are functional in UK are: Care Quality Commission: CQC is an autonomous controller of health and social care in
England and ensures that hospitals, care homes etc. provide people with safe, effective
and high quality service (Milani, 2015) . It also monitors, inspects and regulate services
so that standard of quality and safety are strictly followed by healthcare institutions. It
also focuses on improvement of quality of healthcare services. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): It provides national
guidance, advice, quality standards etc. so that health of public can be improved