Managing Quality in Health and Social Care

This report discusses the importance of managing quality in health and social care organizations. It covers various perspectives of stakeholders, duties of external agencies, and potential barriers. It also explores the methods for improving healthcare services.

Managing Quality in Health
and Social Care
1

2

INTRODUCTION
Treatment of medical disorders within health centres, community and hospitals need a
high quality of services and operations. Healthcare as well as social sectors, need to maintain
quality in their service delivery. Quality is one for the most essential aspects for both service
users and providers along with other stakeholders within the organisation. It is a major concern
for stakeholders as it leads towards customers satisfactions and help to put a positive impact on
organisation (Leyerle, 2016). In this report, Stretton Nursing Home organisation has been chosen
which is a care home that provide wellness and care services to all sets of individuals.
Furthermore, the report will cover various orientations of the stakeholders in respect of quality in
healthcare organisations. In addition to this, different planning in order to maintain an improve
quality in clinical services has been discussed. Lastly, systems evaluation, policies and
procedures in health care services has covered.
TASK 1
1.1 Discuss various perspectives of stakeholders within health and social care regarding quality
of services.
Stakeholders can be define as an individual or group who could be effected by the
achievement of organisational objectives. There are number of stakeholders which are
particularly involve in managing their service quality(Davies and et. al.,2018). Qualities such as
setting guidelines for meeting customer satisfaction, reduce wastage, lowering costs, facilitate
training and involving staffs are need to be reinforced in healthcare organisations. In context to
Stretton Nursing Home organisation, there is a need for improving quality of their care services
in order to meet the guidelines of CQC. It stands for Care quality Commission which is a self-
directed regulator of overall healthcare services in England. Key stakeholders who contribute in
improvement and management of qualities are discussed below.
Customers: Individuals who seek services of respective organisation have their own
specific perspectives regarding service quality. It is the duty of Stretton Nursing home to
improve the equality of services in order to get customer satisfaction. Quality in services not only
consider with offering medicines and using equipments but should also focus on cleanliness and
confidentiality of information share by customers ().
3

Staff: Healthcare practitioners or workers have a responsibility of maintaining the service
quality of given organisation. The duty of care practitioners in the organisation is to consider
guidelines require to deliver quality care to patients. It could be attain if care practitioners of the
respective organisation are oriented towards performing better clinical practices effectively.
Government: Healthcare organisations require a deep support of government agencies
for managing the functionality in order to manage effectiveness of organisation (Dowding and
Barr, 2018). Government has a vital role in improving and monitoring of service qualities based
on quality standard. UK government is putting efforts in developing guidelines for healthcare
services quality an use of resources.
1.2 Examine the duties of external agencies for setting standards.
These agencies are regulatory agencies who are responsible for regulating the quality of
operations within an organisation. There are number of agencies available for analysing the
conditions and requirements of patients for changing environment. Organisations like healthcare
sectors, are need to follow the standards and benchmark of quality in order to fulfil the demands
of service users and for sustainable growth of organisation (Leung, Yu and Memari, 2016).
Number of external agencies are available in UK which are responsible for accessing and
developing quality standards in services such as information, developing healthy environment
and effectiveness of products. Some of the external agencies are discussed below.
Care quality Commission: It is a self-directing controller for various healthcare sectors
in England. The prior duty of CQC is to control services supply by NHS, local government,
private and volunteer organisations. They assures that high quality of care is provided for each
and every individual in health facility, home care and people's own home. It focus on
improvement in quality.
NICE: National institute of health and clinical excellence. It is involve in setting
guidelines and standards for quality in serves. They produce evidence based guidelines and give
advices regarding healthcare and social care practitioners. NICE also develops an area of
important data for commissioners managers and practitioners.
Healthcare Inspectorate: The main objective of them is to analyse and identify all the
facilities in health and social care organisations. They ensure if all healthcare organisations are
delivering quality care to the patients according to the quality standards.
4

1.3 Analyse the effect of poor quality of services on stakeholders of healthcare organisation.
The stakeholders of healthcare organisations have the responsibility of maintaining
quality of services that would be standard. In respective organisation, there is need of improving
service quality for meeting the standards of CQC. Poor quality services in Stretton Nursing
Home will put a negative impact on overall functionality of organisation. Main reason behind
the poor quality of services in healthcare organisation are lack of monitoring and limited use of
resources in order to mange the standards (McPake and Hanson, 2016). Lack of health
professionals or skilled human resources for managing the quality is also a major reason behind
this. Government and staff members of the organisation are responsible for taking necessary
initiatives in order to encourage the quality and utilization of services in healthcare sectors. If the
level of satisfaction of patients of respective organisation decrease due to such poor services it
will lead to negative mouth publicity. Services such as poor quality of equipments and machines
could bring risk factors to the service users of the respective organisation.
TASK 2
2.1 Justify the standards occur in health and social care for evaluating the quality.
Standards of quality in healthcare organisations are develop for maintaining the general
structure of organisation. They provide the guidance for such organisations and measure the
quality of operations. Such standards are consider by different home cares to assure the impelling
implementation of service quality practices on service seekers (Mintzberg, 2018. Quality
standards are generally a level of excellence which assist the organisation to meet the level of
quality in their services. In context of respective organisation, it is necessary to set some
guidelines with an aim of improving service qualities. Some of the standards are given below:
Care quality commission
The standards set by CQC for organisation to maintain their quality are as follows:
 Service users must be treat with a level of respect throughout the treatment process.
Organisations should make sure that every customers is being treated equally without any
discrimination.
 Healthcare organisation should maintain privacy and confidential of their patients and
give a valid statement about it.
5

 It is the responsibility of healthcare practitioners to assess the risk factors that can be
arise during any care or treatment.
 Health and social care organisations should safeguard their patients from any kind of
abuse or improper treatment (Stanhope, 2017).
 Organisation should provide good quality of food and drinks to their patients throughout
the procedures of treatment.
 Healthcare organisations should keep their premises and equipments clean and suitable
for their patients. Equipments which are using must be safe and secure to be use on
individuals.
2.2 Discuss about the approaches need for applying quality systems.
There is a need to implement quality systems in healthcare sectors for bringing
improvements in quality standards. Mainly quality system is included in documents of
organisations and been informed to all sorts of stakeholders to bring the positive results out of it
(Söderström, Eriksson and Åhlfeldt, 2016). Systems of quality in such organisations develop an
understanding of elements of quality by applying several models in Stretton Nursing Home. It
helps in investigating and develop equation methods so that best methods could be adapted by
the respective organisation for facilitating its functionality. Some quality system or models use
by healthcare sectors are discussed below:
Total quality management: It is process of reducing and eliminating risk factors that
could be arise during operations of the organisations. Stretton Nursing Home can use this quality
system in order to improve their clinical services. This model help in continuous improvement of
internal operations. Overall outcomes can also be improved through this quality systems.
Clinical Standards: This is a process in where recent clinical activities of organisation
is compared to best practices available, Benchmarking is a component of managing quality
which facilitates continuous process through which an organisation can compare its outcomes
with fellow organisations outcomes. Respective organisation can use this system for improving
heir quality.
Six sigma: It is a quality system approach based on data for minimizing the defects in
operations of organisations. It is disciplined and statistical based approach. Respective
organisation could use this approach for measuring process performance and for improving
overall organisational services.
6

2.3 Identify the potential barriers which come in a way of delivering quality care services to
individuals
With the objective of maintaining and improving quality of services in healthcare
organisations, it has been identified that number of hurdles are there which could lead a negative
consequence. Organisations like Stretton Nursing Home faces number of barriers both internally
and externally. Internal barriers may be cause due to lack of facilities like equipments, lack of
communication system and application(Gardner, Linderman and McFadden, 2018). Such barriers
could lead to disappointment in customers. Outside hurdles could be lack of financial sources,
health insurance, lack of family and social support. Some of the internals and external barriers
are explained below:
Staff related barriers: It can be a reason of low quality of services. Staff related barriers
such as less skilled care practitioners, need of team spirits among staff members, low level of
communication and want of leadership quality in team could lead to destructive effect on
respective organisation. It has been analysed that care practitioners are not able to accept the
changes and thus leads to poor performance of health professionals.
Organisation related barriers: Healthcare organisations face some basic organisational
barriers like demand of financial sources, need of equipments, lack of technology and lack of
human resources. These barriers are the major issues in healthcare organisations.
Service users related barriers: Some of the barriers related to patients are financial
barriers, less services provided by organisation, unmet health needs and no insurance coverage
prevent them to take profit of healthcare services (McDermott, Kitchener and Exworthy, 2017).
TASK 3
3.1 Justify the efficiency of policies, systems and procedures utilize in healthcare and social
organisations for accomplishing service quality provided.
Number of system, policies and procedures within healthcare and social organisations
followed by NHS to make the services up to the benchmark and to maintain effectiveness.
According to the authorities of UK, it is the right of individuals to attain modular healthcare
facilities for public and private healthcare settings. Important policies of organisation is to boost
the healthcare facilities within the population of country in all geographical areas. It help to
7

maintain the professional standards of services. CQC system help to improve overall quality of
work in such healthcare sectors by developing some of the basic standards.
Organisations like Stretton Nursing Home are need to follow regulations which has been
proposed by CMS and council of healthcare services. System following by National healthcare
system are putting a positive impact on healthcare systems of nation as an organisation has
develop some of the guidelines in order to mange the operational activities and maintain
procedures and practices according to the need and requirements of the patients (Southwick,
Evans and Davies, 2018). After the analysis, it has been identified that policies and systems
following by local health and social care organisations has a positive effect on settings of
healthcare in order to achieve the quality and to fulfil the requirements of patients. However,
organisations are looking to improve the policies by conducting a survey and getting feed back
from service users.
3.2 Evaluate the factors which effect the attainment of quality in care practices.
Several factors are available that influence the attainment of quality in service of
healthcare organisation. Some of the factors are discussed below:
Availability of resources: This is one of the most important factor which cause a leading
effect on healthcare sectors. services. In respective organisation proper resource availability
should be there so that there are no limitation in delivering quality care to the patients. Maintain
a high quality of service has a direct impact of availability of resources. There should be all
necessary resources available to bring customer satisfaction and for value of organisation.
Size and services: To maintain the quality and effectiveness of services, the size of the
organisation has a major influence. Organisations like NHS who is providing their health and
social care services in both urban and rural areas lead to major customer satisfaction. Thus,
respective organisation should build strategies for expanding their services to all geographical
areas which they could cover. Healthcare staff should be skilled and talented for enhancing the
effectiveness of work.
Economical factors: In care practices, economical factors have a critical part for
planning of services and to improve quality of services. However, respective organisation should
have strong economic conditions because it has a direct impact on health and social care
services. It help them to make several strategies and planning of new services to meet the
8

satisfaction level of customers. Planning of services is important for to meet the objectives and
goals of quality.
3.3 Discuss the methods for improving the healthcare services in organisations.
Stretton Nursing Home should implements some ways through which they could change
the service quality in healthcare organisations. As a quality manager, I would plan some of the
strategies for maintaining quality of respective organisation. Evaluation as well as analysis of
national development plan should be done in respective organisation in order to fulfil desire
objectives. For implementing this, collection of feedback is important so that quality manager
could evaluate the weak areas of organisation (Bierman, 2019). Organisation should follow the
guidelines set by all extraneous authority that will assist them to maintain the quality of services.
There should be proper availability of resources for respective organisation so that care
practitioners could deliver quality care to the service seekers. For enhancing the quality of care
online registrations and follow ups could be good approach. It will be cost effective and less time
consuming for both organisation an customers. Rating process should be there so that service
users could give their feedback in more efficient manner. Advanced and latest technology
machines should be introduce in organisation in order to minimize the risk factors. Experts and
specialists should be there so that they could work in their area of specialisation and organisation
could make a better brand name. Proper registration services should be there so that customers
do not have to wait for long time in lines also there should be facilities like extra beddings,
portable water, eatables so that customer will not feel any kind of further requirements.
TASK 4
4.1 Identify the methods for measuring the quality of care in healthcare organisation with respect
to internal and external perspectives.
Evaluation in healthcare sectors can be refer as determination of service qualities in order
to analyse its worth. Evaluation is important in healthcare organisations in order to assess the
effective of work and to improve operations of the organisation. It is a aspect of improving
quality and if it goes in right direction it can assist the organisation to solve basic issues,
communicate decisions and to develop cognition. Key purpose of assessment in health and social
care is to improve service qualities. Respective organisation could use number of evaluation
methods for improving its quality. Some of the methods are discussed below:
9

Quality Inspection: This kind of evaluation technique involve regular examination of a
unit. CQC use this evaluation method through documentation or reviews.
Quality circuit: It is an unexpected inspection of healthcare organisations.
Quality sampling: It evaluate the service choice of organisation through random
sampling methods.
Quality scrutinise:It is a method of evaluation which is an implementation of formal and
core inspecting procedure(Synyayeva and et. al., 2019).
Thus, such evaluation methods will help the respective home care for maintain their
operation and functioning.
4.2 Justify the effect of involvement of service users in the identification process have on quality
of service.
Looking at the collaborative work, Stretton Nursing Home can be able to set up the
classification of quality scheme. Analysing the service quality of health and social care need a
broader prospective. Not involving service users in the organisation could be problematic for
respective organisation and it will effect on overall performance of organisation. Isolation of
stakeholders such as customers from the organisation would made impossible to evaluate the
quality of health and social care services. Involvement of customers or service users will put a
constructive effect on overall organisation and lead the organisation towards creativity and
innovation. Development in respective organisation need diversity and also there is a need of
quality measures in order to mark the performance and to provide supervision. Through
enhancement of the facilities and development of services more and more customers can be
served. Increasing resources and funds will help the organisation to attract customers and will
build a positive image in the mind of service users. Thus, organisation need to scale new heights
in the delivery of services.
10

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report, that managing quality is an important aspects
which should be focussed by every healthcare organisation on regular basis. It includes the
perspectives of stakeholder like staff members, customers and government in regards to quality.
Meanwhile, it consist part of outside authorities like CQC, NHS & Healthcare inspectorate and
impact of poor quality services including complications in patients condition. However, it
involves effective quality approaches such as total quality management, Six sigma and bench
marketing for improving effectiveness of clinical procedures. Moreover, it includes some of
potential barriers involving employee resistance, organisational structure and needs of service
users. Additionally, it consist factors which helps to achieve better quality such as availability of
resources, size & facilities & economical elements.
11

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bierman, A.S., 2019. Preventing and managing multimorbidity by integrating behavioral health
and primary care. Health Psychology, 38(9), p.851.
Davies, H.T. and et. al., 2018. Managing Quality: Strategic issues in health care management.
Routledge.
Dowding, L. and Barr, J., 2018. Managing in health care: a guide for nurses, midwives and
health visitors. Routledge.
Gardner, J.W., Linderman, K.W. and McFadden, K.L., 2018. Managing quality crossroads in
healthcare: An integrative supply chain perspective. Quality Management
Journal, 25(1), pp.2-17.
Leung, M.Y., Yu, J. and Memari, A., 2016. MANAGING INDOOR FACILITIES IN PUBLIC
HOUSING TO IMPROVE ELDERLY QUALITY OF LIFE. International Journal for
Housing Science & Its Applications, 40(2).
Leyerle, B., 2016. The private regulation of American health care. Routledge.
McDermott, A.M., Kitchener, M. and Exworthy, M. eds., 2017. Managing Improvement in
Healthcare: Attaining, Sustaining and Spreading Quality. Springer.
McPake, B. and Hanson, K., 2016. Managing the public–private mix to achieve universal health
coverage. The Lancet, 388(10044), pp.622-630.
Mintzberg, H., 2018. Managing the myths of health care. In The Myths of Health Care (pp. 3-
11). Springer, Cham.
Söderström, E., Eriksson, N. and Åhlfeldt, R.M., 2016. Managing healthcare information:
analyzing trust. International journal of health care quality assurance, 29(7), pp.786-
800.
Southwick, C., Evans, D. and Davies, H.T., 2018. Improving child dental health in Scotland: an
audit in primary care. In Managing Quality (pp. 103-115). Routledge.
Stanhope, M., 2017. Managing quality and safety. Foundations for Population Health in
Community/Public Health Nursing-E-Book, p.276.
Synyayeva, L. and et. al., 2019. Managing of the Living Quality of Population in the Social
Sphere. In Modern Development Paths of Agricultural Production (pp. 571-581).
Springer, Cham.
12