Quality Assurance in Health and Social Care

This assignment analyzes the critical role of quality in health and social care. It delves into the perspectives of various stakeholders, including users and government agencies, highlighting their impact on service delivery. The report discusses the standards set by governments, potential barriers to quality care, and the effectiveness of policies and procedures within these sectors. Furthermore, it examines methods for evaluating health and social care services and emphasizes the significant influence of user feedback in shaping service improvement.

Managing Quality in Health
and Social Care

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: ........................................................................................................................1
Lo 1..................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Stake holders perspective in health and social care..............................................................1
1.2 Role of external agencies in setting social care....................................................................1
1.3 Impact of poor services on social and health care ...............................................................2
Lo 2 .................................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Standards for measuring quality in social and health care....................................................2
2.2 Different approaches for implementing quality system........................................................3
2.3 Potential barriers of quality in social and health care...........................................................3
Lo -3.................................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Systems, quality and measures used for achieving quality...................................................4
3.2 Factors that can contribute for attaining the quality..............................................................4
3.3 How to improve quality of services in Stanford care home..................................................5
Lo 4..................................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Methods for evaluating quality of health and social care.....................................................6
4.2 Impact of user in evaluating service quality.........................................................................7
CONCLUSION:...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION:
It is very important to provide healthy environment to the society. It ensures that people
living are strong enough to face any kind of hazard. Healthy people and environment will lead to
growth and development of country. This can be done by maintaining the quality of service that
is provided to them. Stake holders plays an important role in determining the quality of service.
This report aims to deliver the role of stake holder and external agencies in this sector. It shows
the impact of poor services on the people. In addition to this the standards that are set for
measuring quality and various approaches for implementing them is shown. Further, the
effectiveness of policies and procedures and how it influences the quality in social care is shown.
At last it is shown the various ways to improve it and evaluation methods and the impact of
involving user for evaluating the quality of service.
Lo 1
1.1 Stake holders perspective in health and social care
Stake holder plays an important role in managing social and health care. They are the
ones who participate in social work and protect the interest of people. They affect the
organisations policies, objectives and goals. It shows that services that are provided in hospital
are not enough to meet the demands to people in case of emergency. In social care the quality of
service is most important perspective of stake holders. The interest of stake holders are provided
through government, organisations, etc. the service quality must be ensured by the staff. It might
differs according to the patient. Quality is about meeting the requirements of service users. For
this the requirements must be identified to provide the services. Stake holders provide a support
to these people in delivering the services (Care Quality Commission, 2012.)
1.2 Role of external agencies in setting social care
Stake holders can be external agencies that ensures quality of services. These agencies
can be care quality commission, local authorities, people, health service commissioners, etc. they
regulate the entire sector and quality of services provided to people. They protect the interest of
people by regulating the standards that are been set to provide the services. Professionals have to
be get registered in local authorities in order tot provide social services to people. This is done to

ensure that they do not break the law. It is also open to public to check whether the professional
is registered or not. External bodies also put barriers so that organisation do not provide any kind
services by wrong ways. These barriers restrict them to do so and also creating a boundaries in
which they have to perform (Cherry,. and Jacob, ., 2016.)
1.3 Impact of poor services on social and health care
Poor quality of service could impact the health of people and can lead to major consequences.
The needs of people will not be met and this can deteriorate the quality of health in that area.
Moreover, it will create a negative impact on the people and it will create a poor effect the living
standard on their lives. Their average age will be reduced and they will not be able to fight with
any hazard that occurs in the society. This will reduce their ability to work and their productivity
will be decreased. It will certainly lead to poverty in the society. Poor impact will create a bad
image in the society and people will not trust the service that has been provided.
Lo 2
2.1 Standards for measuring quality in social and health care
The standards are basically guidelines that are been set up by the government. They
specify the level of quality that has to be followed for providing health care. There are various
authorities that has been imposed by government to manage and control these standards.
Minimum standards- it means that set minimum standards that are needed in providing health
care. These are the low level standards that are very basic in providing health care.
Bench marks- they are the objectives that are set for the overall organisation to ensure assurance
of service quality to people. It is done to maintain the quality level of organisation and also it do
not create a negative impact in the society.
Performance indicators- they are the indicators that are set to measure the quality of service. It
is set so that the quality can be provided accordingly. If quality is not up to the mark then
corrective actions can be taken.
Codes of practise- these are set so that staff works accordingly in order to provide quality
services to people. This helps the staff to work with respect to their tasks given. It helps in
measuring performance of individual people to improve the quality if they have not performed
with their set standards (Brett, and et.al, 2014. ).

2.2 Different approaches for implementing quality system
Setting up policies- it is the best way to implement the quality standards. Policies means the
codes that are applied by the organisation to provide better services. It gives direction to white
chapel hospital on how to conduct their activities. It contains the rules and regulations about the
entire hospital members. These rules are related to staff members such as arriving on time,
proper uniform and communicating about what is right and wrong. It means that staff is educates
enough to take appropriate decisions in every situation (Livingston,and et.al., 2014.)
Target setting- it states that staff has to work according to their set targets and goals. It will
ensure the quality is maintained in the white chapel hospital. It helps the staff in performing their
tasks so that they identify their mistakes and improve them. If there are no set goals and targets
then quality can not be maintained.
Planning- it is done to ensure what task have to be done, by whom and at what time. It shows
staff about their duties and ensures proper actions that can be taken to achieve the target. This is
done for effective utilisation of resources and timely completion of task
Monitoring- it involves measuring the performance of staff with the set standards. It is done to
maintain the quality of care service and improving customers well being. It is useful because if
any staff is not able to achieve its objectives then corrective actions can be taken. Monitoring
will help in improving individual productivity that will lead to overall quality improvement.
Communication- it allows effective implementation of policies and procedures that helps in
achieving the goals and objectives. It is also useful in adaption of any change that occurs in the
white chapel hospital. It gives information about any change in the policies and taking decision
on particular issue by discussion (Cameron,and et.al., 2014)
2.3 Potential barriers of quality in social and health care
A barrier is an obstacle that prevent the happening of an event. There are various barriers that
prevent the delivery of services in health care. These are as follows:
External barrier- these are the external elements that create barrier in providing service quality.
They restrict hospitals and organisation by establishing rules and regulations. They control and

manage them thus ensuring that no new process influence the service quality. Also, legislation
imposed restricts the activities of staff that creates a negative impact. The staff will perform
activities to achieve high quality.
Internal barrier- These barriers includes resources, organisational structure, staff, etc. any
changes made in hospital environment will directly impact the staff. This will restrict them to
perform activities. They will be afraid to adopt new change as it requires new knowledge and
skills to handle them. This will affect communication between them and they will not be able to
perform well. If organisation adopt change there is risk of getting failure of process. Also, there
might not be enough resources to adopt those change (.Munn-Giddings, and Winter,., 2013) These
internal barriers might affect the overall quality that is needed is health care
Lo -3
3.1 Systems, quality and measures used for achieving quality
Quality measure is the process of evaluating the performance of health plans against the
recognised quality standards. They play an important role in measuring the effectiveness of
service quality in health care. One of the measures that can be used is total quality management
(TQM). It can be used to measure effectiveness of quality that has been provided to customers.
This ensures that needs of customers are meet and they are satisfied with the service. Hospitals
provides the environment in which these services can be implemented to serve better and
improve the quality. Another major tool that can be used is monitoring tools that is used by staff
for the well being of patients. Information regarding the progress in health, activities, etc was
monitored and noted down. It provides positive impact as monitoring regular progress is
beneficial for improving their health (Damron, and Damron, 2013). Apart from this it can be negative
impact also as it is a time consuming process and can create problems if staff members are not
sufficient.

3.2 Factors that can contribute for attaining the quality
There are various factors that can helpful in attaining the quality of health and social care.
With these factors the standards can be evaluated with service provided. It will help in measuring
the service quality and making improvements in it.
Plan – do – study- The purpose is to identify relationships between changes in process and
outcomes. It determines the scope and nature of problem and what changes can be made, what
plan can be made to understand the impact of change. Data is collected after implementing the
changes and then actions is taken according to the results.
Six sigma- It involves improving and monitoring process to eliminate the waste to increase the
financial stability. It measures performance by process improvement with quality improvement.
It can be done by two methods. First is to count the defects and second is to predict process
performance from the defined limits (Glasby, 2017).
Lean production system- It overlaps the six sigma method by removing the activities that are
not needed. It identifies customers needs by maximising value added activities in order to
continue operations. It ensures that no similar errors happens by improving the quality. It helps
in decreasing costs and increasing the effectiveness of patient care. The main purpose is to
eliminate the unnecessary daily activities. It uses the process of root cause analysis by
identifying the main problem and then setting goals for removing it.
Root cause analysis- It is a process of identifying risk involved by having a risk assessment. It
is performed to implement action plans to reduce the future risk of events. In this individual
factors are identified as they can become the root cause of problem. The aim of root cause
analysis is to identify error by enabling factors and situations that can cause happening of an
event. At last it provides recommendations for process improvements that are based on findings
of risk involved.
Failure model and effect analysis- This process is used to eliminate possible problems from a
process before happening of an event. All actions are taken to prevent errors by estimating the
probability of each failure. It can also be used to evaluate alternative process to monitor change
over time (World Health Organization (WHO, 2017.)

Health failure mode and effect analysis- It is uses the tool of risk assessment. In this a team is
formed who conducts a hazard analysis and develop actions and desires outcomes. It determines
the actions that can be taken to proceed further. It shows the what measures will be eliminated
were and who will have what responsibility.
3.3 How to improve quality of services in Stanford care home
The new home care manager Sam can improve the quality of services by applying the
various factors that are described above. It will help home care in improving its quality and its
growth and development. The first step can be done by planning process and determining the
changes in outcomes. It will ensure that what actions are to be taken and nature of problem. if
any problem arises then actions can be taken immediately after collecting the data. This will
solve the problem of patients and improve the productivity of staff. Sam can apply six sigma to
eliminate waste and evaluate the performance of staff process. Sam can find out the defects in
their operations to create effectiveness in process. That will be useful in evaluating staff
performance and then training can be given to them. It will improve the process and lead to
proper communication (Aveyard., 2014.). Further, the customers needs can be identified to
provide only basic health care services that will remove the unnecessary activities. This will
reduce the cost by identifying problem. If the root cause of problem is identified appropriate
actions can be taken to ensure that it do not happen in the future. Staff will be given training
based on situations that will enhance their decision taking power. It will be useful for home care
to provide better services. At last the manager Sam can do is risk assessment of activities that
will be able to take actions before any event. For example- in case of emergency staff and
doctors will know what decisions must be taken. It will help both of them to know what actions
must be taken in different situations. This will improve their individual performance and service
quality.

Lo 4
4.1 Methods for evaluating quality of health and social care
There are multiple approaches for measuring the quality of health and social care. These
approaches are questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, etc.
Questionnaires- it is the simplest way to measure care quality. In this the people have to filled
the questionnaires regarding the effectiveness of care. This allows them for answer 12-15
questions that are asked. The reviews of different people are taken that helps in measuring care
quality. It is a very time consuming process and it becomes difficult to identify overall quality as
many people do not complete the entire questionnaire (Brett, and et.al, 2014.).
Interviews- in this face to face communication is done that helps in getting information about
the care quality. A lot of time and personnel is needed to conduct interviews. It consumes a lot of
time and sometimes it is difficult to take interviews of all the people.
Panels- it is group consisting of 4-5 experienced people that helps in measuring the care quality.
These panels set some standards and accordingly measures the quality. It is done in specific time
period so that corrective actions can be taken to improve them. These panels suggest some
measures that needs to be taken (Cameron,and et.al., 2014).
Structural approach- it refers to type of structure in which the operations are organised by the
policies that have in place and affects care quality. It influences how well the care is delivered. It
defines the roles and responsibilities of each staff member that makes him clear about their role
in the organisation. It includes the characteristics of hospitals, personnel and policies related to
care.
Process approach- it refers to a process that is done between a care professional and a patient.
In includes providing information and support and giving treatments according patients decision.
Its outcome is improvement in patents health. Outcomes can be also be measured and quality of
care can be found out.
Both the approaches are useful in measuring the quality of care. But the difference is
process approach is highly used in every situation rather than structural one. The care quality
received from process one is useful in providing satisfaction to people whereas structural
measures the performance of because each individual roles and responsibilities are well defined.

Process can only be useful for providing information about the type of treatments that is given to
patient. There is no involvement of every individual in this.
4.2 Impact of user in evaluating service quality
Involving users in service quality is very essential as it impacts the services that are given. These
users decide the quality of services and have positive or negative impact on them (Glasby, 2017).
It is important to involve them in services as they provide suggestions on improving the quality
of services. With the help of users the feedback is taken that shows whether they were satisfied
or not. It shows that if there are any improvements in health care of users or not. Their positive
impact will bring growth and development in the service quality. The involvement of users helps
in identifying their needs and on that basis services are developed. Also, rules and regulations are
prepared to sustain the quality of the service.
CONCLUSION:
From this report it is concluded in health and social care quality is vital component. It
involves contribution of both the users and government. In this report the perspective of internal
and external stack holders are discussed. the role of external agencies in setting the standards is
also discussed. It was also pointed out that how stack holders are impacted by the poor quality of
health services. Also, the standards that are set by government has to be followed and barriers for
delivering good health services. Further, policies and procedures effectiveness in social and
health services is also discussed along with the factors that influence quality. Also, the ways in
which these services can be improved. At last the various methods for evaluating health and
social care and the impact of user in service evaluation is discussed.

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