Managing Quality in Health and Social Care

This document discusses the importance of quality in health and social care and how to manage it effectively. It explores the perspectives of stakeholders, the role of external agencies, and the impact of poor service quality. It also covers the standards and quality systems used in the industry and examines the barriers to delivering quality care services.

Managing Quality in
Health in Health and
Social Care
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
1.1State perspectives that stakeholders in social and health care have in respect to quality......4
1.2Examine external agencies role in making standards ...........................................................5
1.3Measure the outcome of poor service quality on health care stakeholders............................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Demonstrate the standards of health and social care in order to measure quality................7
2.2 Assess various formulations to employ quality systems......................................................8
2.3 Examine different barriers to deliver quality care services in social and healthcare sectors.
.....................................................................................................................................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Assess the potency of policies, systems and procedures utilized in a social and health care
setting for attaining quality in clinical practices offered. ...........................................................9
3.2 Examine different factors that may have an impact on achievement of quality in the social
and health care service..............................................................................................................10
3.3 Imply ways through which the social and healthcare services could enhance their quality.
...................................................................................................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
4.1 Assess different ways for measuring health and social care service quality with respect to
internal and external perspectives............................................................................................12
4.2 Explain the effect of involvement of service users in evaluation process of service quality.
...................................................................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Quality is the most important element in health and social care. It is an impulsive
component and hence needs to be improved, analyse and evaluated at planned intervals. Quality
in health and social care plays a vital role in bringing customer satisfaction and improve
knowledge and skills of care professionals (Nelson and Staggers, N., 2016). Customer
satisfaction is consider as most important parameter in analysing quality of clinical services
being provided to them. Thus, it is a major concern for all stakeholders of the organisation to
manage effective quality in their services. The organisation which has been chosen for this study
is The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust.
It is a health and social care organisation which provides intensive care and treatment to
population of about 50,000 people along with surrounding villages and towns in Western
Wiltshire and North East Somerset. The study will focus on various perspectives of stakeholders
in healthcare sectors regarding quality. Furthermore analysis of external agencies for setting
standards will be cover. Strategies for achieving quality in health and social care services are
need to be discuss. At last methodologies for evaluating health and social care service quality will
be evidenced in this report.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
1.1State perspectives that stakeholders in social and health care have in respect to quality
It has been observed that there are several stakeholders who are majorly involves in
organising as well as managing the kind of quality being offered in Royal United Hospital Bath
NHS Trust. Outbreak of any health associated hazard or calamity in hospitals are dealt by the
service providers and the stakeholders, their perspective alters with the changing situations and
also ranges from individual to an individual (Steinberg and et.al., 2016). The perception of all
stakeholders may vary from each other over a restoring the health quality, such perception are
discussed below.
Service users: One of the most important part of health organisation are the patients and
all service seekers who visit for seeking such facilities. Some of the individuals have perception
that the quality of care provided in home are better than those rendered in social and health care
services. Though, it has been found that the environment of home is not as sterile as it can be in
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hospitals or clinics, thus some people lay emphasis on gaining all the required treatment in such
facility centres. The quality not just depends on the medicines given to the victims but also how
the privacy and sterility have been maintained in the favour of service users.
Care workers: Such people belong to those category which actually works hard in
maintaining the quality and constantly make changes in developing more offers in enhancing
such practice (Wallerstein and et.al., 2017). As per the demanded and required services, the top
authority people working in hospitals set up the operations accordingly. The workers of
respective organisation have considered prime stakeholders in organising the available resources
and making the best use of it for making the condition of patients better. The role of such
members is to function as per the guidelines and must offer such facilities which are appropriate
and reliable and also at the same time satisfy the patients.
Government: Stakeholders are ones who get affected by the planning and the action
which are conducted in an organisation. The governmental agencies provide support to the such
health care organisation for enhancing the working and functioning. Such agencies actually sets
up the standards which has to be followed by every members in health sector for making the
functioning ethical.
1.2Examine external agencies role in making standards
With the changing condition of patients in terms of their health, the external agencies
making constant practices for monitoring the wants of victims in such situation for easing the
welfare of such individuals. All the organisation associated in rendering health services are tend
to follow guidelines which are stated by such agencies for making the operation more authentic
(Osborn and et.al., 2016). The practice which once followed also regulate and improve the
sustainable development in the enterprise. It has been seen that there are various agencies which
are regularly putting their heads in formulating the standards so as to achieve highest satisfaction
level of the patients. Few external agencies who can evaluate and formulate the standards of
health are described below.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence: Such agency have been employed for
providing efficient suggestions to NHS from 1999. The role of NICE is to upgrade the feedbacks
as well as the outcomes which are being received from the NHS or other agencies. They perform
their duties effectively by rendering guidance and advices for the practitioner related in such
field. The roles also include in building standards and guidelines for not only organising the way
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in which the diagnosing and treatment will be conducted but also helps in improving the quality
imparted to the social care seekers. Various informations and data are also provided to health
care practitioner for managing the task as per required.
Care Quality Commission: This agency is an independent body regulating health
practices in UK. The work of CQC is to ensure that clear and chief standards are being fulfilled
by the hospital and the people coming to seek such facilities are getting their primal services
(Brownson and et.al., 2017). The main role of such body is to inspect and evaluate that whether
the social and health practices which are performed by the practitioner are being followed
accurately or not. The agency also involve the participation of other local bodies and public
while forming different standards.
1.3Measure the outcome of poor service quality on health care stakeholders
The effects of miserable services which are provided by the health practitioners or
acquired at some other place may have an adverse impact on the health of patients. All the
stakeholders who are involved in the process of receiving services, providing facilities and
maintaining standard gets equally affected by such harmful practices. Such outcomes on various
stakeholders are mentioned below.
On care seekers: The service users if given ill treatment then their condition may get
worse and one disease may lead to another disaster. Even if the state is not diagnosed correctly
and wrong evaluation has been made then whole process of providing medications get futile.
Thus, the standards must be followed very carefully for keeping the health of victims normal.
The satisfaction level of such individuals are lowered drastically which results in depression or
stress. The services received from home may also be poor if non sterile equipments are utilised
while handling the clients, such activities may be deadly to the care seekers.
On organisation: If an organisation are caught neglecting or avoiding the guidelines than
it has a very drastic effect on the functioning of business. Poor quality lowers the productivity
level of system and thus the earnings and the amount of profits also reduces, thereby resulting in
mismanagement of funds and poor management (Steenkamer and et.al., 2017). If the condition
of the patients who got treated from such institute get more complicated then it may have a bad
consequence on the reputation of enterprise and may lead in shutting down of hospitals. CQC
and other effective agencies are forced to take high and influencing actions against the company
which may include in firing some high authority members or destroying the building.
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TASK 2
2.1 Demonstrate the standards of health and social care in order to measure quality.
Quality in healthcare organisations can be define as providing clinical practices which
eliminates risks and errors in a treatment being deliver to a patient and to avoid occurrence of
injuries. Stakeholders of the organisation are need to provide services which is based on
evidence based guidelines and effective scientific knowledge (Leischik and et.al., 2016).
However, to evaluate quality of clinical practices quality standards has been established to
consider a basic framework. In The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust quality standards
will help in provide secure and quality care to their patients and will result in effective outcomes.
Some of the quality standards are discussed here.
CQC-
It stands for care quality commission. It is a regulator of social and healthcare services in
United Kingdom. Their role is to inspect, monitor and regulate clinical and social services being
provided in organisations. It is the responsibility of CQC to sure that care homes, hospitals and
other care organisations in United Kingdom is delivering effective, safe and high quality of
services to their patients and motivate them to improve. Some of the key standards of CQC are
listed below:
 According to CQC guidelines, service users must be treated with dignity and respect
throughout the treatment process.
 Service providers must analyse risks and errors during treatment and must have
knowledge and skills of clinical practices.
 Drinks and food must be provided to services users while they are receiving the
treatment.
 Service provider should be honest and open to the patient about their treatment and care.
NICE-
It stands for national institute of health and care excellence. Role of NICE is to render
national guidance and advice for improving clinical practices in healthcare industry (McInerny
and et.al., 2016). It is a non departmental public body funded by department of health and social
care. They provide some recommendations and guidelines on how care professionals must care
for their patients with particular conditions. Recommendations are on the basis of best available
information. Guidelines of NICE help in to prevent indisposed health conditions and also protect
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and promote good health. Such guidelines results in improved quality of care and services
provided to patients.
2.2 Assess various formulations to employ quality systems.
Implementation of quality system in health and social care organisations is very
important for delivering effective and secure care to the patients. Change in quality in healthcare
organisations will lead it to a next level (Kohli and Tan, 2016). It will provide an understanding
of various quality elements by applying different quality system in Royal United Hospital Bath
NHS Trust. Some of the approaches for implementation of quality system in respective
organisation are discussed here.
ISO 9001: Quality management system is proved to be a best way in enhancing patients
safety and to improve quality of clinical practices. ISO 9001 renders a model for quality
management system that put emphasis on effectiveness of clinical process to assure that high
quality care is being provided. It promotes a constant improvement in operations of the
organisation. It could be implement to all sizes of organisations. It basically ensure safety and
quality of patient treatment and help to analyse risk factors and manage it to staff, patients and
organisations. ISO 9001 will facilitates the implementation of best procedures and routines to the
treatment. The major responsibility of this management system is to provide surety to patients,
supervisors and other stakeholders that they have implemented a well management model and
are in the process of constant improvement.
Investors in people: It provides a framework which help organisations to enhance their
performance and focus on goals and objectives by the means of effective management and
development of their service users. In context with healthcare organisation, it ensure that clinical
professionals have appropriate knowledge and clinical skills and are encouraged to perform in
an efficient manner.
European quality mark: It is basically a assurance mark for quality (Chen and et.al.,
2016). In health and social care sectors this is helpful to analyse the quality of clinical practices
and motivate staff members to improve the quality of their care services being provided to their
patients. It supports quality assurance and quality development.
2.3 Examine different barriers to deliver quality care services in social and healthcare sectors.
Potential barriers in delivery of quality care services in health and social care
organisation could lead to number of negative consequences and may reduce the effectiveness of
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operations. Potential barriers could be of two types which is internal and external. Internal barrier
consist of lack of technology in the organisation such as machines, equipments and many more
along with effective communication system (Smithies and Webster,2018). Such factors may
results in occurrence of defects and risks in the treatment of their service users. External factors
may consist of appropriate funding, health insurance and lack of support. It can lead to some
adverse condition. For instance, lack of communication in respective organisation can be a
hurdle in effective information flow between stakeholders and can also cause poor handling of
patients. Background noise and lack of privacy could be a barrier for effective communication
between doctors and patients. Poor financial system can lead to poor management in The Royal
United Hospital Bath NHS Trust. Similarly, lack of consideration of quality system can lead to
pathetic training and development plans, low level of management and pitiable leadership.
Higher prices of care services could also be an obstacle for service seekers if health services are
not covered in health insurance. Some of the potential barriers are discussed as follows:
 Staff related barriers: Such kinds of barriers include less skilled care practitioners, lack
of motivation among staff members and poor leadership quality within a team could
result in delivery of low level of quality services (Alegría and et.al, 2016). It has been
identified that stakeholders of the organisation are not in favour to accept the changes and
cause decrease in their performance.
 Organisation related barriers: Lack of financial support, low quality of equipments and
lack of human resources are some of the organisational related barriers.
 Service seekers related barriers: Lack of services in the organisation, financial barriers
and no health insurance coverage are some of the customer related barriers.
TASK 3
3.1 Assess the potency of policies, systems and procedures utilized in a social and health care
setting for attaining quality in clinical practices offered.
For ensuring the quality at The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust it is necessary to
comply with standards and guidelines of quality management policies, systems and procedures.
As per the government of United Kingdom, it is the right of service users to receive standard
healthcare services in public and private care settings. Such policies, systems and procedures
could help in to enhance quality of clinical practices and ensure that all activities and tasks are
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meeting quality standards in an organisation. Essential policies of organisation helps in to
promote clinical services within the citizens of the country in overall geographical area. It helps
to develop professional standards of clinical practices (Green and Thorogood, 2017). Care
quality commission is a system which helps in enhance quality of clinical services in social and
healthcare sectors by creating some basic set standards. Respective organisation must consider
all legal policies and guidelines of CQC along with the council of social and healthcare services.
National healthcare system is positively impacting upon organisation and help in to develop
some guidelines for managing operational tasks and activities. It helps to maintain practices and
procedures as per the needs and demands of patients. It has been analysed that system, policies
and procedures play a vital role in social and healthcare organisation and help them to attain
desirable goals an objectives in order to fulfil demands of their patients. Organisations are also
making efforts in improving the policies and procedures by asking for feedbacks from their
service users and to conduct a survey so that they can improve their operations and clinical
services. Respective organisation should implement policies such as intense disease programs for
giving better healthcare services to patients and also indulge in giving incentives and other
profits to care professionals of the organisation. It may consist of performance based pay
structure and rewards. It assures quality improvement as care professionals will perform with
their full potential and try to drive out best possible outcomes in the treatment.
3.2 Examine different factors that may have an impact on achievement of quality in the social
and health care service.
Quality is the most important element and must be a priority for respective organisation
in order to provide efficient services. There are number of factors that may influence on quality
of care services deliver in social and healthcare sectors (Frumkin, 2016). Some factors which
influence the care quality in The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust is keeping records and
documentation of results which occur during treatment of a patient. Competitor's analysis is also
a significant factor which leads to quality in organisation. Procedures and policies which could
be adapted by competitors can be applied in respective care home. Regulatory bodies also plays a
major role such as CQC and NICE that are majorly responsible for monitoring and constant
inspection for maintaining quality in he Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust. Guidelines and
recommendations of such government bodies can ensure quality in organisation. They help in to
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provide assistance and and help in to fulfil required improvements. Some other factors are
discussed here.
Management of resources: It is the foremost factor which is to be consider in respective
healthcare organisation. Resources process by the home care must be utilized in an effective way
(Benach and et.al., 2016). Wastage in the organisation could lead to unformed operations of the
organisation and could eliminate the level of quality in operations. Proper management of
resources will cause improvement in overall performance of the organisation and will help in
drawing out best possible outcomes. Financial resources must be utilized in an effective way.
Provide training and development: It is also an effective factor to improve quality of
care services in respective organisation. It will help in to enhance knowledge of clinical skills
and practices. Proper training and development will develop an understanding of urgency for
delivering quality services. Training in The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust will enhance
the competency of care practitioners and help them to deliver excellent quality services to
patients. Scope and dimension of training program must be broad so that high level of knowledge
and skills could be introduce in the organisation.
3.3 Imply ways through which the social and healthcare services could enhance their quality.
Quality improvement in health and social care services is important to provide effective
quality of care to patients and to bring customer satisfaction. It will also help in to enhance
knowledge and clinical practice skills of care professionals and other staff members. Thus, it can be
analysed that quality important in health and social care sectors will enhance overall productivity of
the organisation. It is important for The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust to develop some
strategies in order to maintain quality of clinical practices. Analysis and evaluation of national
development plan must be consider in the organisation for achieving target goals and objectives (Latt
and et.al., 2016). Quality manger of the organisation could ask for feedbacks from their service users
so that they can work on their weak areas. Another important ways for enhancing care quality in
respective organisation is discussed here.
Analyse outcomes and data: It is important for the organisation to measure their data and
outcomes at regular intervals in order to mange it in a proper way. It is necessary for respective
organisation to know their opportunities for improvements for establishing positive outcomes.
Organisation can seek for trends and statistics for an accurate measurement of their data and
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outcomes. They can utilize electronic health records and other data sources for analysing areas of
improvement.
Set objectives: After analysing area of improvement, respective organisation must decide
some objectives. It must be quantitative and precise in nature. Respective organisation should avoid
any sort of injuries to patients that could take place during treatment. Care professionals must avoid
under use of effective care and misuse of ineffective care (Wiebe and et.al., 2016). Organisation
must set gaols to reduce waste and to use their resources in an effective manner.
Communication: Once goals and plans are set, it is the duty of supervisor to communicate it
within the team and among all staff members. Organisation must share all setbacks and milestones of
the plan among all stakeholders. Engagement of stakeholders is the key to bring success in plan and
to know their opinions if plan is appropriate or not.
TASK 4
4.1 Assess different ways for measuring health and social care service quality with respect to
internal and external perspectives.
Evaluation in social and healthcare industry is a process of critical assessment which
determines the quality of clinical practices to know its worth. It is an important factor in organisation
for analysing the effectiveness of services and to enhance operations of organisation. In The Royal
United Hospital Bath NHS Trust it plays a vital role in quality improvement and help to solve basic
problems, inform decision making and to enhance knowledge of clinical practitioners. Main
objective of evaluation of quality services in healthcare organisation is to enhance service quality.
Impact of care quality commission in respective organisation can be evaluated and will help in
analysing implementation of external situation (Parikh and et.al., 2016). This particular government
body will also help to maintain documentation of external factors through which organisation could
operate their tasks an activities. Internal factors are Total quality management which will help the
organisation to enquire financial status of The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust and will help
stakeholders of the organisation to understand the behaviour of their patients. Quality management
programs in respective organisation also put emphasis on some specific issues such as supervision,
documentation and administration process. Some of the methods for evaluating quality is discussed
here.
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 Quality inspection: This process of evaluation basically requires constant inspection of
organisation. CQC generally utilize this method through reviews and documentation.
 Quality tour: It is conducted by healthcare inspectors by unscheduled visit in any health and
social care organisation.
 Quality sampling: It basically analyse the quality of services in organisation by means of
random sampling methods.
 Quality scrutinise: It involves implementation of critical and formal examination process.
Such evaluation methods will be effective for measuring quality in health and social care
organisations.
4.2 Explain the effect of involvement of service users in evaluation process of service quality.
Involvement of service users in evaluation process is an important element which must be
consider in every health and social care sectors. Service users involvement will help The Royal
United Hospital Bath NHS Trust to understand their expectations from organisation. Evaluation of
quality services in healthcare industry must be a wider perspective, thus involving service users is
must. An act of not involving service seeker scan leads to some serious consequences and sometimes
injuries (Thomas, 2017). It is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of clinical practices, if
service users are isolated from the process. With the help of service users, respective organisation can
improve their weak areas by asking them about their overall experience. AS service users are from
different cultures and backgrounds, it could introduce innovation and creativity in the organisation.
Opinions and perceptions of service users can help the organisation to improve performance and
quality of clinical practices. They play a major role in driving quality in organisation and to enhance
performance of various clinical practitioners who got failed in delivering quality treatment and care
to their patients. It can be done by the means of survey and feedback process so that honest reviews
of patients can be driven and organisation can improve their quality of service by considering their
feedbacks. It will provide enhancement in care facilities so that large number of service users could
be served at a time (Charani and Birgand,2016). Organisation can increase their resources and funds
for attracting large number of service seekers so that a positive image could be build in their minds.
Respective organisation must give opportunities to service providers to achieve new heights in health
and social care industry.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that managing quality in social and
healthcare organisation is an important factor and must be consider in every healthcare sector. It
can be analysed that role of quality is crucial in captivating stakeholders in health and social care
services. Current report also clear about the role of external agencies such as CQC and NICE for
ensuring the implementation of quality services in organisation. It involves quality approaches
such as ISO 9001, investors in people, European quality mark for bringing appropriate amount of
changes in quality services and to improve quality of clinical practices. Study also focus on
impact of potential barriers such as lack of communication, lack of support and lack of financial
support on healthcare sectors.
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