Strategies for Empowering Healthcare Service Users: An Analysis

This essay delves into the critical aspects of empowering health and social care service users. It begins by defining empowerment within the healthcare context, emphasizing patient participation and decision-making. The essay then reviews relevant legislation, codes of practice, and policies, particularly those governing medication management within the NHS in England. It evaluates the effectiveness of these policies, considering factors such as medication safety, patient rights, and the balance between independence and protection. The analysis extends to the challenges in promoting healthcare services and communication between providers and users, highlighting factors like personal attention, time management, courtesy, and the impact of culture. The essay underscores the importance of effective communication, training, and a supportive environment in maximizing user rights and satisfaction, ultimately advocating for comprehensive strategies to enhance the empowerment of individuals within the health and social care system. The essay also reviews the healthcare act 2014, equality act 2010, data protection act 2014 and control drug regulation 2013. The importance of medication management, monitoring systems, and effective communication are also included in the essay.

Running head: EMPOWERMENT OFHEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
EMPOWERMENT RELATED STRATEGIES FOR THE USERS OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE SERVICES
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
The term empowerment can be defined as the active participation of an individual in a
program where he or she possesses an active decision making power. In the healthcare industry,
all the service providers are under the obligation to comply with the requirements of the
healthcare service users focusing on the rules and regulation of the government. With the
advancement of medical science and technology, the healthcare service users are found to be
more concerned about the charges, quality and after services provided by NHS England (Lowes
and Hulatt 2013). It can be understood that the for a grown-up society and a developed country,
provision of quality healthcare services is a highly crucial factor to ensure further growth and
prosperity of the society by decreasing the mortality rate and increasing the newborn healthcare
and infant treatment facilities and thereby ensuring consumer satisfaction. Hence the
government of England has introduced several healthcare policies for reliable and quality
healthcare treatment of the citizens. In this essay, review of the existing legislation, codes of
practices and policy which apply to the management of medication will be analyzed and the
efficacy of the policies and procedures will be evaluated (Brett et al. 2014). Apart from that
analysis of the tension that arises while balancing the rights of the people to independence as
well as choice against the duty of the care provider to protect will be performed in this essay.
Finally an analysis of the factor that hinders the promotion of healthcare services and
communication between the health care users and providers will perform.
In this paragraph, the review of present legislation as well as different codes of practice
and policy that applies to the handling of medication by NHS England has been performed.
According to researchers, when it comes to the provision of quality healthcare services, the
healthcare service users of under-developed and developing countries suffer more due to the
reluctance and carelessness of the healthcare service providers while performing their duty

2EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
(Hansson, Höög and Nyström 2017). However, even in developed countries like England, the
death of the patient due to wrong treatment and dosage of medication has been evidenced several
numbers of times. In order to ensure the safety of healthcare service users while undergoing
treatment, the healthcare act 2014 has been implemented. Apart from that, the Equality act 2010,
Data protection act 2014 and Control drug regulation 2013 are also enforced to prevent
discrimination, illegal usage of the information provided by the patient to the healthcare
professions and over dosage of drug respectively. All the codes and practices in the healthcare
system are designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to guarantee the appropriate
regulatory control over Medicare. All the laws and regulations associated with the healthcare
have gone through an amendment in the year 2010 in order to get upgraded and enhance the
quality and standard. According to the upgraded service policy, it has been declared that each
and every healthcare home irrespective of its size should have an ambulance service as well as
dental care for the convenience of the healthcare service users (Huesch Ostbye and Michener
2016). Amendments have also been done in the health and social care act that includes reduction
of restriction in the usage of antimicrobial in order to prevent infection while treating the
healthcare service users.
This paragraph evaluates the usefulness of policies as well as actions within a health and
social care setting for controlling medication. According to researchers, it is highly crucial for
each and every healthcare organization to be aligned with the policies and procedures
implemented for medication administration (Styliadis et al. 2014). One of the crucial policies and
procedures associated with the healthcare of NHS England are evaluated below:

3EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
Determination of the importance of the medication management: Management of medicine
in healthcare should be measurable, alterable and actionable. The bellow mentioned factors are
the major concerns of the medication management.
1. Prescribed as well as non-prescribed medicines
2. Temperature adjustment (Cameron et al. 2014)
3. Life cycle checking of medicine
4. Differentiation of medicine
5. Immunization
Expiry date: It is highly crucial to check the expiry date of the medicine that is kept as inventory
in the healthcare pharmacy before providing the same to the healthcare service users. Medicines
that have crossed their expiry date should be released (Brennan et al. 2012).
Approval of medicine: No medication should be provided or injected to the healthcare service
users without the permission of the registered healthcare professionals and no pharmacy are
permitted to sell medicines that are not prescript by a registered doctor (Ocloo and Matthews
2016).
Medication for children: The healthcare service providers who have been recruited for
providing medication and treating children should be well trained so that they can provide
medication to the children in a convenient and careful way.
Monitoring System: It is highly crucial for NHS England to develop a well-monitored
medication management system for the following three factors:

4EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
1. All the deliveries that are done by the healthcare service providers should always be
recorded either manually or by using technology (Ham and Walsh2013).
2. Effective communication channel should be established among the healthcare
professionals, service providers and users.
3. Healthcare employees of all levels need to be provided with a periodical training session
so that they can come up with greater efficiency through risk elimination.
The chief theme of healthcare of NHS includes the quality and behaviour of services along
with affection and comfort of the healthcare providers. However several incidents are found
where the vulnerability of the healthcare service users along with their right to independence
comes in the way of duty to protect them from major injuries.
For instance, Miss Michelle who has been admitted to the hospital as a patient of dementia
was prevented by the healthcare service users when she showed her urge to go out of the hospital
premises. As days passed by, the urge of Miss Michele to get out of the hospital premises
became uncontrollable. In such cases, though the patient’s comfort is going out of the hospital,
the healthcare service providers are strictly instructed to prevent the patient from going outdoor
keeping in mind her security and ultimate benefit of getting recovered. The tension that arises
during the half recovery stage of the patient is a highly crucial factor and is one of chief concern
of the healthcare providers at NHS currently (Szebehelyand Trydegård2012).
This paragraph includes an examination of the features that may disturb the attainment of
indorsing and making best use of the rights of users of health and social care services.
Considering the fact that experience and service quality of the healthcare service providers are

5EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
two of the major factors that are considered by the healthcare service users, it is highly crucial to
provide the employees of the healthcare industry with effective training as well knowledge of all
the rules and regulation associated with the mentioned industry (Brett et al. 2014). A vast range
of associated factors is aligned with the promotion as well as maximization of the rights of the
healthcare service users in health and social care that dignifies the active participation of the
codes.
Laws and legislation: Every healthcare home possess a set of unique interests and those
interests are marked as policies and procedures of that specific organization. These policies and
regulations not only help the organization to come up with operational excellence but also clarify
the rights of the healthcare service users in order to obtain quality services (Naslund et al. 2016).
Some of the major regulations that must be implemented by all the healthcare organization
include the Care act 2014, Equality act 2010 and Code of Participation. For instance, the Care act
2014 had a wide implication in the case of Miss Michelle’s condition.
Culture: the ambience and culture of a healthcare organization play a crucial role in promoting
the right of the health and social care service users. A highly amiable, trustworthy and jolly
service environment that promotes cultural competence is a basic requirement for the treatment
of healthcare service users of all levels (Demirkanand Delen2013). Such an environment
encourages both the healthcare service providers as well as users to demonstrate compassion and
respect the dignity of one another. In the case of Miss Michelle, who was suffering from
dementia a well established amicable culture of the healthcare home can be considered as a
major reason for her recovery.

6EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
Two-way communication skill: Effective communication skills along with appropriate
communication with both the patient and the management are a highly crucial factor that results
in promotion of the rights of the healthcare service users (Al Ameen, Liuand Kwak2012).
Healthcare service providers should be provided with effective training to understand the specific
requirements of the patients in their vulnerable stage and communicate the same with their
superior so that the necessary treatment can be provided to the patient on time ensuring his or her
recovery. For instance, the fact that effective tow ways communication has been conducted by
the healthcare service providers during her vulnerable stage when she got overly excited or
angry, is one of the major factors that has ensured her quick recovery.
This paragraph is comprised of the investigation of the communication between care
workers and users that backs to encouraging and exploiting the rights of service users of health
and social care services. The three major factors that affect the communication between the two
mentioned groups are as follows.
Personal attention: Personal attention refers to the concern an compassion demonstrated by a
healthcare service users toward his or her client while taking care of him. Demonstration of
personal attention enhances the positive environment of the healthcare home and also creates an
effective relationship between the healthcare service providers and service users which further
facilitates the treatment process (Fernández-Alemán et al. 2013). Apart from that, personal
attention creates personal identification that enhances the satisfaction of the consumers by
promoting the care and comfort of the users.
Time adjustment and effective communication: Considering the fact that a single healthcare
provider needs to take care of more than one service users, time management to pay adequate

7EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
attention and communicate with all the service user is highly crucial to build a strong
relationship and ensure consumer satisfaction. Effective time adjustment ensures that all the
service users are able to access help when needed or in the case of emergency (Kongstvedt
2012). For the convenience of the healthcare service users, several healthcare home implements
calling bells so that they can access the attention of the healthcare service providers whenever
needed. In order to ensure that all the requirements of each service users are carefully listening
to, information should be exchanged and active communication should be established with the
healthcare service users.
Courtesy and respect: Usage of appropriate gesture and maintaining courtesy while conducting
communication with the healthcare service users is a highly crucial factor to establish effective
communication. Considering the fact that several cases of misbehaviour with aboriginal
healthcare users have been reported in the past, it can be understood that lack of respect towards
the culture of the healthcare users leads to miscommunication and consumer dissatisfaction
(Fernández-Alemán et al. 2013). Lack of courtesy of the healthcare service providers also makes
the healthcare service users feel uncomfortable and unattended. Hence, in order to ensure an
effective communication between the healthcare service providers as well as users, education
and training for developing respect and learning the ways to approach the patients with courtesy
should be provided to both the healthcare service providers as well as professionals.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the government of UK has implemented
several rules and regulation in order to ensure that the healthcare service users can avail all the
facilities that have been entitled to them. Majority of the organization intends to comply with the

8EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
laws and legislation in order to ensure a consumer-friendly environment as well as high-quality
services. However, considering the fact that the advancement in medical science is occurring at a
rapid speed, healthcare organizations should constantly revise their policies and procedures in
order to ensure that they are complying well with the current healthcare related issues. It needs to
be understood that the satisfaction of the healthcare service users does not depend only on the
recovery of the illness but also on the environment and behaviour received by them while
availing the healthcare services.

9EMPOWERMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SERVICE USERS
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