Analysis of the Health and Social Care Sector: St. Thomas' Hospital

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the health and social care sector, using St. Thomas' Hospital as a case study. It begins by outlining the current organizational structure of the sector within the UK, highlighting key elements such as the NHS, Care Quality Commission, and various social care provisions. The report then identifies and describes the roles of watchdogs and regulators, including NICE, Health Watch England, NHS Improvement, and the General Medical Council, and their functions. A detailed table outlines the different roles and responsibilities of staff at St. Thomas' Hospital. Furthermore, the report discusses relevant legislation, such as the Care Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2010, and their impact on health and social care organizations. It also explores the UK Care Certificate and how it promotes best practices in the care sector, providing a framework for workers and encouraging professional development. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings, emphasizing the sector's structure, the impact of legislation, and the importance of best practices.

THE HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
SECTOR

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Current Overall Structure of Health and Social Care Sector......................................................1
Identification of Watchdogs and Regulators and their activities................................................3
Different Roles and Responsibilities of staff in St. Thomas' Hospital........................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Relevant Pieces of Legislation that govern health and social care organisations.......................5
Impact of Current Legislation on health and social care.............................................................6
Identification of UK Care Certificate and ways through which it promotes best practice in care
sector...........................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Covered in PPT...........................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Health and Social Care sector involves all organisations, committees working towards
providing health and social care to individuals within a company. All these bodies effectively
incorporate several skilled and talented professionals that have a soul purpose of providing an
effective health and social care service to the people. The report below is based on St. Thomas'
Hospital, which is one of the most effective healthcare organisation within the country, operating
under NHS. The report covers, a brief discussion on the organisational structure of health and
social care sector, legislations, codes and practices affecting the services given at hospitals as
well as a detailed analysis of how health and social care sector work together.
TASK 1
Current Overall Structure of Health and Social Care Sector
It is highly important to understand the overall structure of health and social care sector
in order to appropriately enhance the knowledge about certain aspects and workings associated
with this sector (Mackintosh and et. al, 2016). Below is the organisational structure of the Health
and Social Care sector of the UK:
1

Illustration 1: The structure of the health and social care system
(Source: The structure of the health and social care system, 2019)
It could clearly be witnessed that the organisational structure of the health and social care
sector within the UK is involved with several effective and essential organisations and
committees which are working appropriately in order to provide health and social care to people
within the country.
To develop a better understanding, several key elements of provision within the industry
are mentioned below: National Health Organisation: The first and most effective key element in healthcare
provision is NHS. This is an organisation, which incorporates several bodies and care
homes under its radius that are responsible for providing the best and affordable
healthcare to the people of the UK. It emphasises on hiring best professionals that are
effective in order to provide support and quality treatment to the public.
2

 Care Quality Commission: This commission is responsible for carving out the standards
which organisations like NHS and St. Thomas' Hospital are required to follow in
provision of healthcare. It is an effective watch body which channelises its resources in
monitoring the healthcare standards within organisations through periodic inspections.
The key elements associated with social care provisions are described below: Residential Care: As for social care is concerned, there are several care homes like Rose
Meadow which provides residential care to individuals who are unable to take care of
themselves and ensure their proper treatment and social care.
 Child Care Services: Within the UK, Professional Association for Childcare and Early
Years (PACEY), provides essential care to new born babies and small children, along
with their mothers and ensure best treatment and care through variety of effective
processes and professionals.
Identification of Watchdogs and Regulators and their activities
Within health and social care sector, there are several associations related to monitor the
health and social care standards adopted by organisations within the country. Certain Watchdogs
and Regulations within the country and their activities are described below:
Watchdogs National Institute for Health and Care Excellence: This is a non departmental public
body within the UK which operates under Department of Health. This organisation
publishes effective guidelines on few areas like use of health related technologies like
new processes and treatments within NHS and clinical practice related to specific
diseases. Moreover, it also provides guidance on ill-health avoidance and health
promotion (Garg, Boynton-Jarrett and Dworkin, 2016).
 Health Watch England: Established under Health and Social Care Act, 2012, this
organisation works for the purpose of understanding concerns, experiences and needs of
people using health as well as social care services and to be vocal on their behalf.
Regulators NHS Improvement: This public body works for overseeing the foundation trusts along
with other independent providers which provided care that is NHS funded. It ensures
3

effective support to care providers that allows them to give a safe, compassionate and
high quality healthcare to people.
 General Medical Council: This is a charitable organisation which regulates the work of
each and every medical and social care professional working within the UK. This is
achieved by the firm through maintenance of registers showcasing their work and
performance.
Different Roles and Responsibilities of staff in St. Thomas' Hospital
Name of
organisation: St. Thomas' Hospital
Job Title Explain the role and main
responsibilities of the member of staff
What
qualifications
and/or
registration are
needed for this
job?
Who does the
person report to
in the
organisation?
Healthcare
Professionals
 Provide top quality healthcare
treatment to patients.
 Support to their peers and
families.
 HCPC
approved
Post-
graduation
Degree.
 Supporting
GCSEs
Senior
Healthcare
Professional
Care Manager  A care manager within the
hospital is required to manager
and maintain budgets, financial
statements, etc.
 Ensure regulatory activities like
administrating medicines and
provision of personal care
 Nursing
Diploma
 Relevant
NVQ at
Level 4
Immediate
Healthcare
Professional
4

(Coyte and McKeever, 2016).
Nurse
 Assisting healthcare
professionals in providing
quality care and treatment to
patient (Bauld and et. al., 2018).
 Monitor health standards of each
patient, along with tending to
their personal and medical
requirements.
 Registratio
n with
Nursing &
Midwifery
Council
(NMC)
 Qualificati
on Degree
in
Healthcare
Senior nurse or
Nursing
Director,
depending on
their job role.
Administrative
Staff
 Organisation of patient reports,
hospital records and financial
documents.
 Scheduling appointments of
patients and acquiring
feedbacks.
 English
and Maths
GSCE.
 Knowledg
e of HND
subjects
like
business
and
manageme
nt.
Senior
Administrative
Officer
TASK 2
Relevant Pieces of Legislation that govern health and social care organisations
Legislations play a crucial role within health and social care organisations like St.
Thomas' Hospital. Moreover, it is highly required by the organisation to appropriately enhance
the health and social care provided by them to patients (Milligan, 2017). Several legislations that
govern health and social care are as follows:
5

 Care Act, 2014: As per this act, it is utmost important for authorities within organisations
to assess the patients that require appropriate treatment or support, regardless of their any
sort of eligibility related to state-funded care. Moreover, organisations are required to
emphasise completely on assessment of their needs and ensure their well-being. This
shapes up their working at St. Thomas' Hospital as they are required to appropriately
comply with this act. If the hospital fails to do so, strict action would be taken against
them by NHS and this might seriously hamper the care provided by the hospital (Oecd,
2016).
 The Equality Act, 2010: As per this act, a health and social care organisation is required
to treat each and every individual equally and must provide them quality treatment
regardless any of the social aspects such as caste, gender, age, etc. This act effectively
governs the practices within St. Thomas' Hospital as they treat each and every patient
equally and effectively train their employees in order comply by these standards.
Impact of Current Legislation on health and social care
It is very important for health and social care organisations like St. Thomas' Hospital to
comply with the legislations within their operations. This is because this would provide them
with utmost effectiveness in their functioning along with support of government, communities
and patients. There are several impacts that could be experienced by the organisations like St.
Thomas' Hospital. The positive impacts of these legislations are mentioned below: Enhancing patient care and protection: One positive impact of the current legislations is
that with appropriate compliance with the same, then it gets easier and even beneficial for
the hospital to ensure increase in the protection and patient care provided by the
organisation. Moreover, this would also build up trust and support from government that
would encourage more individuals to turn up for their treatment form the organisation's
professionals.
 Ensuring compliance with standards: Another impact within of the legislation is that it
would allow organisations like St. Thomas' Hospital to follow and comply with the
industrial standards effectively. This would strengthen the structure of the organisation
and would allow the organisation to function in align with the industrial standards, which
would help them in enhancing the quality of services (Thornton and et. al., 2016).
6

However, if the organisation fails to comply with the same, there could be severe
negative impacts that are described below: Loss of Trust: In case the organisation fails in compliance of legislation, this would lead
to a severe loss of trust amongst patients as well as the government, which would not be
effective for the company on professional front.
 Fines and Penalties: Within the government, there are several laws related to a severe
fine as well as heavy penalties associated with non-compliance of industrial standards.
Heavy penalties could also lead to acquisition of licenses of medical professionals which
would affect the goodwill of the organisation as well as disruption of their career.
Identification of UK Care Certificate and ways through which it promotes best practice in care
sector
UK Care certificate refers to an agreed set of standards which effectively define several
attributes like knowledge, behaviours and skills expected in several job roles within health and
social care sector. It is highly crucial for a medical professional to follow these standards within
the organisation in order to ensure best practice in care sector.
There are several ways in which it promotes such an effective practice in hospitals and
care homes. These ways are discussed below: Provision of framework for workers: UK care certificate provides almost 15 standards of
working within a care organisation. Thus, its adherence would provide the organisation
with appropriate and effective framework on which they could subject their activities.
 Progress: UK Care Certificate also ensures that each and every medical professional is
working in a desired manner as well as appropriate functioning in their organisation.
Thus, if a medical professional adheres to this certificate, it enhances their chances of
personal and professional growth within the care sector. Moreover, with consistent
progress, it would also lead to encouragement of these employees towards best practices
within their work (Willis, Reynolds and Keleher, 2016)
7

TASK 3
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded, that health and social care sector incorporates effective structure,
along with several bodies incorporate to regulate the activities of care organisations. Moreover,
adherence to legislations have positive impact on care professionals and ensure best practices in
their work within provision of care. Lastly, there are certain benefits and challenges associated
with working together in health and social care sector, yet, it again allows performance of best
practice in the industry and better working standards.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bauld, L. and et. al., 2018. Caring for older people: an assessment of community care in the
1990s. Routledge.
Coyte, P. C. and McKeever, P., 2016. Home care in Canada: Passing the buck. Canadian Journal
of Nursing Research Archive. 33(2).
Garg, A., Boynton-Jarrett, R. and Dworkin, P. H., 2016. Avoiding the unintended consequences
of screening for social determinants of health. Jama. 316(8). pp.813-814.
Mackintosh, M. and et. al, 2016. What is the private sector? Understanding private provision in
the health systems of low-income and middle-income countries. The
Lancet. 388(10044). pp.596-605.
Milligan, C., 2017. Geographies of Care: Space, Place and the Voluntary Sector: Space, Place
and the Voluntary Sector. Routledge.
Oecd, G. O. V., 2016. Government at a Glance. Organization For Economic.
Thornton, R. L. and et. al., 2016. Evaluating strategies for reducing health disparities by
addressing the social determinants of health. Health Affairs. 35(8). pp.1416-1423.
Willis, E., Reynolds, L. and Keleher, H. eds., 2016. Understanding the Australian health care
system. Elsevier Health Sciences.
9