Analysis of Change Management in UK Health and Social Care Services

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Facilitating Change in Health and Social care
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Part 1 (Task 1 AC 1.1, 1.2)..............................................................................................................4
1.1 Explain the key factors that drive change in health and social care services........................4
1.2 Assess the challenges that key factors of change bring to health and social care services.. .4
Part 2 (Task 2 AC 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4)................................................................................................6
2.1 Devise a strategy and criteria for measuring recent changes in health and social care.........6
2.2 Measure the impact of recent changes on health and social care services against set
criteria..........................................................................................................................................6
2.3 Evaluate the overall impact of recent changes in health and social care...............................7
2.4 Propose appropriate service responses to recent changes in health and social care services.
.....................................................................................................................................................8
Part 3 (Task 3 AC 3.1, 3.2, 3.3).....................................................................................................10
3.1 Explain the key principles of change management.............................................................10
3.2 Explain how changes in health and social care are planned................................................11
3.3 Assess how to monitor recent changes in health and social care services...........................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Reference List................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
The adequacy and superiority of the various health and social care services are termed as a major
barometer of a good and appropriate society. In this assignment “Facilitating Change in Health
and Social Support” with reference to the case study, the purpose is to provide the learners with
the understanding regarding the different factors of change involved in the health and social care
services and the specific practice or measure of appraising and helping change. In the first
section, an essay will be demonstrated regarding different and particular factors that drives the
initiated change in the health and social care services. In the second section, an essay concerned
with the recent changes and development in the health and social care services will be provided.
In the third section, the principles associated with the change management will be explained.
Quality health and social care holds a very special importance to societies, families and to the
economy as well as the health and social care workers are tend to be more productive in nature.
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Part 1 (Task 1 AC 1.1, 1.2)
1.1 Explain the key factors that drive change in health and social care services.
Change is referred to as the specific process that leads to various modifications and
customisations in the business or working of every business organisation s and the change is
initiated due to the rapid fluctuations in the different factors. It is very much important for the
HSC firms to pay attention over these particular factors and changes for successful working and
exceptional working opportunities. The focus and attention over these initiated changes will help
the health and social care organisation s or HSC firms to recognize their purpose of working,
acknowledgement of human attitude and other conditions of the specific industry. Some of the
factors that drive change in health and social care services are political factors, economical
factors and many more. Political Factors are the particular factors generally influence the
performance and working of HSC firms and maternity centres, as they tend to be associated with
the stability, regulation and various policies and schemes imposed by the government (Ojo,
2012). According to CQC report, the initiated changes and development in various acts affects
the performance and working of firms like Community Care Act and Health Act, 1999 (world-
psi.org, 2011). For example, the UK government has malformed some factors in the Health and
Social Care Act in order to enforce a specific impact in the working of HSC or maternity firms.
The changes in the economic conditions of UK have an influence on the operations and working
of HSC firms. For example, a decrease in the income level of the UK population will persuade
the health and social care firms to decrease the level of their service charges in order to cater to
the demands of a successful operation. The HSC and other maternity firms need to understand
the importance and value of the quality standards in order to enhance their level of working and
service quality.
1.2 Assess the challenges that key factors of change bring to health and social care services.
The changes that the different factors enforce on the health and social care services are not
considered as a smooth ride. However, these factors also give rise to various challenges and
difficulties that the health and social care firms have to deal with in order to smoothen the
process of initiating change. The most difficult challenge that arises due to the key factors of
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change is the limited availability of resources (Nyamtema et al., 2011). It is obvious that a
specific change cannot be enforced or initiated unless there is a considerable investment or
funding incurred by the firm. Hence, it is important for the health and social care firms to
strategize their plan and appropriately set the budgets in position to address the specific changes.
The Nuffield Trust did not await the requirement for changes and development meaning that no
budgets and strategies were set in position. The second challenge that arises due to the factors of
change is that the cooperation and support of the stakeholders is affected. According to a PSI
report, not every stakeholder is motivated enough to provide support over the changes
(ealingccg.nhs.uk, 2019).
A majority of the stakeholders involving employees and staffs establish the desire to maintain
their status as it provides them with the feeling of safety and steadiness. For example, initiating
changes in The King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust’s Home Truths enforced the pressure imposed by
the CQC required high level of motivation and support from the workforce. The employees and
staffs will resist to changes if they feel that the changes are intimidating their relationship with
other employees and job security.
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Part 2 (Task 2 AC 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4)
2.1 Devise a strategy and criteria for measuring recent changes in health and social care.
In order to initiate changes and development in the health and social care services, it requires
both time and funding or investments. A majority of factors possesses the capability of making
the changes even more difficult and complex in nature. Hence, it is very much important to
measure and rectify the recent changes initiated in the health and social care in order to predict
the effectiveness of the change. The specific technique for measuring the recent changes involves
the recognizing the approach that will be used. The two approaches or strategies that are devised
to measure the specific changes are qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative approach
is defined as the specific approach that includes the utilization of statistics data and numerical
values to measure the changes (Grigoroudis et al., 2012). The various users at the surgery
departments would implement it to monitor the effectiveness of the present changes in reducing
the waiting time and the time consumed to cater to the needs and demands of the consumers. For
example, these always used to be a long queue at the different medical units and outlets and due
to this; the users and consumers would have to wait for a long time to avail the health services.
The changes were implemented to enhance the specific conditions and the effectiveness of the
changes can be monitored or measured using the numerical statistics and values. Qualitative
approach would be implemented to measure effectiveness of the changes by collecting and
analysing events, behavior of the staffs and many more (Windle et al., 2011). In the concerned
organisation, qualitative strategies and approaches will prove to be helpful in measuring and
monitoring the changes plus the satisfaction level of the employees with the initiated changes
and their specific perception and opinions regarding the changes.
2.2 Measure the impact of recent changes on health and social care services against set
criteria.
The influence or impact of the various changes in the concerned organisation can be measured
via various methods and ways such as conducting surveys, assessment of the surveys and
conducting interviews. The most common way of measuring the impact of the changes on health
and social care services is to assess the feelings and perception of the people as there is an
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indirect link between changes and emotional aspect of the peoples (Drummond et al., 2015). The
carrying out of surveys would help in gathering the relevant information associated with the
potential service users and consumer’s opinion and feelings on the initiated changes. The
qualitative assessment of their reviews and feedbacks will provide the firm with the potential to
assess the different impact that the changes enforces on them. Another method considered
important in measuring the impact of the changes is to analyse the satisfaction levels of the
employees and staffs. It is obvious that highly satisfied employees tend to generate more
outcomes and deliver exceptional service to the consumers.
The assessment and total calculation of statistics and values also helps in measuring the impact
or effect of the changes on the health and social care services offered by the trust or NHS. The
method involves the process of gathering scientific data and information via interviews and
questionnaires or via the assessment of the computer records held in confidentiality. For
example, in Nuffield Trust and NHS, there would be valuable information held in computer
records including patient information, appointment time and many more. The assessment of this
specific information will help in acknowledging the circumstances regarding the impact of
changes before and after the change (Andersen et al., 2014).
2.3 Evaluate the overall impact of recent changes in health and social care.
The various changes initiated in health and social care services have evolved in the form of
programs, schemes, policies and guidelines and many more. The integration of the primary and
secondary methods and services has helped the organisation to manage the fluctuating
demographics and improve the quality of the services provided to the users and consumers. It has
helped in offering the service users or patients with a constant pathway of care via hospital care
and services (Brownson, 2017). This integration has a major impact on the eternal feeding aspect
in the specific community in terms of managing and handling the consumers in an effective way.
The changes in the intermediate care services had affected in a smooth functioning and transition
by preventing ignorable admissions to the settings of acute care. There was overall enhancement
and conformity with the national standards of the health and social care sector. The various
impacts have taken place in the form of improvements such as high patient focused leadership
approaches, improved security of services, improved conveniences and services and many more.
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These various impacts in the form of positive improvements have contributed towards the
delivery of top-quality facilities and services. The reformation of the information gathering
process and management structure indicates that more effectual and capable services will be
delivered to the patients and consumers. For example, the NHS authority did not have to incur
extra expenses to the general practitioners and doctors regarding their sterile works and
performances. This is the main reason behind the top ranking of NHS in all across the globe in
terms of service offered to the consumers. However, some issues have not been still resolved
with the help of the initiated changes such as the waiting and reaction time of the consumers and
patients (Ojo, 2012).
2.4 Propose appropriate service responses to recent changes in health and social care
services.
There exist some intentions and propositions in the direction of the proper service responses to
the recent changes initiated in the health and social care services of the concerned organisation.
In regards to the changes, the management authority of NHS needs to initiate extensive changes
and development in its style of leadership approach. The organisation needs to abide by a
democratic approach of leadership in order to deal with the rising change resistance from
employees and staffs. The adaptation of this specific leadership approach will help the
organisation to persuade the employees and staffs to actively participate in all the work systems
and processes. This will help the employees to understand the importance of changes and the
level of resistance to changes will also gradually decrease in return. Another appropriate service
response to recent changes is to position the human resource management strategies and plans in
a proper place. These strategies and plans will help the organisation in determining the required
workforce for providing exceptional consumer service (McGorry et al., 2013).
According to London Health programme, staff and employees play an important role in
transforming the performance of a business organisation into a success (londoncouncils.gov.uk,
2019). It is very much important for the concerned organisation to employ the exact required
number of deserving candidates with the most effective skills. The concerned organisation can
also elect an employee representative that will act as a connecting bridge or link between the
management authority of the firm and the employees and staffs working for the organisation .
This will help the employees and staffs to communicate their demands and needs clearly with the
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management. The management system will then devise solutions and plans that will address their
needs and problems.
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Part 3 (Task 3 AC 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)
3.1 Explain the key principles of change management.
It can be said that no individual method or methodology appropriately fits an individual
organisation; instead, there exists a set of techniques or principles that can be implemented to
different situations and circumstances. The firm’s executives can use these principles of change
management as a broad framework that will provide them with the potential to involve the
overall organisation in the ongoing process. Transparency is termed as one of the strongest
principles of change management as it tends to be translucent with every individual actively
involved in the ongoing process of change (himss.org, 2011). It is important to be informative
during the staging of the process as it provides an understanding regarding the future actions
required to complete the process of change. The creation of ownership is termed as the second
principle of change management as it helps in developing a mass among the concerned labour
force in support of the ignitable change. This principle is abided by making the employees
participate or involve in the process of recognizing problems and devising solutions (Best et al.,
2012).
Voice or effective communication system is termed as the most powerful third principle of
change management as it is important for the concerned people to share and exchange their
feelings, needs and expectations regarding the proposed change. It is important for every
business or health care organisation to provide safe and protected mechanisms to communicate
effectively via the implementation of various methods and techniques. Practical communication
within the organisation has the potential to strengthen and support core and important messages.
Sustenance is known as the fourth principle of change management and this is because in order
to fully authorize people with the adequate resources, it is important to sustain a greater level of
sustenance. The process of change management in today’s health and social care services tends
to be challenging and difficult in nature. These four principles of change management help the
leaders and executives of health and social acre industry to pave the way of their organization
towards initiating a potential change within the organization (Valentijn et al., 2013).
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3.2 Explain how changes in health and social care are planned
It can be said that the success of any change or program depends on the process of planning. This
means that if the planning strategy or plan is positioned appropriately in place, then the execution
of the change program or scheme becomes effective and as well as straight forward. In order to
plan changes in health and social care services, a stakeholder management plan,
communication plan and an action plan is needed to be devised.
A stakeholder assessment is important to be conducted by the organization in order to determine
the specific individuals getting affected by the changes. Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an
example of such stakeholder as it plays an enormous part in ensuring the conformity with the
national standards relevant to the health services. Employees and staffs of the organization are
also considered as an example of stakeholder. An effective communication plan is very much
important for the planning of changes in the health and social care services. The role of effective
communication plan is to clarify the employee’s resistance to change by making them
understand the importance of change (healthknowledge.org.uk, 2010).
Another way of planning the changes is to consider the action plan into account. This is because
an action plan helps in stating the objectives and plan of the change strategy and recognising the
important and required activities that will be carried out. In NHS, the proposed action plan
should cater and pay attention to various problems and issues such as positioning the desired
aims and objectives in individual change process. For example, the action plan should position
the aims and objectives associated with the weakened areas of the organization such as quality of
the workforce, quality of the services and many more (Griffiths et al., 2012).
3.3 Assess how to monitor recent changes in health and social care services.
It is not possible to initiate changes without dealing or facing obstacles and issues. Hence, it is
very much important to observe and manage the recent changes just in order to ensure that the
change process is running on the right track to provide full benefits and opportunities. The
monitoring and maintenance of change is known to be an systematic process concerned with the
gathering of information and data to determine the running schemes and how the changes can be
implemented via methods and techniques. CQC has initiated an Insight program to monitor the
quality of the health and social care services (cqc.org.uk, 2019). Insight points to the different
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services where the level of quality is enhancing, it helps in incorporating the data indicators
lined-up with the major significant lines of enquiry and many more. Insight recognizes the
problems and issues associated with the quality of the care services offered to the consumers and
patients.
Issue-log monitoring is considered as the important approach that records the particular issues
termed as non-actionable or non-solvable. This approach helps in determining the issues that
delay the proposed change to be implemented.
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