Communication Strategies in Royal London Hospital: A Report

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of communication within the health and social care sector, using the Royal London Hospital as a case study. It explores various communication methods, including verbal and non-verbal techniques, and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both formal and informal communication channels. The report highlights key principles of effective communication, such as clarity and timeliness, while also identifying and addressing potential barriers like cultural and organizational structures. Furthermore, it examines different methods of oral and written communication, providing examples of effective communication strategies such as oral presentations and written notices. The report also discusses the benefits and hazards of technology in communication, considering issues around data protection and its implementation within health and social care organizations.

Communication
to health and
social care

Table of Contents
.........................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1 ..........................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Methods used to communicate in Health and Social care.....................................................4
1.2. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both formal and informal communication .........5
1.3. Principles of effective communication................................................................................6
1.4 Explain potential barriers and how they can be overcome..................................................6
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
2.1. Different methods of oral and written communication found commonly in Health and
Social care ..................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Produce an oral presentation and deliver to an audience at appropriate level......................8
2.3. Produce a written communication that is appropriate for your organisational role.............9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1. Discuss the benefits and potential hazards of using technology in communications for
organisations...............................................................................................................................9
3.2. Discuss the benefits and potential hazards of using technology in communications for
service users .............................................................................................................................10
3.3. Explain the issues around Data protection and how it is implemented in Health and Social
care............................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFFERENCES............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Communication is a way of interaction or the act of transferring information from one
individual to another. It plays a crucial role in health and social care and develops interpersonal
relationships at workplace. Moreover it is necessary for the workers to develop proper
communication skills so that there is active participation of all the employees in decision making
(Antheunis, Tates and Nieboer, 2013). Chosen organisation under the health and social care
sector is Royal London Hospital which was founded in September 1740, which is a large
hospital provides district general hospital services and specialist tertiary services for patients all
across London. This project will throw lights on variety of communication methods and
principles of effective communication used within the Health and social care. It also explains
potential barriers to communication and how to overcome them so as to increase the overall
productivity of the overall communication system within the organisation.
TASK 1
1.1 Methods used to communicate in Health and Social care
There are different methods which are been used by the employees at the health care to
communicate effectively with each other. These are described as follows-
 Verbal Communication- It is the type of communication which makes the use of words
to share information with others. It is two way process and can be both spoken and
written. Verbal communication used by the employees at the respective health care
hospital contributes to team meetings, provides support to others as well as identifies the
individual problem or needs in a better way and allows the employee to work effectively
and provide proper services to its customers (Betancourt and et.al., 2016).
 Non Verbal Communication- It is a type of communication in which employees at
Royal London hospital uses their facial expressions, Gestures, postures to communicate
throughout the sector. As the employee at the hospital uses their eye contact or specific
body language which reveals information to other employee and helps in treating the
patient effectively.
1.2. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of both formal and informal communication
Formal communication refers to the exchange of official information which flows down
from different hierarchical levels of the management and conforms to the organisational rules,
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regulations, policy and standards. There are various strengths associated with formal
communication described as follows-
 Formal Communication used within the Royal London Hospital increases overall
efficiency of the organisation as information flows according to predetermined rules and
regulations.
 It results in accomplishment of work effectively as employees get the necessary
information on time and make it easily to communicated with other employee quickly
and performs the work within definite time frame.
Weaknesses-
 It requires lot of time by the respective health care sector to pass information to each
employees, this also reduces productivity of the employee to perform effectively.
 This type of communication system is inflexible in nature as is modifications is required
in the information by the employee, it becomes difficult to change and pass information
again following hierarchical levels (Brach and et.al. 2012).
Informal Communication is the unofficial or the casual form of communication in which
information is exchanged between the individuals normally without following chain of command
or prescribing rules and regulations of respective health care organisation. This type of
interaction is normally between the individuals who have personal relations such as friends,
peers within the organisation. There are strengths and weakness of informal communication such
as-
Strengths-
 It is a fast and an effective communication which allows the employees within the
organisation to accomplish work in proper time.
 It leads to improved relationship between the employee at royal London Hospital and
moreover employees can share their problem and tension with other and minimise the
grievances within the organisation.
Weakness
 It leads to the spread of information in a quick manner, therefore makes difficult for the
management to have control on the secret information and sometimes leads to the
misunderstanding of the correct information.
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 Informal communication system within the Royal London Hospital leads to exchange of
information which is incomplete in nature and increases the chances of conflict and
reduce productivity within the health care sector (Curtis and Burns, 2015.).
1.3. Principles of effective communication.
In order to communicate effectively within Royal London Hospital, it is necessary for the
organisation to follow principles of effective communication which are described as follows-
 Principle of Clarity- Information that is to be communicated should be clear and free
from disturbance and noise, moreover repetition of information should be avoided by the
employees within the respective health care sector and should provide clear information
to its employees.
 Principle of Brevity- Information that is to be communicated within the Royal London
Hospital should be brief in nature that is necessary and sufficient information should be
communicated, irrelevant information should be avoided.
 Principle of Simplicity- Information that is to be communicated within the employees at
Royal London Hospital should contains message using simple and familiar words and
technical words should be avoid so that all the employees can understand the information
appropriately (Eggenberger, Heimerl and Bennett, 2013).
 Principle of Timeliness- Information should be communicated to the employees which
have a specific purpose. Therefore communication should be communicated within
effective time so that employee within the respective health care sector can work on time.
 Principle of Feedback- Providing the information is not the complete communication, it
is necessary for the employer at Royal London Hospital to take response and feedback
from the receiver, whether the information is useful or not.
1.4 Explain potential barriers and how they can be overcome.
There are various barriers to communication which distort the information and create a
barrier while transferring with each other. They are discussed as follows-
 Cultural Barriers- Employees within the respective health care sector comes from
diverse backgrounds which have cultural values, beliefs, norms and language. This
creates barriers to effective communication as employees doesn't accept other people
norms and language and distort the information. It is necessary for the employers at
Royal London to create a harmonious work place culture by respecting cultural values of
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all the employees and makes the employee work collaboratively towards exchange of
information in a appropriate manner.
 Organisational Structure barriers- As when the hierarchical structure system is used
in transferring information to the employees it leads of time to reach message to the
lower level employees within the respective health care hospital. Therefore this creates
barriers because of lack of transparency in communicating information as well
misinformation and misunderstanding leads when information passes down in the
respective organisational structure. This barrier can be overcome by encouraging
employees participation in decision making and sharing of information and formal
communication system should be not be used when information needs to shared quickly
with employees and moreover it enhances employee morale and motivate to work
effectively (Ghaddar and et.al., 2012).
 Physical Barriers- Physical barriers include noise, faulty equipments used while
communicating the information to its employee and act as a barrier in sharing the
information. In order to overcome this barrier employers within the respective hospital
should use proper tools for communicating as well as should communicate the
information in the closed cabins so as to avoid noise and disturbance.
TASK 2
2.1. Different methods of oral and written communication found commonly in Health and Social
care
Their are Different types of oral and written communication which is used widely within
the respective health care sector, are described as follows-
ORAL Communication
 Face to Face Conversations- This is the most common methods of oral communication
in which employee within the Royal London Hospital should communicate face to face
with other employee which helps them to share information effectively as well as
properly understands problems and provides suggestions for the same.
 Telephonic Conversations- This is the effective oral communication which is used
within health and social care I.e. employee can communicate on telephones without
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moving from one place to another and it also needs less time as employees do not have to
move from one place to another (Koh and et.al., 2013).
 Discussion in the business meetings- Open meetings in health and social care will
encourage employees to interact and share idea, suggestions and leads to effective
working of business practices. This enhances the productivity of the communication
system at the work place
Written Communication
 Email- Use of email is the better option of written communication in which employers
within the respective organisation shares information to all the employee within seconds
and enhances their performance of work (Walker and et.al., 2012).
 Notice- Notice can be placed on the notice boards of the respective health cares sector so
that employees can read and make the use of information in their work and improves the
productivity within the respective organisation.
 Letters- It is also an effective form of written communication in which employers within
the respective health care sector can send letters to the employees to whom the
information is to be shared.
2.2 Produce an oral presentation and deliver to an audience at appropriate level
This oral presentation is by the top management to its middle level employees in order to
communicate the information regarding introducing new machineries at an appropriate level so
as to take care safety of patients.
Hello everyone, Hope you all doing well. This meeting is about introducing you to the
adoption of the advanced machineries of sugar test and blood test at a faster pace so as to take
care of the safety of the patients in an appropriate way (Macdonald, 2013). For this
advancements appropriate training will be provided to all of you so as to make you work
effectively and take care regarding safety of patients. Hope you all will join the training
programmes from tomorrow itself and give the benefits to the patients out of it.
2.3. Produce a written communication that is appropriate for your organisational role
Under written communication information is communicated to the employees via e-
mails, notices and letters so that proper message can be conveyed to the receiver at an
appropriate time. In accordance with the organisational role of Assistance within the respective
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health and social care sector, use of notices is done in order to communicate the training sessions
being organised by the hospital.
Notice
5.5.19
This is to inform all the employees within organisation that in respect to safety and care of its
patients, hospital has made the use of technology advancements by adopting new methods and
technologies of sugar test and blood test so as to provide quicker results to the patients and
helps them in the recovery of the same. For this company is introducing training sessions for
employee from 8:00- 9: 00 a.m. All the employees should attend the same and take the benefits
out of it.
Regards
XYZ
TASK 3
3.1. Discuss the benefits and potential hazards of using technology in communications for
organisations
With the advancements in technology, it has provided respective organisation with
various benefits and hazards in communication with the organisation. These are discussed as
follows-
Benefits
 With the advancements and adoption of technology within the respective organisation it
has made communication easier as with the increase in the use of mail, information can
be shared to the employees within a second and saves lot of time of the manager in
communicating the information.
 It has made easy for the respective organisation to collaborate with the workers easily at
the different levels without moving from one place to another.
 Automated voice systems is an appropriate way of providing customer service while
allowing employees to stay focussed on their task, instead a automated system handles
the call and directs the customer to retrieve data and communicates the basic information.
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Hazards
 Adoption of the technology within the respective health care sector requires high
maintenance cost for the company and even requires high professional technical
employees who can effectively communicate this tools and technologies (Reeves and
et.al., 2013).
 It affects interpersonal relationship and make the employees lazy within the health care
sector as they communicate via internet platforms and avoids face to face communication
and reduces the chances of interaction among employees.
3.2. Discuss the benefits and potential hazards of using technology in communications for
service users
Their are various benefits and potential hazards of using technology in communication
for service users, which are described as follows-
As its service users are patients there are various benefits such as
 It allows the users to get the information on time as well as when they are at home as by
accessing their mobile apps, real time information user gets.
 It allows the service users to get regular updates about their health as well as remembers
the patients to go a body check as because of the various emails and reminders are given
by the respective organisation.
Various Hazards are as follows-
 It has made the service users life busy as it creates busy schedule for the patients to check
their mobile apps and mail on a regular basis and keeps stressing for the same.
 It makes difficult for all the service users to analyse the information online and
sometimes leads to misinterpretation of information which leads to tension among
patients in the hospitals .
3.3. Explain the issues around Data protection and how it is implemented in Health and Social
care.
Data collected within the respective health care organisation should be legally protected
so as to prevent misuse of information by the others.
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As the health care companies are facing various challenges and issues while managing
their data. There are some issues regarding data protection is
 Excessive growth of connected devices and mobile apps from where information can be
leaked and can be used by others.
 Creation of cross functional privacy and security teams leak the data within the respective
organisation (Tran, 2017).
 Effective and tiered vendor management
These are the issues which the respective hospital is facing in context to data protection.
Therefore in order to protect its information respective hospital should use Data Protection Act
which is a parliament act and ensures the method to control how personal and customer
information is used by the organisation and lays down the rule about how the data can be used.
Moreover respective hospital can also adhere to Health and Safety act, 2008 it which
hospital cannot provide patients personal information and private details of the medication to any
other individuals without the patient information or legal order from the court. This will help in
data protection within the respective organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that communication plays a important role
in health and social care industries as it leads to exchange of information and enhances
productivity of the employee. It is necessary for the organisation to opt for oral an written
communication in transferring information from one individual to another. Moreover principle
of effective communication should be used while communicating messages to the individual. It
is also recommended to implement data protection act so as to prevent information from being
used by any other individuals.
REFFERENCES
Books and Journals
Antheunis, M.L., Tates, K. and Nieboer, T.E., 2013. Patients’ and health professionals’ use of
social media in health care: motives, barriers and expectations. Patient education and
counseling. 92(3). pp.426-431.
Betancourt and et.al., 2016. Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing
racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.
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Brach and et.al. 2012. Ten attributes of health literate health care organizations (pp. 1-26).
Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Curtis, L.A. and Burns, A., 2015. Unit costs of health and social care 2015. Personal Social
Services Research Unit.
Eggenberger, E., Heimerl, K. and Bennett, M.I., 2013. Communication skills training in
dementia care: a systematic review of effectiveness, training content, and didactic
methods in different care settings. International Psychogeriatrics. 25(3). pp.345-358.
Ghaddar and et.al., 2012. Adolescent health literacy: the importance of credible sources for
online health information. Journal of school health. 82(1). pp.28-36.
Koh and et.al., 2013. A proposed ‘health literate care model’would constitute a systems
approach to improving patients’ engagement in care. Health Affairs. 32(2). pp.357-367.
Macdonald, J.J., 2013. Primary health care: medicine in its place. Routledge.
Reeves and et.al., 2013. Interprofessional education: effects on professional practice and
healthcare outcomes. Cochrane Database of systematic reviews, (3).
Tran, B.Q., 2017. Systems and methods for providing interoperability among healthcare devices.
U.S. Patent 9,820,658.
Walker and et.al., 2012. Systems and methods for improved health care compliance. U.S. Patent
8,092,224.
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