Managing Quality in Health and Social Care: A Case Study Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of managing quality within the health and social care sector, using Stretton Nursing Home as a case study. It begins by exploring the diverse perspectives of stakeholders on quality, including service seekers, staff, and technicians, emphasizing the importance of meeting individual needs and adhering to regulations. The report analyzes the role of external agencies, such as the Care Quality Commission and the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, in setting standards and ensuring service excellence. It assesses the impacts of poor service quality on stakeholders, highlighting the consequences for both the organization and service users. Furthermore, the report examines existing standards for measuring quality, evaluates different approaches to implementing quality systems, and analyzes potential barriers to delivering high-quality services. It also evaluates the effectiveness of systems, policies, and procedures, while suggesting improvements to enhance service quality. Finally, the report explores methods for evaluating service quality from both external and internal perspectives and discusses the impact of user involvement in the evaluation process, providing a comprehensive overview of quality management in health and social care.

Managing Quality in
Health and Social Care

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Explain perspectives that stakeholders in health and social care have regarding quality.3
1.2 Analyse the role of external agencies in setting standards...............................................4
1.3 Assess the impact of poor service quality on health and social care stakeholders...........5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Explain the standards that exist in health and social care for measuring quality............6
2.2 Evaluate different approaches to implementing quality systems.....................................6
2.3 Analyse potential barriers to delivery of quality health and social care services.............7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
3.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of systems, policies and procedures for achieving service
quality.....................................................................................................................................8
3.2 Analyse other factors that influence the achievement of quality in health and social care
service.....................................................................................................................................9
3.3 Suggest ways in which health and social care service could improve its services quality10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Evaluate methods for evaluating health and social care service quality in the context of
external and internal perspectives........................................................................................11
4.2 Discuss the impact that involving users of services in the evaluation process have on
service quality.......................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Quality is very much important for every kind of organisation as well as individual to get
desirable goals and objectives. Basis of quality majorly focus on maintaining the quality of
services by offering to their ultimate consumer base as per their needs and wants in proper way.
Managing quality ensures about safety and various factors related with the considerations that
are very much potential while dealing with kinds of situations. This report is based on the
stretton nursing home which offers health and social care services to their above 50 years clients
by offering best services to their clients in better way. This report is based on the case study of
Stretton nursing home which not able to give best services as it breaches law. This report is
based on the perspective of the stakeholders regards to the health and social care with role and
responsibilities of external agencies in giving best quality services to the ultimate users. It also
includes the methods for evaluation of social care services regarding external and internal quality
perspective. Further it includes standards that exist in social care for managing best quality by
using various kinds of approaches for implementation of quality systems.
TASK 1
1.1 Explain perspectives that stakeholders in health and social care have regarding quality.
Quality is very much important for every organisation to every organisation to give
delighted experience to the consumer base in positive manner (Curtis, 2013 ). Health and social
care service depends on individual to individual. For an organisation there are some important
perspectives in view of various kinds of stakeholders that are as follows:
Perspective of the services seekers: Each and every individual have their own perspective
in context of service quality of health and social care sector and it is very much essential for
them to meet the needs and wants of various kinds of patients and service seekers (Doherty,
Horne and Wootton, 2014). It is very much important for an services home care if not able to
give best services to their clients then they have to conduct the research to find out major reasons
behind it.
Perspective of workers or staff members: Workers of Stretton nursing home for that to
provide best working practices they have to give proper training and development so that they
can give their best services to their ultimate consumer base. Organisation have to give necessary

information about various kinds of laws and regulations to their employees so that they can never
breach any kind of laws in their organisation.
Perspective of technicians: To deal in effective manner organisation have to be give
proper knowledge and information to their each and every kind of personnel. In context of
Stretton nursing home they show their faith or trust on their technicians to give best technical
services so that they can be able to give delighted experience to their consumer base (Hardyman,
Daunt and Kitchener, 2015.). With help of Total quality management the whole staff members
can be able to maintain perfect quality while treating with their employee base in order to get
best results.
So it can be said that perspective of quality should be different from stakeholder to anther
one. To maintain that kind of understanding organisation have to give proper knowledge and
skills to them so that best and competent results should be achieved by them.
1.2 Analyse the role of external agencies in setting standards.
For an organisation quality matters a lot and for maintaining level of quality they have to
set various kinds of standards that helps in giving best quality of products and services for the
ultimate consumer base. With help of external agencies Stretton nursing home can maintain
their level of quality and by giving education to their personnel to follow all rule and regulations
so that harmony in organisation should be maintained in proper way.
There are some kinds of external agencies exists that helps in setting various standards to
set quality of products and services that are as follows:
Care quality commission: it is one of the well known department of public body in UK
that work or deals with setting standards in field of health and social care sector to give best
quality services to the ultimate consumer base . It helps in safeguarding the self interest of the
home care centres by setting some standards that proved beneficial to services seekers in context
of Stretton nursing home that every one give their best without breaching any laws and
regulations to maintain harmony in work and their results in proper way. It helps to supervise
and regulate the standards of home cares and social care centres in best manner. Some another
external agencies also give their contribution in setting standards of quality management so that
important results should be achieved in an organisation.
National institute for clinical excellence: That institute is one of most important body to
give best services by setting standards regarding products and services that should be offered to

the ultimate consumer base in positive way. It helps in setting guidelines and by giving proper
direction to Stretton nursing home to give best services to their clients. It by using wide range of
knowledge and information give best quality products to them so that delighted experience
should be maintained in positive manner.
So above mentioned all external agencies of health and social care are very much
important for organisation that serve in health and social care for motive to best serve and
manage quality of products and services in positive way.
1.3 Assess the impact of poor service quality on health and social care stakeholders.
Poor quality services impacts very bad not only on the organisation but each and every
individual who associated with it. With poor quality organisation loose its brand values and
loyalty of their consumer base that ultimately impacts profitability level of an organisation in
negative way. So in context of Stretton nursing home they have to maintain service quality they
have to follow each and every law in proper manner so that desirable goals and objectives should
be achieved.
Impact of poor quality on the organisation: Poor quality hinders self interest of an
organisation. Poor quality reduces the productivity of the Stretton nursing home because it
ultimately reduces the level of profitability of an organisation in better manner. On other hand
poor quality of products and services directly affects to the satisfaction level of their consumer
base in negative way. So it directly and indirectly impacts on organisational works and activities
to get fruitful outcomes in positive manner. By maintaining high quality in service industry
organisation can be able to gain competitive advantage that is one of the most important factor.
Impacts on the poor care of the service users: Poor service quality services also impacts on
negative manner on the service users to get right kind of outputs. Negative results enhance
negative mouth publicity that hinders self interest of an organisation to deal in effective manner
to get desirable outcomes. If the consumers satisfaction get down day by day then it negatively
impacts on organisational profitability. With the poor quality of products and services Stretton
nursing home not be able to remain stable and competitive for long time in market. So maintain
quality is one of most important aspect in today’s competitive world by giving best efforts
through giving education and training to employees to get fruitful results in positive manner.

TASK 2
2.1 Explain the standards that exist in health and social care for measuring quality.
Standards to maintain quality is very much crucial for an organisation to deal in effective
manner the changes that occurs in taste and preferences of consumer base in positive manner.
Quality standards helps to set a framework that ultimately proved beneficial for employees to
follow all kinds of rules and regulations in systematic way. Every organisation have their
separate standards that proved helpful for organization to measure and quality of products and
services in positive way. Particular set of standards proved beneficial for Stretton nursing home
for effective application to maintain quality. These kinds of standards gives the standards to
maintain excellence level in products and services to meet the standards in proper manner. There
are some important standards that are ISO 9000/14000, various codes of practices with CQC and
norms of NMC to bring stability in organisational work and activities in positive way to get
desirable outcomes in positive way (Care Quality Commission, 2012). It proved beneficial for
health and social care sector to fulfil the standards that directly helps to build most effective
products for the ultimate consumer base. It is very much crucial for nurses to direct and follow
the codes of conduct that helps in building best quality products and services for consumers of
health and social care to deal in effective manner. With help of standards organisation can be
able to compensate the demand so consumers by giving in determined time frame and in
effective manner. To measure the quality standards organisation can be compared by standards
by other organisations so that they can be easily amend in their existing system as per the market
needs and demands to get desirable outcomes in positive manner. In context of Stretton nursing
home they by setting standards that helps to them follow all kinds of rules and regulations that
proved helpful to get outputs in positive manner.
2.2 Evaluate different approaches to implementing quality systems.
To maintain service quality in an organisation it is very much important to set some
standards that proved helpful to easily implement systems to maintain quality in positive manner
in an organisation. In context of Stretton nursing home by using various kinds of approaches
they can be able to bring harmony in works and activities. The system of quality should be in
context of care home included in major documents of organisation to best efforts to convey the
stakeholders (Amin and Zahora Nasharuddin, 2013). It is very much important for organisation

to build some strong standards that helps to follow all kinds of regulations in positive manner.
change in quality services for home care services helps to reach at pinnacle level. In context of
Stretton nursing home by implementing changes with quality models so that best results should
be accomplished.
There are various kinds of approaches to maintain quality of products and services to
remain always stable in an organisation to deliver right kind of values to ultimate consumer base
that are:
Stratton home care favours the quality assurance the major reason that it concentrates on
the problems or issues that are directly related with the regulations such as documentation for
service seekers by putting right kinds of efforts in context of home care process (Barlow,
Roehrich and Wright, 2013). To maintain best quality products total quality management proved
beneficial that approach are extensive in nature and revealing the analysis that should be done in
an organisation. With help of it defects should be eliminated and best quality products should be
implemented. So these approaches are very much important for an organisation to deal in
effective manner by bringing harmony in works and procedures.
By maintain quality in products and services to eliminate defects by producing products
and services for the ultimate consumer base. These approaches proved beneficial for Stretton to
get desirable goals and objectives by bringing harmony in works and activities. So it can be said
that organisation have to bring harmony in their works and activities by eliminating defects in
works and procedures.
2.3 Analyse potential barriers to delivery of quality health and social care services.
Stretton Care Ltd is a care home which always provide good services to its patients. An
organization is always have some challenges or barriers which hinder its performance leaving an
impact on the service quality and delivery. Some of the barriers which have been affecting the
quality of services are as follows:
Social policy- There are many policies related to social care which should be taken care of
while providing the services. These may have long term on the organization and quality of the
services.

Resources- This is an internal barrier due to which Stretton had to go through. Social and
care unit is for the patients suffering from various kinds of diseases, this is the main objectives
which can be achieved with adequate resources.
Adherence to legislations- Laws are important for every business in order to carry the business
within the legal boundaries. Social and care units are established with a view to take care of
people hence, legal provisions are necessary to comply with in order to maintain the legality in
the business. Non-compliance of applicable laws can create problem (Rubio-Valera and et. Al.,
2014).
Organizational structure- Entities often change their organizational structure in order to
work more efficiently which affect the service quality. The main problem that occurs in this is to
make the staff understand the reasons behind changing organizational structure and make them
familiar with new one.
Inter-agency interactions- There are many agencies involved which work in co-
ordination to maintain the quality of the work. If these agencies do not focus on different views
and facts then service quality may be affected.
Interaction of people- The people working in a social and health care unit should have
synchronization and communication for better service quality.
TASK 3
3.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of systems, policies and procedures for achieving service quality
Systems, policies and procedures are made so that entities can have certain standards in order to
meet the expectations of the service receivers. The other reason is not to make any mistakes in
delivery of the services. This is beneficial in managing the requirements of clients. Stretton Care
Ltd was mainly responsible for breaching some of its main regulations applicable on the
organization for the protection of the patients and to save them from any negligence and lack of
services (World Health Organization, 2016). COC formulated number of practices, systems,
policies etc. for Stretton and other organizations in the same field. The guidelines so given by
COC is required to meet by the units engaged in health and social care so that people can trust
the services of these units. Apart from this, Stretton is biting by the legal provisions of Mental
Capacity Act for treating the patients of dementia and those who are suffering from mental
disorder. This act has been formulated to provide rights for the people with mental illnesses.

There are certain minimum requirements which are to be followed by social and health Care
units in order to deliver prominent services to the patients for making the work efficient and
effective. When an organisation follow the legislature is provided by Mental Capacity Act then
they the are at a position to take a appropriate decisions which can be implemented within the
organisation to increase the service quality being offered by such units. Also, the level of
compliance with the legislation reduces the financial burden which can be utilised in in
increasing the quality of the existing services and add more services so that every patient can and
have the required services within the limited time. The other effectiveness of systems, policies
and procedures being pet rest from the service aspects are mitigated to a considerable level
which might affect the main services. It is important to evaluate the working of Management and
proper leadership should be provided to the staff for guiding and giving them direction to to
provide appropriate services to the patients. This increases the chances of improvisation in the
existing service quality which further helps in making improvement India all system practices
and procedures. Apart from this, it is important for social and healthcare units to focus on the
needs and interests of the patients receiving the services for speedy recovery from their illness.
3.2 Analyse other factors that influence the achievement of quality in health and social care
service
Every type of business goes through ups and downs because of variety of factors that are
significant to affect the achievement of quality in the services provided (Bowling, 2014). These
factors should be identified and analysed in order to get a conclusion to reduce the impact so that
standard of the quality is maintained. In the context of Stretton, d the forces that are affecting the
quality in the health and social care services are as follows:
Expectations of user: it is one of the main factors which is about the level of expectations
of the patients from social and healthcare service units. In most of the cases, uses have high
expectations which is not possible to be provided by such organisations. However, carry on it’s
always try to fulfil the needs and requirements of its patients to provide them full satisfaction and
achieve the expectations. Stretton is a health and social care your net which makes continuous
improvements for raising the standard of its service quality in order to meet their expectations of
patients.
Financial resources or funding: this factor is about gathering the funds from different
sources so that service quality can be improved. There are different kinds of sources which can

be accessed in order to raise funds for its utilisation in the main business of an organisation. In
relation to Stretton, government of funds available with the unit is sufficient to to accomplish the
goals of maintaining the service quality. However, it should assess the level of quality and
correct any variances with corrective measures.
Media: is that part of the society which is responsible with collecting the news and make
the people aware about what's going around the world. It plays a great role in influencing the
quality dimensions in health and social care services. Also their influence on the mind-set and
opinions of people are great and impactful. This promotes a brand or products from zero to a
very high level resulting in increasing the popularity for that particular brand or good. With
regard to Stretton, it should always maintained a quality standard so that irrelevant and rivers can
be avoided which may have negative impact on the quality services and perceptions of its current
and prospective patients.
All these forces should be assessed to know their impact on the service quality.
3.3 Suggest ways in which health and social care service could improve its services quality
Stretton was providing the services to the expected level of its patients however the number of
problem started soon enough. It breached major legislations, the number of regular complaints
were increased and patients were complaining about not getting the proper services because of
reduction in staff. Also, the patients were facing problems of dehydration due to lack of water
available at the place (Griffiths, F. and et. Al., 2012). The other issues for that stuff was
untrained and light in supervision, care plans for not reflecting what the current healthcare of
patients, user guides and complaint procedure for not accessible for maths for people with
physical impairment and disability and the list was long to cover all the problems. Every problem
need to be sorted with a solution as quickly as possible. Hence, to overcome the problems faced
Stretton, following measures can be undertaken which are mentioned below:
 The staff should be given adequate training along with proper supervision so they can
exercise their roles and responsibilities with care and proper direction. They should be
made understand to spend more time with patients and encourage them to eat it and
maintain their routine.
 You should have a team dedicated to oversee the legislations which are applicable on the
social and healthcare units for complying with the applicable laws. This is the major
problem Stretton business as it has contravened many prime statues.

 The basics of services such as water, installation of phones near the bed, Bell facility, and
many such other services should be provided him the right amount and as per the
convenience of the patients. This will reduce the number of complaints from the patients
with his their expectations will be fulfilled if improvements are made in the service
quality.
 There should be meetings and seminars for having frequent interaction with each other
and to increase knowledge and to implement innovative ideas.
 Lastly, feedback should be taken from patients and their family members to understand
that queries or complaints for providing effective and appropriate solution.
TASK 4
4.1 Evaluate methods for evaluating health and social care service quality in the context of
external and internal perspectives
Health and social care service quality should be checked at fixed intervals. It should be a
routine exercise which can help regulatory authorities and providers to have better learning and
better information regarding future betterments. It is important to measure the service quality for
maintaining the required quality of health and social care so that patients can be become healthy.
There is a particular system for measuring the service quality. It is called structure-process-
outcome. It has been explained in the context of Stretton:
Structure- it takes into account the organisation and number of resources available with the
organisation. The facilities should be checked which includes number of beds available in the
hospital and social and healthcare units, number of employees suggest doctor nurses to each
patient, staff members present all the time etc.
Process- it talks about the processes followed in social and health care units which is considered
as the record system and maintenance of service user information, process of diagnosing,
treatment of diagnosis and its credibility, time consumption in diagnosis and how ICU patient is
responding to watch the disease so diagnosed (Halbesleben and Whitman, 2013).
Outcomes- this is the actual result which has been assessed from the above two. It helps
in making improvements in patient status, number of complications, degree of service user
satisfaction etc.

Apart from this, feedbacks work as a good way to evaluate the quality of service for
improving service quality as per the expectations of the patients. In addition to this, data can be
gathered buy quality programs so that top management can make decisions in order to implement
them within the organisation.
4.2 Discuss the impact that involving users of services in the evaluation process have on service
quality
Uses of the people who value this services of the service providers this is the reason they have
important contribution in it working and development of quality services. It makes them feel
happy that they are being engaged in the management of the health and social care unit in which
they are seeking services and speedy recovery. There honest opinion and perceptions about the
service quality can help the management make significant improvements by comparing the the
actual results with their standards. By this the difference can be find out for bridging the gap and
meet the standards so as to provide high quality services (Zhao, Lu, Zhang and Chau, 2012).
Their engagement make give a comprehensive view which is clear to understand. is organisation
will have proper involvement of service user in process then the organisation will attain proper
need identification. The has proved to be a strong in getting the best information which can
facilitate in quality improvement. Since there is a sense of belongingness, the organisation will
be at a position on gathering the desired information for improving the standard of quality.
CONCLUSION
The service provision of Stretton Care Ltd. is getting impacted
through number of aspects amid which some are being mentioned
in the study. Hence, lastly researcher has discussed several
suggestions through which Stretton could improve the level of
service quality.