Service User Partnership in Health & Social Care: A Critical View

This essay critically discusses the importance of working in partnership with service users in health and social care practice. It emphasizes the significance of person-centered care and personalization, highlighting how involving service users improves health outcomes, quality of care, and resource allocation. The essay also critiques the challenges in implementing these approaches and explores relevant theories such as advocacy, empowerment, self-help, user involvement, and partnership working. Furthermore, it examines the impact of inequality on user involvement and the importance of anti-discriminatory practices. Relevant policies and legislation, including The Care Act 2014 and The Health and Social Care Act 2012, are discussed in the context of promoting partnership working and user involvement. The essay concludes with a reflection on personal practice, underscoring the value of user involvement in achieving positive health outcomes.

Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care 1
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
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Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care
Introduction
Health and social care are very important aspects in the nursing practice especially when
patients and clients are incorporated into the care. Health care may be defined as the treatment of
the ill and other medical conditions in various health facilities and the community at large
(Reeves et al., 2011). Social care, on the other hand, may be defined as the support and care
provided to the vulnerable and the at-risk population in the community (Barnard et al., 2008). It
is important to note that health and social care may incorporate some elements of ethics,
sociology, law, and nutrition thus making it a quite sophisticated aspect of care.
Partnerships in health and social care are important because they bring several separate
organizations together. This aspect of coming together benefits all the parties involved due to
power-sharing, pooled expertise, and shared resources (Glasby and Dickinson, 2014, p.27).
Partnering with the users of services becomes even more important because everyone works
towards a common goal and it promotes a patient-centered approach to care (Mockford et al.,
2011, p.33). In this essay, we are going to talk about the importance of partnering with service
users. Additionally, the essay talks about person-centered care and personalization. Furthermore,
it talks about theories like advocacy, self-help, empowerment, user involvement, and working in
partnerships. Finally, the essay talks about the importance of anti-discriminatory practice and the
impact of inequality on user involvement.
Personalization and Person-Centered Care
Person-centered care has become a very important concept in in health systems all over
the world in recent times. Person-centered care means that the patients are involved in the care

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services provided by the various health facilities. Their input to the decision-making process is
important and they are made part of any decision-making process involving their health (Ekman
et al., 2011, p. 249). Such an approach helps the carers to understand patient experience and offer
the best available care options. Personalization, on the other hand, could be used to mean that a
patient, their families, and carers have the control and choice of their most preferred support on a
daily occurrence (Miles and Mezzich, 2011, p.3). Healthcare systems and practitioners can
ensure that they offer personalized care by employing the person-centered approach to care. In
doing so, they get to understand some of the things that may be important to the patient, they also
know how to support them, and finally understand their way of communication and how they
make decisions. The aim of all health and social care professionals should be to empower the
patients and their families through person-centered care thus enabling them to have control and
make their own choices regarding the type of service they wish to receive. The freedom of
choice enables every individual to be equal to the other in the partnership to deliver quality care.
It is very important to involve the service users in the plans aimed at offering health and
social care. Firstly, this involvement improves the health and wellbeing of the patient. Being in
control of one’s health and wellbeing can tremendously transform their lives. When individuals
are involved in care, they choose the support system or mode of treatment that are in line with
their preferences and thus making decisions that improve their mental and physical wellbeing
(Rhodes, 2012, p.186). Secondly, it improves the quality of care by reducing unnecessary
changes in care provision and treatments because all decisions are informed and based on the
preferences of an individual. There is thus a greater patient satisfaction. Thirdly, it enhances
financial stability in addition to enabling an effective resources allocation. When the healthcare

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practitioner involves the patient in a shared decision-making process, then the patient may
possibly make good use of the available resources thus potentially reducing overtreatment.
Critique of Personalization and Person-Centered Care
It is important to note that personalization and person-centered care are not standard
practices in most healthcare settings. This is due to the fact that most healthcare practitioners do
not engage in shared decision-making with their patients. They, as a matter of fact, see the goals
and preferences of the patients only in terms of certain health outcomes. It is important to note
that the adoption of a person-centered approach to care would require some big changes to the
way services are delivered (Koren, 2010, p. 315). The roles of all the parties involved including
the healthcare practitioners and the patients may also need to change to ensure that the adoption
of a person-centered approach is a success. These shortcomings are some of the factors that make
the implementation of personalization and person-centered approach to care so challenging.
It is also important to notice that personalization of care may sometimes seem
unreasonable as the patient or their families may not always make the best care and support
decisions. One of the most important standards of nursing requires that the nurse must always
ensure the safety of the patient. This may, however, become impossible through personalization
of care as the patient or their family may make a health decision that may seem detrimental to
their health and wellbeing (Entwistle and Watt, 2013, p.35). The nurse is thus forced to honor
this decision because the patient has the right to accept or refuse a particular treatment procedure
or medication.
There are several challenges that healthcare facilities and practitioners face in an attempt
to ensure the maximum involvement of the service users in support and care plans. Firstly, most

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service users are only involved with the service over a very short duration of time and mostly
when they are in a massive health crisis. This, therefore, means that there is no consistency in
getting their views and recommendations regarding care. Secondly, it is sometimes very difficult
to make the clients understand all the numerous benefits of getting involved in support and care.
Failure to understand all these benefits makes it very difficult to involve them in care and a
shared decision-making.
Relevant Theories in Personalization and Person-Centered Care
Some of the relevant theories to personalization and person-centered care include
advocacy, empowerment, self-help, user involvement, and partnership working. Advocacy
involves helping patients and their families to take significant roles in their health and well-being
and make the best decisions regarding their health conditions. Advocacy has three pillars that
include person-centric support, pre-care partnership and guidance, and unified experience.
It is additionally important for the patients to feel empowered regarding their well-being
as this helps in promoting the person-centered approach to care. The patients and their families
should be given the authority and power to make their own informed health decisions
(Thompson, 2007). The feeling that one is in control of their health helps in improving health
outcomes and ensuring that quality care is practiced.
Patients and families being able to use their own resources and efforts without having to
rely on others, is also important in person-centered care. Once care is personalized, the patient
and their families can be able to make informed decisions regarding their health and ensure that
they plan adequately to utilize their available resources efficiently without having to rely on
others. This is what self-help in care is all about.

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User involvement and partnership working are the other important theories that guide
personalization and person-centered care. Involving the clients as described previously and
partnering with them in care makes them feel in control of their health and ensures that they
decide the direction they would wish to take regarding their well-being (Glasby and Dickinson,
2014, p. 34). This approach helps in improving health outcomes.
Policies and Legislations
There are several relevant policies and legislation that could help ensure that
personalization and person-centered care are achieved in the healthcare setting. One of those
legislations is The Care Act 2014. This act acknowledges the fact that there should be
improvements in in partnership working to realize quality personalization of care. It reinforces
the aspect of collaboration and user involvement in care because it recognized the impact that
extended durations of care can have on the patient and their families (Epstein et al., 2010, p.
1492). Through this act, the clients are assessed based on their ability to achieve the outcomes
that they most desire, rather than being assessed on how at risk they might be. It is thus important
to note that this act highlighted the significance of partnership working and user involvement in
quality care delivery.
Another legislation that has been fundamental in personalization and person-centered
care is The Health and Social Care Act 2012. This act promotes partnership working and ensures
that the relevant authorities come up with the ways that would ensure that the requirements and
needs of the users are met. It also highlights that there should be a good restructuring of all the
groups at all levels of care and a clarification of the roles of all individuals involved in care in
order to further promote partnership working and user involvement (Kietzman, 2012, p. 17). This

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act plays to the strength of both the patients and the healthcare practitioners as every individual is
given a defined role thus ensuring quality health outcomes.
Impacts of Inequality in User Involvement
There are several disparities in the services provided by various health care facilities in
different countries worldwide. Factors such as education, gender, income levels, the status of
employment, and ethnicity among others contribute to inequalities in healthcare. People whose
socio-economic statuses risk experiencing poor health standards due to discrimination (Shim,
2010, p.8). These inequalities negatively impact user involvement thus affecting the delivery of
quality health services. In most cases, people with high socio-economic standards are involved in
the care and allowed to make informed decisions regarding their health. The poor, on the other
hand, are neglected and rarely involved in the decision-making process as their decisions are not
deemed as important (Shim, 2010, p.13). This may make someone feel less important and less in
control of their lives thus lowering the health outcomes.
It is thus important to implement anti-discriminatory practice in health and social care to
encourage user involvement and partnership working. Treating all patients as equals without any
form of bias is important in improving the standards of care and ensuring patient satisfaction
(Rowlingson, 2011). Anti-discriminatory practice ensures that all users are made part of their
care irrespective of their socio-economic status, gender, religion, or age among others
(Dalrymple and Burke, 2006). It also ensures that all the users feel that they are all part of care in
equal measures and that feeling of importance can help in ensuring positive health outcomes.
Reflection of Own Practice

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From my personal practice, I can confidently say that user involvement and partnership
working are very important in ensuring quality health outcomes. Being able to involve the
patient in the crucial process of decision-making regarding their health ensures that they feel
important and in control of their well-being. There is an example where I had a patient who had
experienced a seriously traumatic fall that had incapacitated his left leg. When I attended to the
patient, I decided that I would involve him in the decision-making process regarding the
treatment options that were available. This approach made him feel more relaxed and in control
of his health thus making it easier to make an informed decision. The result was a positive health
outcome that helped in speeding the recovery process. This is proof that user involvement and
partnership working are very important in the delivery of quality health care according to the
nursing standards.
It is important to note that user involvement in healthcare especially in my field as a
healthcare assistant helps in involving the clients development, planning, and care delivery of the
available services in the healthcare setting. Involving the users increases their self-esteem and
thus improving personal outcomes and also boosting the morale of healthcare practitioners such
as a healthcare assistant (McCormack and McCance, 2016). This involvement also opens
numerous opportunities for mentorship and peer support. It also improves information access for
the heath assistant and access of the relevant services by the users thus improving their health
outcomes.
Conclusion
Personalization and a person-centered approach to care are very important in the delivery
of quality healthcare. The best ways to implement this approach is by encouraging user
involvement and partnership working in care. User engagement ensures that a patient is made

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part of the decision-making process thus being able to make crucial and informed decisions
regarding their well-being. It is important to note that the health outcomes of individuals improve
greatly when they have more control and a bigger say in the care options the desire to undergo.
There are however some challenges that are experienced in the attempt to implement user
involvement. The challenges may include the inability of the patient to properly understand the
benefits of being involved in care. The benefits, however, outweigh the challenges making this
concept a very fundamental one in health and social care.

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