Analysis of Healthcare Policies and Legal Frameworks at St Thomas

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal and regulatory framework within St Thomas Hospital, focusing on the extent to which its policies and procedures comply with relevant legislation. The report examines key aspects of UK healthcare law, including the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the Equality Act, the Care Act 2014, and the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. It explores various organizational policies, such as health and safety, safeguarding vulnerable adults, whistleblowing, and public guardian safeguarding policies, demonstrating their alignment with national laws and regulations. The report also highlights the role of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as the main regulator, emphasizing St Thomas Hospital's commitment to quality, patient safety, and adherence to professional standards. The analysis includes an examination of the hospital's core values, operational practices, and compliance with legislation, illustrating its commitment to providing a safe and equitable environment for patients and staff, and maintaining a high standard of care. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of strict compliance with laws and policies, which contributes to the hospital's positive reputation and its ability to deliver quality healthcare services.

The Legal and
Regulatory Framework

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Regulation of the health care sector in the England mainly comprises of two elements, of
which first is the safety and quality of the care which is offered to the patient by the health care
workers. It is mainly undertaken by the Care Quality Commission. Second is the regulation of
the market in the services of health care to which the responsibility lies to the Department of
Health. The regulatory compliance in the health and care sector is just about adherence to the
guidelines, regulations and laws by the health care organisations and non compliance of it often
leads to legal penalties and punishments (McGhin and et. al., 2019). The healthcare organisation
chosen for this essay report is St Thomas Hospital, situated in London, England. This essay
report will deal with the analysis of the extent to which policies and the procedures comply with
the legislations, scope of health care related laws and the professional regulatory system which is
relevant to organisation.
MAIN BODY
The health and social care can be referred to as the treatment of the ill health and medical
conditions in the health centres, hospitals and community. The Department of the Health and
Social Care of United Kingdom is responsible for the government policies on the health and
social care matters and also over see the National Health Service. It develops guidelines and
policies so that quality of the care centre can be improved and expectations of the patients are
met.
Policies in the health care sector is very important as it sets the general plan of action in
order to guide the desired outcome and help in decision making. The policies and procedures
related to the health care sector is aimed to communicate the employees about the desired
outcome of organisation so that they can understand their roles and responsibilities. Policies
normally sets the foundation for delivering the cost effective and safe quality care. Policies are
normally the guidelines which helps in making the effective decisions and also set out the
general plan so that desired outcome can be achieved (Schönberger, 2019).
The policies relating to health care sector are divided into four groups which relates to
firstly the administration which includes matters like information security, data protection, etc.
second is health and safety which includes policies relating to safe treatment and environment.
Third is service delivery where complaints, suggestions, complaints are included and last is

human resource which includes policies relating to confidentiality, disciplinary, equal
opportunities and grievance.
There are organisational and national policies. The former is designed so that national
policies are complied with. Its strict compliance allows the health and social care sector to
maintain the standards incorporated in national policies so that prominent health care
organisation is built. The national policies are guidelines to maintain quality so that professional
standards are maintained (Hafez and et. al., 2019). St Thomas Hospital have such organisational
policies which complies with national policies, regulations and laws. The hospital is known for
its quality and standards which shows that patients are treated equally and are given quality
treatment in all aspects.
The core policies of health care sector to which St Thomas hospital also complies with
involves health and safety policy and procedure which is aimed to direct and guide the
employees to work safely and prevent any injury to others and themselves. This helps in ensuring
that appropriate safety measures are taken so that patients as well as the staff at St Thomas
Hospital are given safe environment. Next is safeguarding vulnerable adults policy and
procedure which is designed to promote welfare of the vulnerable adults and provide them with
several rights and protection from the abuse, neglect or harm. This policy is aimed to prevent any
kind of abusive behaviour with the vulnerable people so that they can be given safe environment.
St Thomas Hospital ensures that any patient which is vulnerable are given extra care and
attention so that their rights are not exploited and they are given safe environment. Whistle-
blowing policy which is aimed to protect the whistle blowers who have taken the case to
concerned authority. St Thomas Hospital ensures that the name of the whistle blower is
confidential so that no harm or injury is caused to them. The hospital takes strict action against
the one who violates the law so this policy helps in protecting the whistle blower from any harm.
Another policy is Public Guardian Safeguarding Policy of 2013 which protects people from
any kind of abuse as it is violation of the human rights and many other (Barraza and et. al.,
2019). St Thomas Hospital ensures that the rights of the people working in the organisation as
well as the patients are protected and they are given access to enjoy their rights. Equality is
foremost which is ensured in the hospital.
St Thomas Hospital carries out its operations, keeping in mind the health values, mission
and vision. It complies with all the applicable regulations and laws. They encourage the report

of violations of law, standards of conduct and regulations so that there is strict compliance with
laws. Its organisational policies are designed in such a way that it complies with the national
policies and laws.
The national policies provides the framework or the guidelines to the people, organisation
and community to adhere with the laws so that laws are followed in strict manner. Its purpose is
to provide the standardisation to heath care sector for their daily workings. St Thomas Hospital
complies with all the laws in their health setting so that they can prevent legal consequences and
maintain the quality and standard of treatment for the patients. It also helps in dealing with the
issues like confidentiality, quality treatment and many other (Fletcher and Lu, 2021).
Legislations are referred to as the laws which regulate working of society. In relation to
health and care setting, the key laws to which health care settings are bound to adhere with
includes the Health and social care Act, 2012 which imposes duty on the health care bodies
such as Department of Health, National Health Service, Public Health England many other. This
legislation was framed as the result of the policies which were created by Secretary of the BHS
relating to health. Equality Act is another legislation which establishes equality duties to all
public bodies so that equality is integrated in the daily working. It also appeals the organisations,
community and hospitals to give equal treatment to all so that all patients are given equal
treatment. Another law is Care Act of 2014 which places the duty to promote the well being of
carers. This care is also covered by the Human Rights Act, 1998. It imposes duty on local
authorities to access the needs of the people. Next law is Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups
Act of 2006. It is designed to prevent the harm or injury to the vulnerable adults and children
(Coenen and et. al., 2017). St Thomas Hospital comply with all the laws. It make sure that all
patients in the hospital are given safe environment and treatment. It ensures that all safety
measures are taken while treating the patients and high quality is maintained in order to ensure
well being of the carers. The core value of the hospital is to improve the quality through quality
management and provide the affordable safe environment to all the visitor and patients. It is the
professional duty of the heath care setting to strictly comply with laws. St Thomas ensure that all
its policies are farmed, keeping in mind the laws and national policies so that it can achieve its
organisational goals and prohibit the legal consequences.
St Thomas hospital have the transparent and open approach to report any incident and
learn from it. It provides protection to the whistle blower who reports any of the incident in the

hospital relating to violation of law. The hospital provides requisite training to the medical and
nursing staff so that they can follow the standards in their treatment and maintain quality in the
hospital. It works in such a way that there is minimum risk of the infection to the staff and
patient. All these show that the hospital follow the policies and laws in a strict manner and keep
the safety measures up to date (Moran-McCabe, Waimberg and Ghorashi, 2020).
The staff follow the policies and protocols which are driven by the national laws and
policies. For instance, there are multi disciplinary teams being developed which consists of
professionals. They are sometimes given specialised teams in order to solve the complex and
emergency cases. The hospital take care of the meals of the patients by ensuring that appropriate
nutrients are given to patients. All these examples shows that the hospital apply the laws in an
effective manner so that it can function smoothly. The hospital is given good rating during the
routine or unexpected inspection which shows that strict compliance of policies and laws is
present.
There are many regulators in the health and care sector of which the main regulator is the
Care Quality Commission (CQC) . It is an independent regulator for quality and the safety of the
care. They regulate the providers of the heath services to the people of all ages which includes
hospitals, mental health services and many other. They also regulate the providers of the social
care service for the adults in the care homes (Torres and et. al., 2018). Apart from them, it also
regulate the providers of the service for the people whose rights have been restricted under the
Mental Health Act. In the routine inspection in the St Thomas Hospital, good ratings are given to
the hospital as they have structured their work in the hospital in such a way that quality is
assured and the fair and good treatment is given to all. It complies with the good clinical practice
standards which assures that the quality treatment is given to carers and no violation of law took
place in the management and administration of the hospital.
So St Thomas Hospital have a clear reputation for its quality which shows that the
environment of the hospital is safe and equal for all. It complies with all the laws and policies
which is also incorporated in its core values. This indicates that it respect the rights of the
patients and protect them from any exploitation irrespective of their gender, race, etc.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above essay report that health and social care sector is one of
such sector which is regulated by strict laws, policies and regulation,. There are many policies to
which the organisations are required to comply with which includes safeguarding vulnerable
adults policy and procedure, Whistle-blowing policy, health and safety policy and procedure and
Public Guardian Safeguarding Policy of 2013. these are many other policies are followed by ST
Thomas Hospital so that it can comply with the national laws and policies. The hospital also
follows the laws like Equality Act, Safeguarding of Vulnerable Groups Act of 2006, Health and
social care Act, 2012 and Care Act of 2014 so that equal, fair and safe treatment is given to all.
These list are not exhaustive rather the heath care organisation comply with other laws and
policies also which leads the organisation with good ratings from the regulatory body like Care
Quality Commission. Further it is concluded that St Thomas Hospital is known as the best care
setting due to its strict compliance of laws and policies which is reflected in its working as well.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barraza and et. al., 2019. minuniation Laws and Policies ong U* S. Institutes of Higher
IEducation. The Journal, 343.
Coenen and et. al., 2017. A qualitative review of existing national and international occupational
safety and health policies relating to occupational sedentary behaviour. Applied
ergonomics, 60, pp.320-333.
Fletcher, J.M. and Lu, Q., 2021. Health policy and genetic endowments: Understanding sources
of response to Minimum Legal Drinking Age laws. Health economics, 30(1), pp.194-
203.
Hafez and et. al., 2019. Uneven access to smoke-free laws and policies and its effect on health
equity in the United States: 2000–2019. American journal of public health, 109(11),
pp.1568-1575.
McGhin and et. al., 2019. Blockchain in healthcare applications: Research challenges and
opportunities. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 135, pp.62-75.
Moran-McCabe, K., Waimberg, J. and Ghorashi, A., 2020. Mapping Housing Laws in the
United States: A Resource for Evaluating Housing Policies' Impacts on Health. Journal
of Public Health Management and Practice, 26, pp.S29-S36.
Schönberger, D., 2019. Artificial intelligence in healthcare: a critical analysis of the legal and
ethical implications. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 27(2),
pp.171-203.
Torres and et. al., 2018. Immigration policy, practices, and procedures: The impact on the mental
health of Mexican and Central American youth and families. American
Psychologist, 73(7), p.843.