Assessment of Quality Systems and Standards in Healthcare: A Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes healthcare quality.

Contents
Introduction –........................................................................................................................................1
LO 1......................................................................................................................................................2
1.1......................................................................................................................................................2
1.2......................................................................................................................................................3
1.3......................................................................................................................................................5
LO 2......................................................................................................................................................6
2.1......................................................................................................................................................6
2.2......................................................................................................................................................7
2.3......................................................................................................................................................9
LO 3....................................................................................................................................................10
3.1....................................................................................................................................................10
3.2....................................................................................................................................................11
3.3....................................................................................................................................................12
LO 4....................................................................................................................................................13
4.1....................................................................................................................................................13
4.2....................................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion –........................................................................................................................................15
References –........................................................................................................................................16
1

Introduction –
In this unit, we mainly focus on the quality services of social and health care sectors. For an
organization to be successful an effective and operative quality system is necessary. To increase the
improvement of services, the organization has to focus on the various factors. These factors will
increase the organization value and reputation in the health care field. Various standards and
guidelines can be used to improve the facilities of social and health care sectors. Many policies and
methods are used to ensure that the organization is working properly. Instead of many laws and
different guidelines which are provided by the government for the organization, promises and proper
communications, efficient employees, upgraded equipment’s and new technologies are required.
Criteria for standard quality are introduced in social and health care sectors and the main cause is to
provide and improve the facilities. For effective work of the organization, customer satisfaction,
efficient working of the employee, new equipment’s, new technologies and providing of various
information and knowledge are required.
2

LO 1
1.1
Every stakeholder has a different perspective on health and social care. Perceptions vary according to
different persons. American Medical Association defines health care as a contribution to the
improvement and maintenance of quality of life and duration of life. To evaluate the quality, medical
association particular devoted to different aspects of care.
Job seekers perspective –
Job seekers have their own individual perspective about the quality of services. Hospitals and home
care qualities must fulfill the essential needs of the patients and the job seekers. But it doesn't mean
that it will fulfill all requirement of service seekers. If the basic needs and requirements of the patient
is not fulfilling by the hospital or home care, then it is important to identify the reason behind this.
( Campbell et.al, 2000)
Employees perspective –
Employees, health practitioners or professionals are responsible to maintain and manage the quality of
hospital and organization. These will possible only when employees of the organization are willing to
perform their duties efficiently. To encourage employees, rewards can be introduced as per the
performance of the employees. This will encourage employees to do more hard work and it will also
increase the confidence level of the employees.
Technical service providers perspective –
Technical service providers play a major role in the hospital. For the efficient working of the hospital,
performance of technical service should be good enough. For this in the hospital, TQM can be formed
i.e. total quality management system. In this system, all employees of the organization and hospital
maintain the standard and quality of services. All other functions like data recording, customer
feedback, and other technical work need in the hospital and it will require the best technician team.
External bodies perspective –
Guidelines for health and social care are set by the various commissions like CQC i.e. central quality
commission and national institute for clinical excellence and health service commissioners. If any
organizations of hospitals are not working according to their guidelines then strict actions will be
taken against the organizations.
Like patients, ADL activities like dressing, toileting, bathing, and feeding needs proper care and
support by the nursing staff. (Betancourt et.al, 2005)
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1.2
Role of external bodies is very important in the health and social care sectors. External bodies
maintain the standard quality of services in health and social care. External bodies set the guidelines
and rules to be followed by organizations and hospitals. These external bodies conduct many regular
testing’s and inspections such as availability of equipment, providing nursing care, proper
sanitization, providing safety and all the facilities which are required in health and social care sectors.
If the quality of work is not under the guidelines then these external bodies will take strict actions.
External bodies also provide training to the medical professional individual such as doctors, nursing
department, attendees, caretakes and other paramedical staff. These external bodies are highly
upgraded about the latest technologies, treatments and equipment are in health and social care sectors.
These external bodies work with the other organizations in partnership so that they can provide the
best quality services and care and give proper attention to the management of all services. All the
health and social care organizations get to benefit by these external bodies because these external
bodies will help in managing, assisting and training their workers and medical professional persons by
giving knowledge and teaching them all the responsibilities on health issues. These external bodies
help organizations by giving them different ideas and solutions. There are mainly two external bodies
in health and social care sectors –
 Care Quality Commission (CQC)
 National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)
CQC –
It is the independent public body in the UK. Guidelines for the quality of services are set by CQC in
health and social care sectors. CQC has various functions –
o CQC provide the best facilities for the hospital and organizations.
o It provides safety, best quality services, and proper training to the staff members, doctors, and
nurses.
o Supervision and regulation of all services are done by CQC in social and health care.
o CQC takes strict action against the
o organization if the quality is not maintaining as per the guidelines.
NICE-
NICE provides various ideas and advice to the NHS in the UK. NICE has various roles-
o It also has its own guidelines and rules which should be followed by the organization.
o NICE also gives advice and ideas to the organization from time to time.
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o It provides various information to the organization and updating the knowledge about various
fields in social and health care. (Elwyn et.al, 2006)
5

1.3
Quality care is very important in any organization. If the quality of services is poor then it will give a
negative impact on workers, customers, health supervisors or stakeholders.
Poor quality care in the organization –
If services of any organization are not up to the mark or the quality of services are poor then, it will
affect the reputation of the organization. It will provide a negative impact. If cost quality is poor then
it will automatically decrease the productivity and profitability of the organization. Poor quality also
decreases customer satisfaction and it can lead to closing down the organization. In this, external
bodies like CQC and NICE will take strict actions against the organization. On using the latest
equipment and technologies by the organization can increase customer satisfaction. As per some
surveys, low wages of employees will lead to shifting of employees to other organization because in
other organization they will get the high wages.
Impact on customers –
Customer satisfaction is very important in any organization. If customers are not satisfied with the
services of the organization then it will lead to the fake negative publicity of the organization and
loyalty of customer will be lost. If the organization provided poor quality of equipment, services and
safety measures, then it will decrease customer satisfaction and ultimately organization value and
fame also decrease. Proper training of staff members will provide the best services to the customer
and hence it will increase the customer satisfaction level. (Woodward et.al, 2004)
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LO 2
2.1
In any organization for attaining the best quality services, some standards are used. These are –
Reducing the standards-
Social and health care should reduce the standards, it means the standards should be minimum. These
minimum standards are helping to attain the best quality services and effective care in the social and
health care sectors. These will reduce the workload on the employees and makes employees working
more efficiently and increases the quality of services.
Practice should be best –
For good quality services organization should perform the best practice. The organization should use
the best operating system to increase the management quality. If an organization uses best practice
then it will get the best results.
Creating a benchmark –
The organization has to create a benchmark of their all services and facilities. The organization has to
compare their work with other organizations which are the best in their field. Results can be compared
for achieving the goal and providing the best services to the customers.
Measuring performance –
The organization should measure their performance. They can measure it with the help of key
performance indicator i.e. KPI. The success of the organization can be measured by these indicators.
Legal standards –
There are some legal standards which have to follow by the organization. These legal standards
should be known by the organization to avoid any legal procedures for the organization. Members of
the organization should know all the legal and illegal issues because any wrong decision will vanish
the organization image.
There are other standards also which are used in measuring the quality services of the organization.
These are Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), ISO 9000/14000, Federal standard 1037c, BS5400
etc. (Brignall and Modell 2000)
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2.2
Implementation of the quality system is necessary to improve the services quality in social and health
care sectors. Quality of the whole organization will increase by this system. This system should learn
by the employees and stakeholders in order to gain positive results. This system should include in all
documents of the organization. If any other methods are required to form a quality system in the
organization then the employee should give more attention to work. The organization should provide
suitable work according to employee efficiency. Employees should understand their responsibilities
and perform work efficiently to gain maximum results. There are different approaches that can be
used in the quality system, these are –
Introduce policies –
For executing quality services in social and health care sectors, the introduction of policies is very
important. Policies will help the organization to serve better quality of services. Proper planning with
proper management will lead to gain the best result in the organization. (Harvey and Green 1993)
Setting goal –
Planning the policies is not sufficient, besides this proper target and setting the main goal is important.
The goal helps to perform organization more effectively and it will motivate the employees to work as
a team. By setting a goal, an organization can achieve any target with maximum output.
Build up communication –
Useful information should be shared by the management. Relevant information should be shared with
employees, customers, and professionals. From customers and employees, feedback can be obtained
through various means of communication. These feedbacks help to maintain the quality of services
provided by the organization.
Accept the changes –
Bring the changes and to accept it is very important. The organization should be flexible enough to
adapt to the changes. Employees should always be ready for the new changes that will occur in the
organization. The flexibility of employees will improve the organization quality system.
Proper coordination –
Methods should be used to measure the quality of services and system. By this, the implementation of
methods in the system can be measured and benefits can also be calculated.
Managing roles and responsibility –
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It is the organization responsible to support the employees. Responsibility makes employees work
efficiently in a proper manner. All the services that are provided by the organization depend on
working environment, different culture and performance of employees.
Evaluation –
Success and progress are measured by the set criteria and standard. Any change in set standard then it
will decrease the working efficiency of the organization. Strict actions and proper plans should be
implemented to gain the proper result.
All these methods and approaches are used to ensure that the organization properly implementing the
quality system. But the main approach is setting the goal because only this approach will help the
organization to set the goal and achieving the targets and it will automatically improve the quality of
services of the organization. (Stensaker et.al 2010)
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2.3
When the organization provides quality services then there are some barriers which stop the
organization to improve its quality. These barriers demotivate people from adapting to changes. These
barriers are indifference, skepticism, the struggle for change, unavailability of resources. Internal
barriers can be a shortage of equipment, slow rate of improvement, using of old system and
technologies and proper communication not present etc. this will lead to unsatisfied customers and
employees. Unavailability of health insurance, improper family support and social support and low
financial system etc all these are external barriers which will affect the quality service of the
organization. If communication between employees and medical professionals is not proper in the
organization then it will lead to working imbalance and employees will not perform efficiently. If the
management of the organization is poor then effective change will not occur. Insufficiency of health
insurance will fail to spread various programmes around different areas. Insufficiency of resources is
also the main barrier in the development of the organization. If the quality system is not accepted
properly in social and health care sector then the main reason behind this is improper leadership,
insufficient training etc. All these barriers give negative impact on organization management.
(Bovaird and Löffler 2003)
10

LO 3
3.1
The organization takes care of job hunters. Apart from this nursing department play important role in
accessory care of elder patients. Such as, the patient having heart-related problems and carcinoma etc.
These accessory services make sure that appropriate treatment is provided which also helps in
describing their condition. In the organization, various policies and methods are used so that social
and health care providing agencies are accustomed to the organization which all together provide their
best quality in terms of social and health care. Policies are implemented to achieve the goals for some
chronic disease programmes giving best health care services to the job seeking people and patient and
providing extra facilities and various benefits to the professionals as well as the staff. The pay scale is
decided according to their dedication towards work and other benefits which can be financial or non-
financial. In domestic and non-domestic care, all these policies are implemented as they help in
providing quality care to the organization.
All positive feedback which is obtained from the management system, methods and policies, these
can be used to improve the quality of social and health care. By following all the rules, standards and
guidelines, best results can be obtained to improve the quality services of the organization. Trial and
error test can be used to measure and examine all policies, methods, and management system. Positive
feedback from other organization can be referred to as the measure to which policies and system can
be used. To perform service efficiently and provide various facilities it is important to have proper
resource and proper funding is required. Sufficient funds will help the organizations to provide
various facilities and newest equipment’s. With the help of sufficient funds, the organization will
perform more smoothly. Customer satisfaction will also increase. To meet the higher expectation of
customers, the organization has to improve its quality services. more funding means the public wants
the organization to work more and quality work is needed. Customer unsatisfaction will lead to
decreasing the market graph and value of the organization. Customers will build the external pressure
on the organization to work efficiently. (Brett et.al 2014)
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3.2
Efficiency working of organization influenced by the properly documented work and other records of
the organization. Apart from these, all the success of the organization will determine by the number of
rewards which the organization already have. There are various ways to affect the success of quality
care in social and health care sectors. These methods are the importance of external bodies, introduce
the proper quality system and providing best quality services by management and employees.
External bodies play a major role in gain best standard quality by helping the home care workers in
many things. Proper guideline principle is created for the home care people and home care sectors,
they should follow these guidelines on a regular day to day life. With the help of various conferences,
seminars and different workshops should be organized to help the home care workers by providing
them with the best knowledge and information to provide the best quality care in the organization.
Various tests were organized to a daily basis to find out whether the organization is following the
guidelines, policies and various methods to improve the quality services. With the help of these tests,
the management of an organization will work efficiently. The proper balance between policies and
quality system is necessary to get optimal results. Success rates can be measured by these methods.
All the employees of the organization should do their work with all their efforts to provide the best
services to customers and satisfy their all needs in social and health care. The organization which is
not following the guidelines and standards, the organization will fail to achieve its goals and targets
and the reason behind this is an improper system of organization. (McGlynn 1997)
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