Quality in Health and Social Care: An NHS Perspective Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of quality management within the National Health Service (NHS). It begins by examining the perspectives of various stakeholders, including patients, healthcare professionals, and legal authorities, highlighting their expectations and the impact of servic...Read More

Managing Quality

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Describe perspective of stakeholders of health and social care towards quality..................1
1.2 Assess role of external agencies in setting standards............................................................2
1.3 Identify the impact of poor quality of services on stakeholders...........................................2
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Describe standards that exists in health care sector to measure quality................................3
2.2 Assess various approaches to implement quality systems....................................................4
2.3 Identify barriers in delivering quality health and social care services .................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Determine the effectiveness of systems and policies used to achieve quality in services....5
3.2 Identify other elements that influences quality in health and social care services................5
3.3 Suggestion of various ways to improve quality..................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Evaluate methods for analysing service quality with external and internal perspectives ....7
4.2 Explain the impact of involving users in evaluation process................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Quality management is very important in health and social care sector. It is required to
provide the best medical care to its service users. These organisations have to focus more on
maintaining quality in order to improve the efficiency and productivity. There are various
principles, guidelines and procedures that are set by government or legal authorities. This is
essential to follow such rules and regulations to provide services in an ethical manner. It is
required to set quality standards for health and social care sector so that they could enhance their
quality and fulfil its responsibilities towards customers. This report is about NHS which is an
international chain of hospitals. Perspective of stakeholders towards quality in services will be
discussed in this study. It is important to understand strategies in order to achieve medical care
standards. Evaluation of policies and procedures in this sector will be an important part of this
report. Various methodologies for evaluating quality of services are required to be assessed
through this research.
TASK 1
1.1 Perspective of stakeholders of health and social care towards quality
It is important for NHS to understand perspective of various stakeholders towards
services provided by them. There are different types of views of these external parties towards
quality in health and social care sector (Lamb, and et.al., 2011). It is essential because customers
always want to get superior services and hospitals are required to meet their expectations. If
patients have to wait for long time for getting medical treatments then it will create a negative
impact on them. Shortage of beds and unavailability of staff results in discomfort amongst
stakeholders.
Another important parties are health care professionals that include doctors and nurses.
For them, quality includes outcomes of patients and results of treatment taken by them. As per
their views, proper skills to provide medical care, appropriate decision making and availability of
equipment as well as all machines for treatment define quality standards (Aveyard, 2014).
Legal authorities related with this sector are also important stakeholders of NHS. Their
perspective is related with facilities in hospitals and other practices operated by this organisation.
To align with their views, there is the need for ensuring effectiveness, safety and proper
availability of services with high quality.

These perspectives are highly beneficial for NHS to follow legal guidelines in order to
meet the expectations of government bodies. They should always work for improving the
performance to attain standards in quality of services. There should be regular inspection and
regulations to maintain the standards of performance.
1.2 Role of external agencies in setting standards
There is very vital role of external agencies in operations of NHS. These commissions
ensure good and standard quality of services in health and social care sector. Some of these
agencies are National Institute of clinical excellence, Health services commissioners and Care
Quality Commission. They set standards for maintaining quality in medical care services.
National Institute for clinical excellence- This organisation gives directions for
encouraging good health and preventing wrong treatments. It provides training to various service
providers and medical professionals in order to provide them guidelines for working in different
conditions.
Care Quality Commission- This agency focusses on providing quality services and better
health care to every patient. They measure cleanliness level and availability of medical
equipment that are required for rendering effective medical care. As per their guidelines,
hospitals should always focus on improving the performance of their operational units in order to
attain specified standards.
Therefore, these agencies play a crucial role in maintaining quality in health and social
care sector. They also provide ratings and rankings to hospitals after analysing their quality
standards (Young, and et.al., 2010). These rankings are beneficial in building goodwill of overall
organisation and increasing trust amongst service users. These authorities influence this
organisation to manage their quality standards. On the basis of their study, they publish reports
regarding the organisation at national and international level which is again good for reputation
of NHS. These agencies spread awareness about hospitals that help in gaining more confidence
of stakeholders. Thus, it is clear that external agencies influence quality standards and
performance of health and social care sector.
1.3 Impact of poor quality of services on stakeholders
Poor quality and inefficient services of health care sector can result in negative impact on
stakeholders. Perceptions and mind-sets of these parties are dynamic due to which there

perceptions changes if hospitals does not provides effective medical care. There are many cases
of negligence in services due to which service users have to suffer. If patients are complaining
about services then changes are needed to be adopted. Once there is negative impact on their
minds towards treatments of hospitals then it becomes tough to get back their confidence and
trust. Sometimes, they file complaints if they don't get proper treatment and this results in
negative image of the organisation (Cherry, and Jacob, 2016). They gets demotivated if they are
not satisfied so, it is required to meet their expectations by maintaining quality and performance.
Such factors also creates wrong image in front of various legal agencies and government and
they can take major steps against this organisation.
NHS should measure its standards in all of its operational units in order to maintain
stability of stakeholders. Negative impact can be reduced by monitoring and measuring functions
of health care services on continuous basis. There should be proper infrastructure and fully
equipped hospitals for providing better medical services to patients.
TASK 2
2.1 Describe standards that exists in health care sector to measure quality
There are various standards for maintaining quality in health and social care sector. These
are required to ensure to have safe and effective practices in these organisations. NHS can design
these standards to encourage better environment conditions in their hospitals. They can provide
right medical care to their patients which is helpful in gaining their trust and confidence for long
term. Implementation of such standards are required to reduce the barriers and deficiencies in
quality of services. Some of the essential standards are as follows-
 Care Quality Commission has set standard related with record keeping. This ensures
that service users will get safe and correct treatment in appropriate manner (Naylor, and
et.al., 2012). Proper records are essential to be maintained on regular basis. This helps in
improving trust and experience of patients and level of practices of medical professionals
could be increased. Such records consists all the details of operations of hospitals and it
can be checked by these outside agencies as and when required.

 Another important standard that exists in health and social care sector is to manage high
quality in medical care. Is is concerned with enhancing the satisfaction level of
consumers and giving them best experience so that their dignity could maintained
(Damron, and Damron,2013). Dignity refers to feelings and behaviours of patients. It is
essential to identify their needs and wants in adequate manner and meet their
expectations by providing them high quality health care services.
2.2 Assess various approaches to implement quality systems
There are different approaches for managing quality in services of health and social care
sector. NHS can deeply evaluate these methods to understand the ways in which it could be
implemented in their hospitals. These approaches are as follows-
Total quality management- This technique of quality management can be used in all type
of organisations. It consists focussing on various problems that are occurring in the organisation
and strengthen the cross departmental lines. This approach is focussed towards persons and its
objective is to enhance the level of satisfaction and improve standards of services provided to
patients by creating value of their money.
Benchmarking- Another important approach in this scenario is benchmarking. It
includes comparing quality of an organisation with other competitive firms. This comparison
helps in identifying various trends that could be implemented in practices. This is very essential
in meeting expectations of employees as well as outside stakeholders by improving quality of
services and performance (Care Quality Commission, 2012). It also consist comparing old data
with new data of health care organisation in order to determine the gap between past and present
performance. This difference helps the management in implementing changes to fill these gaps.
Policies and regulations- There are various procedures implemented by government in
order to maintain quality in healthy and social care sector. NHS need to follow these guidelines
to maintain ethical and legal environment in all its functional areas.

2.3 Identify barriers in delivering quality health and social care services
In health and social care sector, there are various barriers that are faced by NHS while
delivering quality medical services. These obstacles are related with both internal and external
factors that restricts hospitals to achieve standards of quality in services (Grol and et.al. , 2013).
Social policy- There is huge deficiency in social setting of employees which restricts
them to get appropriate skills and training to improve their performance and provide best
services to customers. Such obstacles affects level of quality and value for money in hospitals.
Laws and legislations- In various scenarios, there are various legal issues that could act
as barriers. These obstacles occurs when organisation does not follows the guidelines of external
agencies. These elements also affects reputation of hospital and they might get warning notice
from such legal bodies.
Organisational structure- Design of structure of an organisation could also be an barrier
if it is not organized in proper manner (Kitson, and et.al., 2013). These are related with beliefs,
values and ethics of staff members. So, NHS has to develop its organisation structure in such a
way that they could achieve quality standards.
Communication- Ineffective communication between is another barrier in maintaining
quality in medical services. This results in less efficient health care and conflicts many times.
Therefore, it is required to have proper interaction between people by having effective staff and
improving their attitude towards maintaining quality in their practices.
TASK 3
3.1 Determine the effectiveness of systems and policies used to achieve quality in services
There are various systems, policies and procedures in NHS that focusses on effectiveness
in attaining quality standards in health and social care sector. These are as follows-
 One of the important policy is trust policy which emphasises on maintaining good and
trustful relationship with service users. It is very effective as this help in understanding
needs of patients and meet their needs by satisfying them (Spilsbury, and et.al., 2011).
 There are various procedures that are used in NHS. Escalation procedure works for
managing the waiting times which reduces chances of delay in medical treatment.
Patients are given full attention and there are facilities for family members also. This has
resulted in improved performance and managing quality of services in effective way.

 Total quality management and benchmarking are systems for managing quality. TQM is
very important in focussing on individuals and enhance their level of satisfaction whereas
benchmarking is helpful in comparing old performance with new performance in order to
eliminate the deficiencies in current services.
Therefore, all these systems, policies and procedures are very effective in increasing
standards of quality in health and social care sector (Weng and et.al., 2010).
3.2 Identify other elements that influences quality in health and social care services
It is very essential to increase the standards of quality in medical care services in order to
get trust and confidence of service users. This is helpful in long-term success of NHS. There are
various factors that influences the process of attaining quality in services and performance. These
elements are as follows-
Team work- It is very important for health care staff to work in teams. This facilitates
them in working together and learning from each others (Richard and Shea, 2011). Teamwork
also results in more innovation and better decision making. So, it is main factor influencing
quality in services in hospitals.
Safe working environment- Working conditions are vital element that could influence in
achieving quality. If there is healthy and safe workplace in hospitals of NHS then employees will
be more satisfied and they will put more efforts in order to manage their performance. This will
lead to good quality services to patients.
Training- It includes providing special skills and information to health care
professionals in order to enhance their ability and efficiency. NHS could provide training to its
staff related with approaches of quality management. This factor will help them in improving
their performance so that they can achieve quality standards.
Funding- Finance is the most crucial factor influencing quality in health and social care
services. If there is proper funding for promoting improvement on services then it could facilitate
in raising quality of services. It is also helpful in enhancing confidence amongst service users.
This funding assists in adopting new and innovative ideas to improve quality.
3.3 Suggestion of various ways to improve quality
It is very important for NHS to improve quality of its services. This is important for
satisfying the expectations of service users (Nugus and et.al., 2010). There are some suggestions
that could be used for improving quality standards-

 Dignity of patients is to be maintained. It includes treating them in proper manner. For
this, staff members are to be trained for ensuring safety while treating them in serious
conditions.
 Services should be provided on time. In health and social care sector, it is very important
that medical care will be given on time otherwise it might me dangerous for patients.
Activities that are resulting in delay in services should be eliminated by using Just in time
approach that works towards identifying wasteful steps. If patients don't have to wait for
long time then this will create positive impact on their minds.
 Proper cleanliness measures should be followed in order to make the environment of
hospitals hygienic (Broadhurst and et.al., 2010). For this additional workforce should be
recruited for cleaning and managing activities.
 Training and development sessions are to be conducted to educate health care
professionals and other staff regarding importance of quality services. This will make
them more focussed towards raising their standards in performance in order to provide
quality services.
 There should be more focus on increasing satisfaction level of service users by providing
value to their money. This could be done by listening ton their problems properly and
provide them adequate medical course.
TASK 4
Covered in PPT
Introduction- In this task various methodologies for evaluating health and social care service
quality will be discussed. There are several ways in which service quality could be analysed.
Quality audit and survey are important methods to evaluate standards of quality. Involving users
in evaluation process is also essential to bring more effectiveness.
4.1 Evaluate methods for analysing service quality with external and internal perspectives
It is very important to evaluate the level of quality in order to bring improvement in
services. This is also helpful in determining the effectiveness of standards of quality. This is very
helpful in changing negative perspective of internal and external parties into positive views. It
could be done by conducting quality audit and survey.

Quality audit- It is an systematic process of examining quality system. Audit is essential
tool for verifying processes to identify the ways in which successful process can be
implemented. It is set of various data related with an particular issue. This is very important
method to evaluate the service quality from internal and external perspectives. In this method,
quality auditor asks questions to service users and they have to answer the questions as per their
views. These questions aims at collecting feedback from them in order to know their satisfaction
level. It helps in identifying the areas where improvement is required. This will also assist in
understanding whether service users are satisfied with medical care or not. It also provides
information about their expectations and what are the main deficiency in services. Auditor also
investigates records of hospital in order to gibe true and fair opinion on that.
Survey- This method includes observation of thinking, views and expectations of various
parties and what are their perspectives towards quality. It will help NHS in identifying various
barriers that are affecting quality of health care services. Performance level of staff members can
also be evaluated through survey. This helps in making taking effective steps to improve their
workings. Shortage of resources can be identified through this observation which assists in
ensuring adequate resources such as medicines, beds etc. External survey gathers information
about rules and regulations that are required to be followed in organisation in order to maintain
ethical working scenario.
Therefore, quality audit and survey are important methods to reduce errors in in facilities
of hospitals performance of health care professionals.
4.2 Explain the impact of involving users in evaluation process
Evaluation is very important to identify the barriers affecting quality of services. It helps
in choosing best possible method to eliminate these factors and raising standards of quality in
medical care. An important attribute in this scenario is involving service users in this process.
Nowadays, hospitals involves their patients in order to gain their response and advice for
hospitals. There opinion and feedback helps a lot in improving overall functions of organisation.
NHS can follow this policy of including their service users in evaluation activity.
Bringing changes in services as per opinions of patients will help in satisfying them in
high level. This will also assist in motivating them and maintaining their trust and confidence in
services of this organisation. NHS can improve its performance in order to achieve standards and
understand the needs of users. It is required to have regular inspections and regulations of

hospitals so that quality could be maintained. Users perspective about quality helps in adopting
appropriate skills that are needed to provide affective medical care and treatments. These are
also beneficial in taking right decisions for patients. Policies and procedures could be designed in
such a way that expectations of service users could be met.
Conclusion- These methods are very beneficial in improving quality of services in health and
social care sector. Involving users in evaluation helps in achieving standards of quality in
effective manner because they are the one who will be using services of NHS hence, there
satisfaction is necessary.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that, maintaining quality standards is very
important in improving efficiency and productivity of quality of services in health and social care
sector (Yip, and et.al., 2012). Opinions and perspectives of various stakeholders are different
towards improvement in quality of medical care. There are certain guidelines, procedures and
principles that are to be followed by NHS in order to maintain ethical practices and high quality
services. Various approaches like total quality management, benchmarking, quality audit etc.
could be used to increase standards of performance and services. It is required to meet
expectations of service users to maintain confidence and trust towards services of NHS.

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