Analysis of Support for Significant Life Events: NHS and Beyond Report

This report examines the multifaceted support systems available to individuals navigating significant life events, with a particular focus on the role of organisations like the NHS, and the impact of policies and procedures. It explores the effectiveness of these policies, the role of social networks (family, friends, health professionals, self-help groups, social media, and work colleagues), and the suitability of external support sources. The report uses the Grenfell Tower fire as a case study to illustrate the application of these support systems, organizational responses, and reflective insights. It delves into the challenges faced by individuals and the responses from various bodies, including governmental and charitable organizations. The report concludes with recommendations for improving support in health and social care settings. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the various facets of support systems for individuals experiencing significant life events.

SUPPORTING SIGNIFICANT
LIFE EVENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................1
2.1 Effectiveness of organisational policies and procedures.......................................................1
2.2 Role of others in social networks ..........................................................................................1
2.3 Suitability of external sources of support .............................................................................2
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................3
3.1 Possible organisational responses .........................................................................................3
3.2 Reflective...............................................................................................................................4
3.3 Recommendations .................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

LO 2
2.1 Effectiveness of organisational policies and procedures
There are several policies and procedures at organizational levels that must be followed
with strict adherence. It is understandable that the authorities and the professionals must comply
with it sincerely and must also adopt it in practice to maintain the confidentiality, dignity and
respect of the patients. The common notion is that the regulatory bodies implement new policies
and legislation to support the palliative care and give a platform to the individuals for
bereavement in terms of any loss or onset of disease. Herein NHS (National Health Services),
NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence),CQC (Care Quality Commission),
NMC (Nursing And Midwifery Council) and other such institutions play important roles in
underpinning the individuals' ad the social networks to overcome the significant life events.
These bodies not only regulate the ethical standards but also act as an independent supervisory
institutions to establish quality and delivery of services for the patient centred care (Watts,
2010).
Furthermore, after the Grenfell Towers incident, the affected people and families were
sent to counselling and bereavement sessions to overcome the anxiety, sadness and isolation
feelings. These were also given proper treatment plans and care services with number of funding
streams to get over the case under the coordination by several charitable organisations like
Rugby Portobello Trust, London Emergencies trust etc. Moreover, these policies set the
guidelines that helps the people to go through a structured order in filling up the forms and other
formalities after facing any significant life event. The patients also receive specialist services
since their coping time and other parameters cannot be miscalculated and must be give
preferences as the support and care is necessary tools for them to understand the specific
policies, rules and legalities. Thus, it is important that these legal guidelines must be made
understandable to the public by organising events or conducting programs to generate awareness
and impart education for facing such events effectually in the near future.
2.2 Role of others in social networks
In order to provide support to individuals experiencing significant life events, there must
be an established area or social networks. These are the following:
Family: These are the front liners in helping the involved people of any significant life event.
They know the pain and can relate them on personal levels.
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Friends: This the family that has been chosen by any individual and must be give priority during
such difficult situation to support and care.
Health and social care users: These are the professionals who exactly knows how to direct and
treat the affected people and thus, they must be cordial and empathetic towards the needs and
requirements. This would help them to understand the shortcomings and challenges as well.
Self help groups: These groups are formed to connect people suffering from particular loss or
any other significant life event (Holland, 2017). People meet new individuals who either going
through some relatable grief or suffering from any disease. This paves the path of mutual care,
support and concerns to bring reliability and give an opportunity to make friends and share their
feelings without any pressure.
Social media: This is the most preferable option for the people suffering from significant life
event. Here the focus is to bridge the communication gaps and give an open channel to share
feelings. These platforms have become a good source of time consuming activities which do not
let the people feel alone ad make them realise that there are several stories which share the same
type of emotion through blogs, several websites, you Tube channels etc.
Work colleagues: these are the group of people who any individual sees on daily basis and thus,
they also play important role in coping strategies for people of any significant life event.
In regard to the Grenfell Towers accident, it is important to understand that such social
networks proved as a blessing to help and provide assistance to the affected individuals and their
families to cope with the bereavement, feeling of isolation and coming back to the normal
conditions.
2.3 Suitability of external sources of support
It must be evident that people affected from significant life events mostly seek
professional help rather than the internal social networks. Henceforth, there are several external
sources which might prove beneficial to cope up with the anxiety, stress and other such negative
emotions. Before understanding the psychological or physical support regarding the external
sources, one must be able to differentiate between the effectiveness and necessity of such
sources. These sources not only support them by taking counselling but also give proper and
professional treatment course of action for faster recovery. The effectiveness is at optimum
levels because of the interventions taken by the professionals and authorities working towards
the patient centred care and improved delivery of services (Barnard, 2010). Here, National Heath
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Services has initiated several programs to help the affected people without worrying about the
costs and is funded by taxes. Along with, the access to information and advice has also been
given in structured ways to understand their frame of minds and recovery levels.
In context to the case scenario, there were several government funded support in terms of
economic and social parameters. The people who lost family members or were escaped but lost
their flat and belongings were give insurance amount along with, few organisations raised money
for helping the affected families. Here these external sources like Citizens Advice in Kensington
and Chelsea set up specialised donations to help the bereaved people. Moreover, the government
funded agencies and other regulatory bodies coordinate with each other to provide funding to the
affected people of this accident. Additionally, people also take help from spiritual care provided
by the NHS and also take up the religious support to gain insights about the entire griefing
process. These external sources also led the path of taking any form of support to bring the
affected individuals back to the normal lives after a short period.
LO 3
3.1 Possible organisational responses
The organization responses are important to fulfil the need to support individuals
experiencing a significant life event. The organizational responses are necessary for rebuilding
the basic needs and bring the affected people to the normal lifestyle by overcoming the physical
barrier through collaboration and team work. Here the aim is to maintain and safeguard the
confidentiality, dignity, respect of the affected individuals. This is possible only when the
policies and procedures are outlined in an organised manner and is followed by the professionals
strictly (Gross, 2015). The critical incident responses are important to be examined to give
strategic ideas to provide the preventive measures to the community as a whole. These responses
are in coordination with both the social networks and the external sources as well. The
interconnectivity helps the professionals to know about the feelings, worries, injuries and related
aspects of the significant life event. For instance, the 'stay put policy' acted as the barrier in the
Grenfall Tower accident which took several lives and impacted the causalities in adverse ways.
In regard to the infamous fire incident that took place at Grenfall Towers with a stay put
fire policy that backfired the residents in the most disastrous manner. The people were not given
a proper management plan to escape through the emergency services and were only advised to
remain in the premises during any breakout. However, the formation of thick poisonous smoke
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took place which led to loss of several lives living on the upper floors of this tower. Additionally,
there were few people who ran away and came down through stairs but many people died. This
incident taught the need of adopting and practising the organisational responses. However, the
people were given accommodation facilities and were taken to a nearby emergency hotel along
with daily travel and food costs. Moreover, the funeral costs were also distributed according to
the specific causality in each residential case and the overall impact of this unforeseen incident.
Thus, these responses are important in giving personal care and respect of cultures, rituals, belief
systems etc. to the involved people and their families. It led the radical movement in providing
proper bereavement care planning
3.2 Reflective
On both professional and personal levels, I have learned a lot after this infamous Grenfall
Tower accident. I not only understood the relevancy to understand about the small details of the
surroundings we live in but also help me equipped with knowledge about the health and safety
policies during any emergency. I realised that any individual must be tech savvy along with
know about the legal rights to overcame any obstacles or difficulties in such situational and
uncertain crisis.
From my profession viewpoint, I gave clinical help as a doctor and gave my assistance in
hearing their grief, sorrow which helped me to connect with them and helped to provide better
treatment plans. Moreover, I conducted counselling sessions for making them realise the need to
rebuild their lives and continue their job or life for not only earning livelihood but also help
others in the community. I listened to them and tried to give them medication to get sleep on
time. I also took help from counsellors and discussed the cases to give them instructions and
dealing with such uncertain incidents. As a doctor, I have the technical knowledge in treating the
patients and come out of their anxiety attacks or depression through formal ways under the legal
frameworks.
I never thought that they lacked the common sense and education to escape from the
building. If they had the knowledge they would have saved themselves and as a doctor I try to
educate them in overcoming the barriers while getting treatment for burning or such critical
emergency. Thus, later I planned to give them training about the disaster management plan to
overcome any struggles regarding any kind of crisis or situation. Moreover, in this context, I
worked continuously with the people and assisted my colleagues in making these individuals feel
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at home but their losses were larger than any other emotion. Nevertheless, I suggested them to
join focus or self help groups for meeting new people who met with such significant life event or
suffering from any disease or loss. This gives them a ray of hope to move ahead in lives and start
doing the activities or performing task to overcome the pain or sorrow. Personally, I have
become self conscious and take initiatives in learning the fire safety instructions or taking time
out to hear about the spiritual care like aroma or physiological therapies or religious beliefs.
3.3 Recommendations
There are many suggestions that must be adopted by the local communities, regulatory
bodies and the government together in order to prevent the occurrence of any unwanted or
unforeseen incidents like Grenfell Tower accident. It is important in improving the support
available in a health and social care organisation for individuals and their social networks when
affected by significant life events. Primarily, the organizations are working on prescribed
guidelines mentioned by the legal bodies and the management. However, the practitioners must
understand each section of the policy to give proper education to everyone to use it when the
time comes to execute it (Parkes and Prigerson, 2013). Additionally, the focus is to maintain and
establish a transparent communication channel between the authorities and the taskforce working
in the health and social care organisations. This makes the entire processing less complicated and
give them a fair opportunity to understand the barriers and challenges that posed as threat in
maintaining the relations with the affected individuals.
In addition to these, the other areas such as resourcing and cost benefit procedures must
be adopted on both the individual and organisational levels. Her the focus must be to connect
these two parameters to address the queries of public under one integrated framework. This
would overcome the drawbacks and help the authorities to help the people in more practical
approach. The access must be given to responsible people working in any flat or office which
would help in conducting auditing on more transparent levels. It is also important to conduct
awareness programs and seminars or conferences to give proper foundation on using the policies
during any situation by the people. This would help the professionals, individuals and families in
gaining proper understanding of disaster and its escape plan.
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REFERENCES
Watts, J.H., 2010. Death, dying and bereavement: Issues for practice. Dunedin Academic Press.
Barnard, A. ed., 2010. Key Issues in Health and Social Care: A Companion to Learning.
Routledge.
Gross, R., 2015. Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour 7th edition. Hodder Education.
Holland, K., 2017. Cultural awareness in nursing and health care: an introductory text.
Routledge.
Parkes, C.M. and Prigerson, H.G., 2013. Bereavement: Studies of grief in adult life. Routledge.
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