SH4007QA: Social Determinants of Health and Healthcare Access Report

This report, prepared for SH4007QA, delves into the crucial role of social determinants of health, specifically focusing on healthcare access and quality within the UK context. It examines how factors such as economic stability, education, and social circumstances influence health outcomes. The report highlights that social determinants account for a significant portion of patient outcomes, often surpassing the impact of clinical factors. It addresses the challenges of unequal resource distribution, lack of health insurance, and geographic barriers to healthcare, emphasizing the importance of addressing these inequities through policy and practice. The report discusses the difference between equality and equity in healthcare, and the need for policies to address oppression, discrimination, and stigma, ultimately aiming to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. It also reviews the government policies associated with health care access and quality, including the establishment of health centers in rural areas, training programs for healthcare professionals, and financial incentives to encourage healthcare providers to serve underserved populations. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the importance of addressing social determinants to improve the quality of life for all individuals.

SH4007QA
Assessment 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Social determinants of health ................................................................................................1
Polices associated with health care access and quality.........................................................2
Social determinants of health and the relationship to health inequalities .............................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Social determinants refers to elements which are non-medical but influence patient's
outcomes. There are specific circumstances in which every individual person born, grow, live
and age. The circumstances completely influence the individual's health. There are many social
determinants of health including economic stability, health care access and equality, education
access and quality and social and community context. These factors are addressed when health
care professional collaborate with local leaders and community, using clinical experiences and
evidence of research to make social changes. Professionals get involved in the requirements of
community for the assessment and formulate health planning. In this report the selected social
determinant of health is health care access and quality (Gatwood, and et. al., 2020). In this report,
the main discussion is based on people who do not get the access to health resources for the
treatment and recovery.
MAIN BODY
Social determinants of health
It has been observed that social determinants play a vital role in influencing health of
individuals. There are several studies performed in context of social determinants and studies
suggest that social determinants are reliable for 30 to 55 percent of health outcomes of patients.
Researchers concluded that non-clinical factors contributes to health outcomes of population
more than clinical factors. It is very important to address the social determinants in order to
improve the health outcomes (Hatef, and et. al., 2019). In UK, there are many citizens who are
not getting enough health resources for their treatment because of their financial issues.
Government need to bridge the gap between accessibility of poor and rich people so the
resources can be equally distributed among all the groups. In UK, approximately 1 in 10 people
do not have their health insurance. Governmental bodies in UK are emphasizing on improving
high quality health services delivered to patients. People who do not have their health insurance
are more likely to get less health resources and suffer with unequal distribution of resources.
People who do not have their health insurance, do not afford the expensive treatments and
medications. Generally, people do not have primary care provider and hence do not suggested
health care services such as cancer screening and other expensive high-cost treatments.
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Sometimes, people live in remote areas and do not get the access to hospitals and health care
professional who offer them quality care services for their health lives and well-being. This
report highlights issues due to people are not getting access to healthcare, health literacy and
health insurance coverage. Social determinants are identified as key indicators which influence
health and well-being of people. Unequal distribution of health resources is also a challenging
factor in assurance of health and well-being of people. These inequities act as barriers faced by
people at point of health care. For example, lack of cultural competence in health care
professionals results social injustice. Researchers concluded that nurses can understand and link
the access of health care to the outcomes of patients. Nurses , other health care professionals and
government are reliable to remove these inequities (Mangold, and et. al., 2019).
This report discuss about the difference between the equality and equity. Equality in
healthcare refers to a system where everyone is treated equally and health care professionals
tailor care services to those who are homeless and can not afford high cost treatments and
medicines. Heath carers are reliable to provide equal health facilities to immigrant families in
order to minimize the inequity in society. Equity refers to equal distribution health resources
among all group of people in society. All the group of people have right to get equal access to
opportunities and services which are required for their good health and well-being. Healthcare
settings also need to maximise their capacity to serve all the group group equally and maintain
the quality (Phillips, and et. al., 2020).
Government, policy makers and social workers design and implement policies in order to
make accommodations for requirements of every individual group, community and family. There
is one major reason behind the inequities is cycle of oppression. Biased information,
discrimination, prejudice and stereotype. Sometimes, professionals discriminate patient on the
basis of their gender, sexuality, community and race. This discrimination do not let them get
appropriate treatment facilities in hospitals. Studies found that there are many group of people
who do not get adequate care facilities. Discrimination is a significant barrier which is faced by
specific group of people or individuals and hence they do not get appropriate treatment (Emeny,
and et. al., 2021).
Polices associated with health care access and quality
Social workers, government and health care settings design policies in order to make
equal distribution of care facilities among all group of people. Local authorities are reliable to
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provide health care services in remote areas where people do not have access to health facilities.
Geographically isolated areas emphasises five kinds of health care centres including low-volume
hospitals, rural referral centres, sole community hospitals and Medicare-dependent hospitals.
Approximately, 1300 governmental hospitals are introduced in rural areas in order to provide all
the medical care and support to people who are living there. In rural areas emergency hospitals
are also introduced in rural areas to provide emergency care to patient have serious medical
condition. Sole community hospitals are established to provide healthcare access to inpatient
hospital care to people who are living in remote areas (Russell, and et. al., 2018).
There are many programs conducted in order to motivate and encourage clinical practices
in underserved areas. In UK, government has funded health centres to provide health facilities
and treatment to people living in non-metropolitan and metropolitan cities. Physicians and health
care professionals are provided a appropriate training to develop their communication skills in
order serve people to different cultural and communities. A health care professional must respect
patient belong to specific community. Pregnant women are provide extra health care facilities in
order to boost their immunity so they can deliver a healthy new born. These facilities help to
reduce social discrimination based on gender and women and men both can access health care
facilities equally (Chang, 2019).
Area health education is reliable to provide training to health care professionals in order
to offer care facilities to underserved population through building relationship among nursing,
allied health schools and medical. AHE centres are also responsible to recruit professionals who
can meet with the requirement of underserved people. In governmental hospitals and care
centres, government conduct incentive payments programs for primary care services in
hospitals. Incentives helps to motivate and encourage health care professionals to serve all group
of people equally. Affordable care act came into force in 2010. this act aimed to offer bonus to
general surgeons in order to serve in medically underserved areas. Surgeons get motivation to
serve in rural areas where people are not getting enough health facilities. Methodological
questions are asked about provider distribution. Government conduct survey in order to analyse
that health care provider are serving equal healthcare facilities to all communities (Tyris, and et.
al., 2022).
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Social determinants of health and the relationship to health inequalities
Social determinates play significant role in health inequity as people are discriminated
due to poverty, lack of education, sexuality, racism and stigma. Poor people are not able to
access high cost healthcare facilities and treatments and hence die without appropriate care
facilities. In many countries, people are getting discriminated on the basis of their colour. For
example, sometimes, healthcare professionals denied to provide treatment to black people.
Mentally disable people can not go to meet a psychologistic or psychiatrist due to the social
stigma. These stigma make their mental condition more critical. There is a need to reduce these
social determinants in order to improve quality lives of people (Castrucci, and Auerbach, 2019).
CONCLUSION
As per the above discussion, it has been summarised that social determinants are key non-
medical factors which are reliable to influence an individual's health. It has been analysed that
social determinants is a condition where people born, grow and develop. These factors
completely influence their health outcomes. In this report the selected social determinant is
access to health and quality. As per the studies, there are many group of people who do not get
the access to acre facilities due to their cultural background. Poverty is also a major reason
behind health inequity. Government need to bridge the gap between access of poor and rich
people in order to reduce health inequities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Castrucci, B. and Auerbach, J., 2019. Meeting individual social needs falls short of addressing
social determinants of health. Health Affairs Blog, 10(10.1377).
Chang, C.D., 2019. Social determinants of health and health disparities among immigrants and
their children. Current problems in pediatric and adolescent health care, 49(1), pp.23-30.
Emeny, R.T., Carpenter, D.O. and Lawrence, D.A., 2021. Health disparities: Intracellular
consequences of social determinants of health. Toxicology and Applied
Pharmacology, 416, p.115444.
Gatwood, J., Shuvo, S., Hohmeier, K.C., Hagemann, T., Chiu, C.Y., Tong, R. and
Ramachandran, S., 2020. Pneumococcal vaccination in older adults: An initial analysis of
social determinants of health and vaccine uptake. Vaccine, 38(35), pp.5607-5617.
Hatef, E., Searle, K.M., Predmore, Z., Lasser, E.C., Kharrazi, H., Nelson, K., Sylling, P., Curtis,
I., Fihn, S.D. and Weiner, J.P., 2019. The impact of social determinants of health on
hospitalization in the veterans health administration. American journal of preventive
medicine, 56(6), pp.811-818.
Mangold, K.A., Bartell, T.R., Doobay-Persaud, A.A., Adler, M.D. and Sheehan, K.M., 2019.
Expert consensus on inclusion of the social determinants of health in undergraduate
medical education curricula. Academic Medicine, 94(9), pp.1355-1360.
Phillips, J., Richard, A., Mayer, K.M., Shilkaitis, M., Fogg, L.F. and Vondracek, H., 2020.
Integrating the social determinants of health into nursing practice: Nurses'
perspectives. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(5), pp.497-505.
Russell, L.T., Coleman, M. and Ganong, L., 2018. Conceptualizing family structure in a social
determinants of health framework. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(4), pp.735-
748.
Tyris, J., Gourishankar, A., Ward, M.C., Kachroo, N., Teach, S.J. and Parikh, K., 2022. Social
determinants of health and at-risk rates for pediatric asthma morbidity. Pediatrics, 150(2).
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