Analysis of Quality Management in UK Health and Social Care Settings

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.............................................................................................................................................................2
1.1............................................................................................................................................................2
1.2............................................................................................................................................................2
1.3............................................................................................................................................................2
LO 2.............................................................................................................................................................2
2.1............................................................................................................................................................2
2.2............................................................................................................................................................2
2.3............................................................................................................................................................2
LO 3.............................................................................................................................................................2
3.1............................................................................................................................................................2
3.2............................................................................................................................................................2
3.3............................................................................................................................................................2
LO 4.............................................................................................................................................................2
4.1............................................................................................................................................................2
4.2............................................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................2
Reference....................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction
The health and social care services majorly depend on the quality of the services that are being
provided. If the services are good in terms of quality more lives can be saved and bad quality
services only make it difficult to achieve cure (Barlow et al.,2013). In this assignment
managing the quality of health and social care services will be discussed along with the
perspective of stakeholders at various levels including external agencies, staff, and patients in
managing good quality services. The possible outcome of bad quality services on the patient’s
health and image of the organization, and what measures can be taken to improve these
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services and improve the overall quality services in the health and social care organization.
There are many ways to implement quality services at the same times there are enough
obstacles within the organization and outside the organization. It is important to overcome these
challenges effectively and positively and implement a systematic approach to provide the best
quality services to the patients within the organization of the health setup. Their many policies
and legislation that help to improve these services and overcome the barriers, following the
healthcare policies would help to achieve sustainable and quality services.
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LO 1
1.1
The ideal required quality of services necessary to fulfill the needs of the patients is a debatable
issue. As each individual patient, as well as the stakeholders at various level, might have a
different perspective towards minimum required quality services in a health care organization.
Service users: the health care organization is set up primarily to provide services to the ill
patients and these patients and their families are the basic users of services in a health care
organization. It is the responsibility of the organization to provide services as per the individual
needs of the patients and also as per their condition. This is not only applicable in terms of
medication and procedure but also in creating awareness about the current epidemic or the
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disease whose burden is on the nation. The cleanliness of the organization and privacy of the
patient during and after the course of treatment are very important for the service user in
selecting an organization for the patient (MacKian and Simons.,2013).
Care workers: they are the key performers and the main source of communication between the
physician and the patients. It is important that they are treated with respect by the stakeholders
at a superior level and treat the patient with equal dignity. They must have a proper supply of
resources and types of equipment to be able to treat the patient with the best of their ability.
Government: the functioning of the organization is completely dependent on the guidelines are
given by the government authorities. The government must be able to make a profitable
business from the health care department but at the same time provide the best services and
keep themselves updated with the advanced techniques to give quality services to the health
care organization all over the nation. The policies and legislation in the health care department
should be easy to apply so that the care workers can be able to follow them and also maintain
the brand value of the organization by providing quality services (Foot et al.,2014).
1.2
The main external agencies that are responsible in managing the quality of health care services
in the UK are the Care Quality Commission (CQC), National health services(NHS) and National
Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). Each of these agencies has their specific roles in the
health care services, but the authority of the NHS is above all the national agencies in the UK.
CQC: the main role of CQC is to conduct regular inspection and monitor the quality of services
offered in the healthcare sector. They supervise the health care organization in the nation and
set certain quality standard guidelines that are to be met to attain the license for running the
health care organization. They also take strict actions against the organization if the required
level of services is not maintained (Cameron et al.,2014).
NICE: their main role is to advise the health care organization on the improvement of services
along with the guidelines given by NHS. Their main aim is to provide excellent services in the
healthcare organization at the level of clinical approach. The homecare services and social
services are done under their guidance to increase awareness and improve the health of the
community and avoid certain diseases that the nation is burdened with due to lack of awareness
or facilities by the government.
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1.3
The government agencies in the UK have strict guidelines regarding maintaining quality
services in the health care organization in the UK. There can be a severe impact not only on the
organization but also on the health of the patients seeking services. Few organization having
quality services below the required level could also be shut.
Organization level: the end effect or the most adverse could be shutting the organization that
would cause financial loss and loss of reputation even if the organization starts again. Also, the
patient would not be able to build faith and that would, in turn, reduce the admissions in the
organization and affect the revenue. Customer satisfaction and positive feedback are the main
sources of referral in the health business and poor quality would adversely affect customer
satisfaction and reduce referral cases.
Service user level: the healthcare services in the UK are mostly patient-centered. The
government agencies have put strict policies and legislation to safeguard the health and rights
of the patients. Poor services would adversely affect the health and experience of stay in the
home care or hospital. Bad behavior from any stakeholder would not only affect the treatment
but also have a negative impact on the publicity of the services given by the organization. A
single experience would create a generalized bigger image of the organization (Drummond et
al.,2015).
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LO 2
2.1
The quality standard of services required for the successful functioning of the organization must
be systematic and applicable in each situation. Each organization has its own requirements
according to the services they offer and also death occurs in each organization as it is a natural
phenomenon, but all the activities must be reasonable and understood by the patient and their
family. The consent of the patient is necessary and if policies are followed properly then the
qualities would be maintained well. The few most important guidelines to maintain the quality of
the healthcare organization up to a standard level are given by the CQC, code of practice and
the legislation given by the NHS. Approval received from the agencies would give assurance of
the quality services in the health care organization. It is mandatory to follow these guidelines as
these are not only about the caregivers but necessary at each level of stakeholders internal and
external of the organization.
The nurses must follow the code of conduct and acquire the required skills and qualities to deal
with the physicians, patients, and their families leaving a positive impact on the services and the
organization. They are supposed to provide the services efficiently and on time within the best
limit of their capabilities, as the nurses and physician are main caregivers in the health care
organization (Griffiths et al.,2013). It is the responsibility of the management to take timely
feedback from the physicians, nurses, and patient on the services being provided and scope of
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further improvement, this would guide the management to take appropriate action within the
limit of the guidelines and rules provided by the government agencies.
2.2
The improvement in the overall functioning of the organization is possible when the
stakeholders at all level have good communication among them and there is proper
documentation of activities with a systematic approach. A strong management system is the
pillar of management of quality services within the organization. Usually, the entire management
is mainly focused on improving the services for the patients but equal importance is to be given
in the management techniques for the staff and caregivers to attain the best quality services.
This would help the care workers to meet all the norms and work smoothly within the
organization with proper planning, communication, and monitoring of the services and
techniques used within the organization. The integration of approaches at the level of all
stakeholders must be directed towards improving the quality of services in health and social
care sector (Craig et al., 2013). To over the barriers to providing the best quality serviced to
the patient's continuous efforts are necessary.
The approaches used to improve the services must concentrate on overall improvement of the
quality system and not only the areas where the organization is finding difficulty in managing
patients. Total quality management (TQM) is the ideal approach the covers the minutest of
services that need to be done correctly to improve customer support and management of the
patient (Livingston et al., 2014). This would help in the management practices of the
organization, and help in meeting the demands of the patients and their families and improve
the overall reputation of the healthcare organization. Following the policies and legislation given
by the government, and implementing it at all levels in the organization is to be done along with
the TQM. Training must be provided to all the nurses and the staff before the start working in
the organization and taking regular feedback from the patient as well as the staff members
would help to identify the problem area and hence help to effectively implement the change in
services in those areas.
2.3
There is a barrier in bringing about change in any organization or wherever a group of people is
concerned with the same setup. There are potential barriers that an organization has to
overcome to be able to provide best quality services to the patients. These barriers could be
internal or external.
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Internal barriers: the staff including caregivers is not usually positive when there is a change in
the functioning. The main reason could be apathy and cynics among the colleagues and
stakeholders at a different level. Researches show that only 10% of a physician of the same
faculty maintain positive relationship others are often showing apathy against each other. The
patients who are also used to the functioning might be reluctant to adapt to the new system and
services. In cases where the book and pen methods are replaced by the technical entries, many
elderly find it difficult to apply it to day to day life (Doherty et al., 2014).
External barriers: the financial arrangements, permissions, license and legislation, and policies
are all important external factors that might affect the functioning of the organization. The staff
and patients who are usually in the interior of the health care organization and in the front
picture but the bigger picture is where all the authorities and the government agencies are
involved and rule over the entire small emotional barrier within the organ9sation. The finances
and permission are extremely important in providing the best quality services to the patients.
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LO 3
3.1
The government of UK has various legislation and policies to safeguard the rights of the patients
and provide them with the best quality services, in any health care set up all over the nation.
The main aim of the policies is to promote the best quality of health care services and motivate
people to adopt a quality lifestyle and get consultation and treatment regularly to avoid falling
into long-standing diseases. The NHS has its setup all over the UK and they are the main body
that decides the pattern of services in the UK. apart from awareness, promoting health they also
support much organization that ensures better care services for the people of the UK such as
the CMS, council of health care and the EMTALA. They also have guidelines on training the
nurses and they have set professional standards for the practitioners to assure best quality
services for the people of the UK (Amin and Zahora Nasharuddin., 2013).
The study has shown that implementation of this legislation and policies at the various level of
the health care system in the UK, such as the local and national level organization have good
results in the patient care and positive patient feedback the meet the expectation of most of the
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patients. The management has adopted a new method to regularly scrutinize their services and
identify the areas of improvement by encouraging communication between the stakeholders and
taking feedback from the patients. This brings hope in the patients and the staff that their issues
would be heard and resolved and helps in maintaining the reputation and trust with the
organization. This helps the management in implementing new policies that are most required
and understands patients need and motivate the staff to work with the best of their ability.
3.2
Identification of the need for the better services of the patient is not enough to change the
services and implement the new reforms that would help to serve the patient better. Many other
resources, finance, and permission are a requirement to effectively apply the new policies and
give better services to the patients and the staff (Zainuddin et al., 2013). These are as follows:
Economic factors: health and social care sector is a huge setup that has to deal with various
health issues of the patient and to provide better and integrated services there is a huge
investment. Financial capability is very crucial in provided best services. The new types of
equipment required simplifying the procedures, training of the staff etc all requires good financial
backup. Lack of resources with the NHS could have a direct impact on the health care
organization at the local and national level.
Resources: it includes everything from the basic necessity to take care of the patient to increase
the standard of the services. Lack of resources of the new techniques in the nation which are
already been implemented in other countries is a huge drawback. This is a direct relation
between maintaining high-quality services and availability of resources. Lack of available natural
resources could also be a hindrance, natural resources are depleting fast in the current
scenario.
Government approval: in the UK the authorities have a good hold on the health and social care
sector, as NHS has its six sectors to provide better functioning and management all over the
UK. the government has to cooperate and allow the organization to bring about certain change
also their inspection would be mandatory before implementing certain improvement in the
quality of service, as it should match the provided guideline by the CQC, to match the standard
services of the nation.
3.3
There are various ways in which the services in a health care setup could be improved, but the
most suitable one could be identified according to the current situation of the setup and in what
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they aim to improve. The first step must be the identification of the services that do not match
the standards of the CQC. Analysis of the services and evaluate the various improvement
required in coach of these areas. This could be done by the collection of feedback, improvement
of communication and looking at the facts and statistics of the organization. The number of
patients who were healthy at the time of discharge, deaths, and complication during treatment
could give a good insight into the areas of improvement (Burwell, S.M., 2015). Secondly, there
must be the study of the policies required and the legislation that needs to be updated and
training of the staff and practitioners according to these policies and requirement of the
organization. Lastly, there must be effective implementation of the new improved services that
are sustainable and manageable for the long period of time. At the same time, the management
and the doctors must be positive and ready to accept the new technological advancement and
keep updating themselves with the latest techniques and treatment with time. This would help in
overall improvement services in the organization. Other factors to be considered are the
financial arrangements and taking regular consent from the government authorities. Take care
of the environment around the hospital, hygiene and proper disposal of waste are very important
factors usually neglected by the management but the patient has to suffer the consequence and
this ultimately affects the organization (Van Lerberghe et al., 2014).
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LO 4
4.1
Evaluation of the services after implementing them is very important to understand the
effectiveness of these services. The CQC is an external agency that would help in evaluating
the functioning of the health organization and give them approval of their services being offered
and also suggest further improvement. This would help in best usage of the finances in the right
direction and also understanding the need of the patient and the national requirement according
to the behavior of diseases in the current times (Purcărea et al., 2013). The TQM is best used in
the evaluation of the internal function of the health care sector. This also includes calculation of
the revenue earned by the hospital or home care after increasing the quality standard of the
services. And should it be continued? The facts and documentation help to study and reflect in
the changes made and give direction in the next steps to be taken within the organization to
help achieve better services. Evaluation by the internal and the external agencies would assure
the quality of the services being provided and its effectiveness in the given setup. It helps in
understanding the patients need and difficulty faced by the staff and also the expectation of the
authorities and the patients. A systematic approach can be obtained by evaluation and
correction when required (Aveyard, H., 2014).
4.2
The focus of the health and social care setup in reducing the burden of diseases in the UK,
there is a various level of stakeholders required in establishing a health care setup but the
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