HEALTH and SOCIAL CARE
Introduction
Health and social care are said to be the terms relating to any service offered by health and social care providers. The abbreviations used for health and social care in different parts of the world are (HSC or H & SC), and the terms a generic used to refer to the entire health care provision infrastructure, both public and private sector. In some nations like in the US HSC is solely related to human services. The HSC is a combination of various disciplines such as sociology, biology, nutrition, law, and ethics. HSC and biology are related in that anyone studying or offering the HSC service should be in a position to understand more on how human beings undergo growth and development. At the same time, biology will assist individuals offering the service to be conversant with various diseases that can hinder growth and development in children (Iliffe, 2011, p. 2).
Nutrition on its part will be of great help to people offering the HSC service. This is because they should know what kind of food should be given to human beings in every stage of their growth and development. On the aspect of law and social policy individuals offering HSC service will be required to be well informed concerning the rules governing the nation. This will help them not to go beyond expectations once carrying out their duties. Through understanding the law, it will be possible for HSC practitioners to have full knowledge of matters relating to human rights, discrimination, and abuse. Ethics is a vital principle that should be used in HSC. In a medical field, doctors are paramount people because they are always entrusted with people’s lives. However, ethics will allow them to do the right thing at the right time (Iliffe, 2011, p. 12).
Benefits of Health and Social Care
There are various benefits associated with good health and social care in different parts of the world. Through a well organized HSC programs in England, patients have been in a position to enjoy various benefits. Improved safety has been one of the main advantages patients have experienced in England. However, this has been achieved through the standardized use of the NHS in all health and social care systems. In England, patients have been left with a variety of choices on where to get health and social care. Besides, this has been enabled by the provision of well standardized and accurate information concerning health care services within the healthcare departments.
Through the use of NHS systems, it has become easy for healthcare professionals to access significant information as they decide more about the best health care of different people living in England. Through getting accurate clinical information about patients, it has become easy for medical professionals to offer exceptional services to patients. Improved health and social care services in various parts of the world have increased life expectancy in different regions especially in the developed countries.
In most of the developed nations, they have well-organized health and social care services when compared to developing countries. Developing countries are chromed with financial challenges, and this has seen them struggling to offer better health and social services to their citizens. A lot is happening in the developing nations, and this has affected the life expectancy of people living in these citizens (England, 2006, p. 2).
Challenges of Health and Social Care services in Developing Nations
In many developing countries it is expected that their population will be aging in a rapid manner in the coming days. The expectation is that the number of older people in developing nations aged 65 years and above will go up from 249 million to 690 million, between 2000 and 2030. Aging generation is always vulnerable to various diseases and disability. However, this means the aging generation in the developing nations will demand more from the health care systems of the developing countries. However, the greatest challenge is that most of these developing States will not be able to provide these services because their health care systems are getting worse day by day.
However, the developing countries should come up with a plan of making sure they put in place a health care system that will take care of the health issues expected to affect the aging society. Currently, the world is being faced with many terminal diseases, especially to the aged population. Some of the conditions affecting the elderly in most of the developing nations can be cured or controlled, but due to poor health and social care, many have lost their lives (Jones, 2009, p. 67).
According to a report released by World Health Organization ( WHO) by 2015 the number of people dying of chronic diseases such as cancer, hypertension and diabetes will go up by 17% which is from 35 million to 41 million. The number will be more in developing nations when compared to developed countries like England. The reason why the number will go down in the United Kingdom is due to well-organized health and social care services. One challenge of the developing nations, when compared to the United Kingdom, is that they have failed to come up with well organized primary prevention programs which would have helped in improving lives of the aging society.
The United Kingdom is well organized with original programs, and this is why life expectancy has gone up in England when compared to most of the developing nation. Policy makers in developing country have failed to put in place measures of dealing with diseases affecting the aging society, and this has remained a big problem forcing the WHO to intervene. In 2002 the WHO came up with an innovative program that was aimed at curbing the chronic diseases affecting the aging society in the developing nations. The program was incorporated with health policy makers in the developing countries, and over the years a lot has been achieved in many developing countries (England, 2006, p. 3).
The Structure of National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom
The NHS department of United Kingdom is organized in a way that every unit has been given clear responsibilities. There are various agencies due to the mandate of making sure health and social services are provided in the best way to the England citizens.
The Department of Health (DH)
This is a department that has the responsibility of having a strategic plan; however, the plan should be enabling an easier and efficient ways of offering health and social services to the UK citizens. This is a ministerial body which has other twenty-three agencies and public department supporting it. The DH has various responsibilities, which include the creation of national health policies and rules which are used as guidelines in the Health and social care sector.
DH is the body in the medical industry that comes up with long-term plans for meeting the health and social care set goals by the United Kingdom government. DH department is the one that makes sure the government is well linked with other health and social care bodies. The body is the central leader in healthcare services in the United Kingdom. In many developing nations lack of integrity in their health care organizations has led to poor health care services. However, this is one problem that DH has handled in the United Kingdom (James, 2002, p. 5).
DH funds different bodies offering health services in the UK. The body makes sure there is continuity in the delivery of healthcare services in all medical centers. Monitoring all the medical bodies is one factor that has seen success in the medical department in the United Kingdom. There are no cases of malpractices in the medical sector of UK something that has affected many health care agencies in various developing nations. Integrity in the DH area is aimed at making sure the tax payer’s money is well spent and for the right purpose. DH has brought tremendous changes in the UK health sector by funding research centers which can deal with newly identified diseases. DH has embraced technology, and this has facilitated research making it easy for various health centers to counter any disease affecting the UK population (Taylor, 2009, p. 18).
DH has come up with a program of encouraging health care workers; this is because once the medical staff is encouraged it is possible for them to offer quality services to their customers. Low pay and poor working conditions have affected the delivery of health care services in many developing nations, and this is what DH has been curbing. DH has encouraged health care staff from different healthcare centers to learn more about the experience of patients for this will make it easy to deliver health and social care services. As from 2016 to 2017 DH came up with several priorities aimed at improving the health care sector. One of the priorities is to improve the out-of –hospital care services. It has been realized that at times lives have been lost due to slow response to out-of-hospital medical facilities.
However, to take care of such cases, DH has put forward some measures of improving the out-of-hospital services, and this is aimed at reducing unnecessary deaths. By 2017 DH has decided that they will work day and night as they try to create safe and quality health care services center. The efficiency of the healthcare centers will be improved to make sure that by the end of 2017 patients or individuals in need of health care services can access the service easily and in a quicker way. DH has come up with a policy aimed at educating the entire community on the importance of health and social care in their lives. This will be of great importance because it gives individuals a chance to make the right decision concerning their lives. By 2017 DH has decided that digital technology will be fully embraced in all health care centers for this will help in creating transparency in the sector (Touburg & Veenhoven, 2014, p. 2).
The NHS England
This is an autonomous body which branches from the government. One of the primary objectives of this organization is to come up with priorities and directives of improving the health care services being offered to United Kingdom citizens. The body is the one in charge of some departments like the dentist and pharmacists, plus military health care services. The England NHS has a five-year strategic plan that was established back in 2014. The five-year plan contains a set of a shared vision that will improve the health care sector of UK in the future.
The plan was developed by an oversee health care services including the care quality commission and public health England. The five-year plan has incorporated the views of all stakeholders in the healthcare sector, and the aim of this is to make sure that the sector is improved in the best way possible. Patients groups and clinicians have been involved in coming up with the plan, and this was one great step forward towards the realization of a stable health care in the United Kingdom. The review was brought forward in the attempt of coming up with a healthcare system that takes care the interest of all involved parties in the health care sector (Marcovitz, 2007, p. 34).
Some factors have been brought forward as to why there was a need for NHS England to come up with the five-year review. However, this does not mean the NHS has not been doing anything great in the UK health care sector. Besides, in the last ten years, NHS has improved a lot, and this explains why the area of health in the United Kingdom has been doing so well in the past 15 years. Cancer survival in the last ten year has been the highest in the UK ever for many years. It has been reported that premature deaths caused by heart diseases have gone down by 40% and this is a great achievement in the 21st century after cancer and heart diseases have been on the rise. Over the last fifteen years, overall rate of avoidable deaths has gone down by 20%. The numbers of nurses and doctors have increased by 160,000, and this has helped in improving health care services in the last ten years.
There is no more waiting in lines in many health centers, and this has helped millions of UK citizens to access health care services. NHS England has constructed more hospital wards, and public satisfaction with the NHS has doubled. In the last five years despite global recession in different parts of the world NHS has been doing well in responding to the England growing population something that has been affecting the health care provision in other countries. The NHS has responded very well to the aging society, through the introduction of new drugs that has been found to be of great help to UK patients. The protected NHS funding has helped in meeting the health care needs of the UK growing population.
The protected funding has been used in addressing the needs of healthcare practitioners, and this has made them feel motivated as they offer health care services. It has been established that recently the health care service industry in the United Kingdom has become 20 billion pounds more efficient compared to the way things were fifteen years ago. In different parts of the world no health system that has encountered growth without increasing charges or even at times cutting costs but this has been the case with NHS. Many health care bodies in other parts of the world have failed to observe transparency and accountability, but this has been real in England something that has improved the service being offered by NHS (Kaneda, 2016)
However, despite these achievements, some challenges are facing NHS in the United Kingdom. Some of the problems include the change in patient health needs and individual preferences. In the 21st century, people are willing to be well informed about the health needs, and this has been a challenge to NHS. Changes in treatment, technology and health care delivering have been another challenge facing NHS.
There are new treatment methods in place and embracing them has not been easy though NHS is doing all it can to incorporate all this into the UK healthcare system. The changes taking place in health funding growth has been another challenge to NHS. After the global recession, many western nations have faced budget pressure, and this has somehow affected the welfare of NHS. However, it was projected that due to the global recession NHS spending growth would go down to 6% a level it used to be before the world experienced the global downturn (Kaneda, 2016, p. 17).
The improvements that should be done in the next five years are more England based. Some of these improvements will be made in both mental health and disability services departments. More improvements will be made in prevention and integrated health care units. However, the only way to curb these challenges is by coming up with both short and long-term strategies that will help in doing away with these difficulties facing NHS.
However, this was why the five-year review was brought on board to take care of these problems. However, the five-year study has some issues because if not well handled it can create several gaps in the health sector. One of the gaps is the difference between health and wellbeing of the UK citizens. This means if the nation is not serious about effecting prevention programs then life expectancy in the UK will go down.
The other gap that can be realized is the care and quality gap. This shortcoming will be created in case the government does not reshape care delivery and make good use of technology to improve the health care sector. Lastly, the funding and efficiency gap can be realized if right measures are not put in place. In case the UK leadership does not put in place reasonable funding levels with a broad ranging then this may affect the delivery of quality services. However, NHS has come up with the five-year review to create a bright future in the health sector (Iliffe, 2011, p. 3).
In the five-year study, more emphasis will be on getting serious on prevention measures. The future of the millions of children and aging population highly depends on the prevention measures that NHS will put in place in the next five years. The program is intended for empowering patients by making them more informed on their health issues. More information will be provided to patients to ensure that patients can make the right decision concerning their health; however, this will help many people to manage their health.
The other aim of the five-year review is to engage communities in health care services. This will make sure the UK citizens take part in making the future of health care in a well-organized way than it has been in the recent years. Residents will be given a chance of giving out their views on what they want to see improved in the health sector (Haugen, 2008, p. 12).
Benefits of NHS England
Various benefits have been realized through NHS England. Through NHS improved safety has been achieved by NHS in England. This has provided more information about patients giving doctors easy time of treating patients. Through NHS England accessing health care information has become accessible over the years. The increased access to information has given people a chance of making the right decision concerning their care. Professionals have found it easy to do their work because more details about their patients are available through the help of NSH England. Quality care has been offered because doctors and clinical officers can have a clear understanding of the patients they are treating. Through the five-year review that has been put on board by NHS England, life expectancy is expected to go up because important prevention measures have been established. Involving the England community in deciding more about the future will mean that the best health care services will be offered to United Kingdom citizens (Ferguson, 2011, p. 34).
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)
This body was established in 2013 to replace the primary care trust in the United Kingdom. The CCGs body has been given the mandate of planning and commissioning health care services in their respective local regions. This body is made of clinicians and GPs, which comprises of nurses and other consultants found in the field of health care. Around 60% of the NSH budget is allocated to CCGs. CCGs are known to play a prominent role in commissioning most of the GP services. Some of the secondary care services offered by CCGs include planned hospital care, rehabilitative care, urgent and emergency care and mental health care services.
It is expected that CCGS should only establish any health care service that meets the demands of England NHS in both cost and quality. Some of the service providers commissioned by CCGs include NHS hospitals, social enterprise and bodies that provide charity programs. Besides, any service they initiate should be of high-quality failure to which they will be held accountable by NHS. Before commissioning any project, they must follow the guidelines provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (England, 2006, p. 44).
NICE is said to have guidelines which are aimed at helping doctors and nurses to issue the best health care at all times. NICE advocates for services which will give patients money the value it deserves. Again, NICE has the objective of cutting the levels of inequalities and variation for this two can affect service delivery among the United Kingdom citizens. The other aim for NICE is to make sure that UK citizens get the best and most efficient treatment that relies on the latest evidence through the use of technology. Through NICE department a lot has been achieved in the United Kingdom, and this has boosted life expectancy of both aging and children. NICE has been carefully monitoring medicines being used in treating UK population and through this the best drugs have been utilized in the recent years, and this explains why the United Kingdom healthcare system has been doing so well in the last decade. Through the guidelines provided by NICE, it has been very possible for health care providers to observe the law while providing health care services.
Public Health England (PHE)
This is the other body in the United Kingdom that has been tasked with the responsibility of offering health and social care services to the England population. The PHE has been working closely with local governments and NHS when responding to emergencies. PHE is the one that coordinates the events of public health service. PHE has been supporting the public towards the realization of a healthy society. PHE has been offering leadership skills to individuals running the health care sector. Through PHE it has been possible to get qualified public health workers who have made the sector one of the most effective. The PHE is concerned with making sure that everyone being licensed to offer healthcare services understands the requirements of the field and that they are ready to comply with the terms and conditions as required by PHE (Berwick, 2004, p. 23).
Conclusion
Health and social care are said to be the terms relating to any service offered by health and social care providers. The abbreviations used for health and social care in different parts of the world are (HSC or H & SC), and the terms a generic used to refer to the entire health care provision infrastructure, both public and private sector. In some nations like in the US HSC is just applied to human services. The HSC is a combination of various disciplines such as sociology, biology, nutrition, law, and ethics. HSC and biology are related in that anyone studying or offering the HSC service should be in a position to understand more on how human beings undergo growth and development.
However, health and social care have been affected by different factors in various parts of the world. In developing nations life expectancy has gone down due to lack of precise medical systems. Malpractices have affected health provision in many developing countries, and this is why WHO has always been on the front line trying to come up with policies of helping developing nations. However, in the advanced nations like the United Kingdom, a lot has been done by the government to make sure every citizen can access quality health care services.
There are several bodies in the United Kingdom which have facilitated health care programs. One of the bodies is the NHS England who has done a lot in improving the healthcare services in England. The NHS England has come up with a five-year review intended to improve health care services offered to UK citizens. Challenges are facing the NHS, but through the five-year review, it will be possible to improve every department of health care in England.
One of the objectives of NHS is to make sure everyone in the UK population gets involved in the health care improvement. This will improve the quality of services being offered. In the last ten years, NHS England has been doing very well, and this has been seen with the way life expectancy for elderly population and children has been growing over the years. When compared to other nations United Kingdom has been doing so well in offering health care services. Even after the global recession that hit the world UK through NHS has stood firm in the provision of health and social care to its citizens. In many nations, the global recession was found to affect the health care sectors highly, but this has been the opposite with the United Kingdom.
However, the five-year review will make things better and seal all the loopholes that can interfere with the provision of quality health care in the United Kingdom. NHS England has ensured that more information is provided to both patients and doctors. Through such information, it has been possible for patients to make the right decision concerning the health care. Doctors have found it easy to treat patients in the best way because more information about the patients is provided. Technology has been embraced by NHS England, and this has made offering health care services simple in the United Kingdom.
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