Managing Quality in HSC Organizations in UK

The provision and management of quality in patient care means making use of the most beneficial services and ensures that every dimension and operation involved in health and social care can serve all clients’ needs without inefficiencies. In regard to managing quality health and social care, this assignment will focus at The Royal United Hospital. Learning Outcome 1 Question 1 The stakeholders in any HSC organization hold different mega perspectives regarding the quality and managing of services that they offer to acute patients at their disposal. The key stakeholders in the HSC organizations are the creditors, commissioners, managers, government, customers/patients, doctors, shareholders, care takers and nurses. Before we move further, let’s define what quality is as well as what are quality services we are referring to.

Firstly, the government’s perspective is more interested in managing the quality of HSC services by putting in place laws that govern the operations of these organizations. In some cases they set the standards for these care organizations so as they create boundaries of operation. Secondly, we have the CQC perspective regarding quality since they set the standards in which these care organizations and they even give warnings and courses of actions in case a particular organization fails to meet the set standards. Thirdly, the service providers especially shareholders and creditors hold to a perspective that that seek to provide adequate resources (human resources, capital and materials) which will ensure that the internal operations as well as the staff perform their duties and obligations without failure and hence guaranteeing quality in service delivery.

Finally, we have the perspective of the professional practitioners on quality being based on managing the quality of drugs and treatment options and services. Strict adherence to these perspectives by stakeholders helps to build trust and confidence in the manner by which they maintain and manage quality at Royal United Hospital. Question 2 The external agencies play very vital and immense roles in regard to ensuring that the quality of acute-care services are up to date and meet most of the customers’ expectations. The external agencies and the stakeholders are known to impose a lot of pressure on the health and social care management in a quest to ensure that all set standards, rules and procedures are revered. Usually, the external agencies usually set the standards for HSC organizations and this forms the baseline of the acute-care services that ought to be used for patients.

The external agencies are bestowed with the role of conducting several inspections and tests which are not limited to safety measures, making equipment available, nursing care and nursing care. On the other hand, NICE is provides most of the HSC organizations with the necessary guidelines and procedures that can be used to improve the quality of services provided in health and social care. Besides, NICE offers advice to HSC organizations based on gathered evidence so as to improve quality as well as the outcome of the patients. The NICE professionals give the staff the necessary confidence required to deal with patients’ outcome. Question 3 Poor service quality is a phenomenon that impacts every key worker, supervisors and even key stakeholders in any patient-care set up.

Poor service quality in HSC organizations is defined as the failure of the set processes to meet the clients’ expectations. The best practices for Royal United Hospital should always align with the set goals and standards and should show consistency with other achieved practices Legislation: in order to access the quality of services being offered in Royal United Hospital, the laws which govern the conduct and operation of acute-care services should be adhered to the latter. This helps to avoid any legal proceedings that might contradict or interrupt the operations of this hospital. It is therefore considered necessary that the key stakeholders and workers in this hospital are kept updated on the legal issues relating to acute treatment care services to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the hospital towards its clients (Singer et al, 2011, p.

Performance Indicators: this is another very crucial standard that can be employed to establish quality services and performance. It assists in identifying the key performance indicators which are then used to evaluate the success and achievements made by Royal United Hospital. Quality systems refer to combination of processes which are focused in meeting the patients’ needs and expectations in a consistent manner. There are several commonly utilized quality systems that can help in quality improvement. They include Total Quality Management (TQM), the Service Quality model (SERVQUAL), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), and Benchmarking techniques. The commonly used system in HSC organizations is the SERVQUAL models and systems. This research instrument makes use of five dimensions to collect the customers’ taste, preferences as well as their expectations.

Planning and policies: this is the first key approach that has to be used when implementing quality systems in this current hospital under study. With proper policies which are accompanied by adequate planning will lead to proper execution and hence this will result in acquiring high-quality systems. The setting of targets: this is the second approach after planning and it involves the identification of the key objectives so as to ensure that the systems that are being implemented match the set standards and quality. Setting targets ensures that the teams in care centers work efficiently and hence it becomes easy to implement quality programs. Communication: communication is another approach that plays a key role in regard to implementing quality system since it offers a structured platform to share and exchange relevant information.

These barriers have been known to discourage people from working towards the set standards and objectives. Below is a short analysis of these barriers; Lack of resources: this is a great hindrance to quality service and systems delivery as those concerned blame the lack of resources of the reason for failing to make the desired or the most appropriate improvements. Cynicism: this barrier is characterized by the failure of the staff to change the services and conditions of the acute-care centers to their best as they believe that the people to benefit most are the managers and stakeholders. This mentality is developed as a result of mistrust among fellow workers and the key staff and hence no unity is seen in the deliverance of quality health and social care services (Reeves et al.

, 2011, Vol. The CQC standard brings forth evaluation systems which are directly related to the setting of the clients’ grievances. To overcome the problems highlighted in the case scenario a grievance system should be implemented. The setting of agency grievances department is one of the most effective evaluative methodologies that can help organize the system properly in order to deal with the already identified challenges and problems (CQC, 2012, Vol. In addition, Cristiana proposes to be used in her workplace is the use of structured interview panels as well as compliance procedures. This process involves marketing the care services so as to get the public opinion on the nature and quality of services that most clients are satisfied with. Learning Outcome 3 Question 1 The evaluation of the effectiveness of policies, systems as well as procedures within the Royal United Hospital call for the use of certain research criteria, techniques and methods at large.

The tools have proved very successful in incidences where a proper use of them has been utilized. Before these tools or rather methods are used they are well tested and put into a trial test to enquire about their efficiency levels. Most of the systems, policies, and procedures that have been scientifically tested before and implemented in other health care centers are assessed depending on the positive results achieved and then implemented in the Royal United Hospital (Gillam et al. , 2012, p. For instance, they provide and set standards that “Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust” care workers out to why by through benchmarking with other well-performing care industries within health and social care. By training and organizing workshops for all professionals and employees within the Royal United Hospital has greatly boosted the quality of services being rendered.

On the other hand, the setting of quality systems stands is another sure way towards achieving quality care in this hospital. The quality systems provide the right guidelines that ought to be obeyed by every employee in compliance with the laws of statutory and regulatory bodies and this assists a lot in achieving quality acute care. Lastly, the desire for management and workers to offer quality services also has a role to play since it keeps their eyes fixed on the key objectives alongside giving their best to their clients. If Cristina follows the above quality improvement ways and techniques in addition to her proposed use of performance criteria, she will surely improve the quality of her performance in “Royal United Hospital.

” Conclusion In conclusion, the above case study has revealed out that managing and implementing acute care services in Royal United Hospital is of uttermost importance. It was also evident that the different perspectives that stakeholders hold on to greatly shape the quality of services that are offered to acute patients. Besides, the role external agencies in managing quality healthcare have also stood out with the commonly used external agency being CQC. Nevertheless, the use of feedback and benchmarking techniques has proved to be good changeries as far as bringing quality dimensions to health and social care is concerned. , Cresswell, K. , Bokun, T. , McKinstry, B. , Procter, R. , Majeed, A. Drummond, M. F. , Sculpher, M. J. , Claxton, K. Improving the quality of health care in the United Kingdom and the United States: a framework for change.

The RUH provides treatment and health and social care options to people living in North East Somerset. Learning Outcome 1 Definitions Before we look at how to manage quality care lets first define “quality care services. ” Quality can be defined as the ability to meet the required or rather set standards of something and is usually achieved through comparison. Similarly, quality service in our set up means assessing the services offered by the HSC organizations to see whether they are in compliance with the set standards or whether they meet the customer’s expectations (Fisher, 2005). Theory of managing quality services Notably, to maintain the quality in the services that the care services offer to its clients, there has to be the implementation of certain approaches as well as systems that help to assist in offering quality services which amicably meet the customers’ satisfaction (Fisher, 2005).

The CQC professionals are also part of the stakeholders who run the affairs of RUH and their contribution has really been outstanding. The stakeholders in RUH are both internal and external and they help to develop the quality of care services they offer to their clients in alignment to the professional goals and the set standards. The internal stakeholders in RUH are the doctors, nurses, practitioners, ward clerks and other caretakers (Ferlie & Shortell, 2001, 294). However, from the case study, it has been evident that the internal and external stakeholders hold different perspectives as far as the quality of services is concerned. To be exact, the internal stakeholders who mainly comprise of service providers measure the quality of services through the human resource issues, the budget as well as maintaining a good profile.

Question 2 External agencies role in setting standards The external agencies have certain roles that they play in regard to setting the standards of operations in the quest for managing quality services in the RUH Bath NHS Trust. Some of these external agencies include governments, healthcare departments, and ministries, as well as other government and non-government agencies. In most cases, the standards that are set by these bodies are followed in all setups were acute treatment and care services are being offered to clients in the United Kingdom (Barten et al. Specifically, the common roles that the external agencies play include inspections and tests on crucial aspects such the standards of sanitation, the kind of equipment being used and the safety standards and levels.

These inspections are carried out so as to certify whether the quality levels of care are being achieved. In cases of poor quality services, the stakeholders, as well as the service users, are impacted negatively. This then disorganizes the operations and order of events in the RUH hence resulting in low productivity. Poor quality service can be attributed to poor management techniques and can greatly affect the usual criteria of operation hence resulting in risking the patients’ safety, clinical ineffectiveness, and low-quality experiences. With poor quality services, most of the patients’ needs are not timely attended to, with their privacy and dignity interfered with (Turner & Clegg, 2014, 745). Failure to conform to the set standards which include frequent check-ups of the records of the patients and proper bed management can result to poor quality services.

From the learning outcome 1 one it is evident that the internal and external stakeholders as well as the external agencies have very big roles to play in regard to upholding quality. These roles or rather perspectives range from ensuring that our care centers are well equipped with the modern equipment and medicine all the way to guaranteeing patient safety during treatments. Usually, the quality of these services is usually tested using the consumers’ satisfaction amongst other measuring and assessment criteria. Learning Outcome 2 Question 1 Introduction (Definitions) Quality standards in HSC organization can be defined as the degree of services which is free from deficiencies and faults and is used as the benchmark for other services. There are a number of standards that exist in the care service departments that are used to measure the quality of standards being rendered by the stakeholders and the care workers (Fisher, 2005).

(Reeves et al. , 2011, Vol. Conclusion In conclusion, to meet the required standards by the agencies and standard regulation bodies a proper audit of the clinical care services should be scrutinized. Also, the RUH care services as seen in the case study have failed to meet the “Health and Social Care Act” despite the fact that the management benchmarked with other trust-related care services. The several standards which exist are all aimed at setting the baseline of operation for any HSC organization. Lastly, we have the professional approach which makes use SWOT analysis and it seeks to identify which quality systems are required by care organizations and how best to implement them. The professional approach also entails the provision of the required resources as well as training that will be required to implement quality systems.

This approach has proven to be very effective and systematic and hence minimizes chances of faults and contradiction. Analysis In our case study, the professional approach has been utilized in the resource allocation which has proven very useful when implementing quality systems in RUH. For instance, the RUH has received funding which is meant to enhance the services and operations. Also, this reluctance may be due to poor working conditions. For example, at RUH there are employees who are poorly and lowly paid and therefore they tend to oppose any change being initiated. Inadequate resources are also another key barrier to delivering quality systems. For organizations to deliver quality systems they should have sufficient resources from materials all the way to funding.

When a key resource is not available then it becomes hard to implement or deliver quality management systems to HSC organizations. These tools have some worth which is very vital in attaining quality services in any health and social care because of the contributions they bring forth. Taking the RUH as our example, let’s look at the value of the policies, systems and the procedures used to execute the quality services. Procedures, systems, and policies The procedures that are utilized in our case study are observed in the surgery units and recovery units. This procedure entails patients waiting in the recovery unit which are found in the ever occupied wards. However, we find that this procedure was not effective because there were no enough beds inward and hence the transition from surgery to recovery took quite a long time.

Additionally, the RUH management uses a procedure known as “comfort round records” which is found in the assessing and monitoring quality systems. This procedure in combination with the systems has been used for years in this hospital to measure and account for the services given to clients and the reports collected from patients. However, we noticed that the RUH lack proper assessment and treatment planning tools and systems and as a result it had become hard for them to schedule services meant to be given to already admitted patients. These systems were not fully maintained and therefore we can refer to them as ineffective. Furthermore, there exist several policies that are followed during the process of delivering health and social care services to patients.

The satisfaction factors are among the most reliable factors of influencing quality services delivery. Measuring the satisfaction level and responses from customers greatly assist to know how well the HSC organizations are faring (Copper & Clark, 2011). The motivation and building of trust among the workers is another surest way to impact the quality of services being offered. Staff workers are rewarded for exemplary jobs well done and hence this builds special self-confidence in them something which helps a lot since they work with the zeal and zest to give their best. Building of trust can be achieved by making are required staff and assets available for patients without any deficiencies. Going back to our case study we will find that, the RUH has improved quality of services by making use of transparent partners, preserving and working towards the set standards and cultivating a culture that allows for transition and changes to take place.

Also, the RUH seeks to improve quality of service through the incorporation of new models particularly in the A & E areas. From the case study, we can also see that there are areas that need to be improved to offer quality care. For instance, they lack the qualified staff to offer critical and neonatal care services and this area should be improved to meet quality standards. With help of inspection, the areas of weakness within the RUH were able to be established and therefore regular assessment can be a proper way to track the progress hence improving the quality of service delivery. Lastly, Sebastian argues that the use of compliance procedures in his workplace would work best to measure and evaluate the satisfaction that the staff and clients receive.

Usually, when there are lesser complaints then we conclude that the quality of service is improving with time. On a different note, during the discussion on evaluating the quality of service, it came out clearly that involving service user in the evaluation process come along with a number of impacts. These impacts can either be positive or negative. Some of the positive impacts that come along with involving users are; there is a timely identification of the service users expectations, taste, and preferences and these helps the management to shape the kind and quality of services to meet their customers’ expectations. Even though different stakeholders hold different views pertaining to quality, the foci are all headed towards one direction and that is improving the quality of services that the patients visiting these organizations receive.

The assignment has also discussed the role of external agencies in managing quality HSC care. By making use of the set quality standards I have found that the RUH has unmet objectives and therefore it has been urged to rise up to the task and offer quality services. It should have effective implementation and monitoring quality systems. Besides, the RUH makes use of certain evaluation methodologies which help to discover how well it is performing and the areas that need improvement. , Cresswell, K. , Bokun, T. , McKinstry, B. , Procter, R. , Majeed, A. Drummond, M. F. , Sculpher, M. J. , Claxton, K. Improving the quality of health care in the United Kingdom and the United States: a framework for change. The Milbank Quarterly, 79(2), pp.