Introduction
Achieving quality in the provision of health and social care services is a fundamental aspect that every healthcare organization aspires to. Quality health and social care services are vital since they influence social, medical, and physical wellbeing of individuals. The services entail the adoption of conventional medical and social development practices that aim at enhancing effectiveness, efficiency, and equity in service delivery. In the US, achieving quality health and social care services is a priority in most institutions. However, the realization of quality service delivery is faced with numerous challenges that include but are not limited to lack of resources. Effective mitigation of the challenges commands systematic adherence to the best health care practices, integration of modern operating systems and exemplary leadership. This paper explores the primary factors that affect the attainment of superior health and social care services at NHS Trust hospital.
Factors that impact the attainment of superior health and social care services
Indeed, numerous factors influence the achievement of quality health and social care services in diverse health institutions including NHS Trust hospital. The factors that revolve around planning, policies, strategy formulation, communication, and resources require effective mitigation approaches. The methods are necessary to guarantee superior delivery of solutions relating to medical and social issues that affect clients.
Poor planning- Lack of proper planning is a primary factor that affects the achievement of quality health and social care services in NHS hospital. Poor planning affects quality owing to the fact that it results in wrong prioritization of activities and allocation of resources (Ballard et al, 2006). It makes health institutions to lose focus on the essential activities that impede timely delivery of services to patients. For instance, a health care organization may allocate resources towards the construction of staff housing units instead of purchasing a diagnostic equipment that may be lacking. Health institutions that have no plan have poor treatment system of patients, inferior response rate to patient issues and face complications in scheduling patients for treatment or social assessment (Oleske, 2009). The delay may cause death and unwarranted suffering to the patient.
Poor communication system- Lack of proper communication in hospitals has been touted as a fundamental impediment to timely and quality service delivery to patients. Inferior communication system hampers the level of response to the patients’ needs that exposes them to unwarranted suffering. As noted by Ballard et al, (2006), no hospital can achieve quality service delivery without the use of effective communication systems such as telephone and computers.
Poor quality evaluation processes, policies and procedures;- Poor operating policies, legal requirements, lack of evaluation or monitoring processes and procedures also affect the achievement of quality in the delivery of health and social care services (Lundy & Janes, 2009). The autocratic policy generation regarding procurement of drugs, patient admission, treatment procedure including threshold requirement for employee qualifications and terms of work affects the morale of the staff. The low morale of the staff has a resultant negative impact on the quality of the services they render.
Lack of resources: – Inadequate resources ranging from money to purchase drugs, diagnostic machines, well-equipped theater rooms, and social centers affects the quality of services rendered in most hospitals including NHS hospital (Guah, 2011). Quality in the health sector is dependent on the resources available including how well they are used. Deficiency in resources depict compromised service delivery
Strategy formulation: – Inferior strategy formulation on how to execute operations is affecting quality service delivery in diverse health care service providing institutions (Guah, 2011). For instance, NHS hospital lacks proper leadership strategy that fosters inspiration of quality performance, human resource development strategy, infrastructure advancement, and patient monitoring strategies. The strategies compromise the ability of most hospitals to address the patients’ health and social care needs using modern service delivery incentives. The patients wait long hours before receiving the necessary medical attention due to poor strategies.
Conclusion
Indeed, most hospitals including NHS Trust hospitals have been facing serious challenges that influence their capacity towards achieving quality health and social service delivery. The factors include inferior planning approaches, poor strategy formulation and communication systems. Inadequate medical equipment and policy formulation systems also form key factors that affect quality service delivery. These factors require mitigation using conventional approaches to ensure enhanced, effective, and efficient service delivery to patients. The probable approaches include the adoption of effective leadership style, integration of superior communication systems, and acquisition of relevant medical equipment. Other approaches that aid the achievement of quality service delivery include proper planning and inclusive formulation of policies.
List of References
Ballard, D, Mayberry, R, Nicewander, D & Qin, H 2006, Improving Quality and Reducing Inequities: A Challenge in Achieving Best Care. Web.
Guah, M 2011, Healthcare Delivery Reform, and New Technologies Organizational Initiatives, Hershey PA, Medical Information Science Reference.
Lundy, S & Janes, S 2009, Community Health Nursing: Caring for the Public’s Health, Sudbury, Mass, Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Oleske, D 2009, Epidemiology, and the Delivery of Health Care Services: Methods and Applications, New York, Springer.