How the Practice of Health Care Settings Are Affected by Government Policy?

Introduction

This report will be focusing on how the practice of health and social care settings are affected by government policy and other factors within the Dorset Health Care organization and a local residential care home. The Central government and our local government influence the way these organisations are run and the policies that they enforce upon them. This report will endeavor to find out how these policies are created and how they have impacted each association for the better or worse.

This report will aim to discover the ways in how the government decides that they should be implementing a permute in a particular sector within Health and Social Care. Information will be found via news articles, an interview with a staff manager who governs a care home and general research online.

The local residential care home houses 39 people, all of whom are over the age of 18 and predominantly suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's, old age or physical disabilities.

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The local government has the “primary role is to represent their ward or division and the people who live in it. Councilors provide a bridge between the community and the council. As well as being an advocate for your local residents and signposting them to the right people at the council, you will need to keep them informed about the issues that affect them.”

https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/guidance-and-resources/councillors-guide-201718/councillors-role

Our local government is Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch council their roles consist of making sure the public abides by the rules created by the central government.

They support local schools, housing and social care alongside other things that ensure the community is running smoothly.

The central government involves “the people responsible for running the country. The political party that wins the most seats at a general election takes charge of the Government for five years, until the next General Election.”

https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-central-government-definition-roles-quiz.html

The central Government of the UK is the houses of Parliament they oversee finance, policy making and national defence alongside other things that could affect the order of the country. For example the central government oversees all the schools in the country and making sure they are up to standard through things like ofsted. Whereas the local council ensures law is enforced within a community and targets specific areas within schools that may need to be changed.

The main role of the department of health is to attempt to help people live longer and live a better quality of life. The Department of Health sets the overall strategy, funds and oversees the health and care system in England. It works with, and through, a variety of arm’s-length bodies including NHS England and regulators. The Department of Health is also able to oversee changes towards the health and social care sector if any hazardous issues arise.

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2017-Short-Guide-to-the-Department-of-Health-and-NHS-England.pdf

Some responsibilities from a local government would be...

• To attempt to keep people as independent as possible so that they are able to still recognize their self worth.
• Making sure high quality care is being delivered within a community by promoting managers to do random spot checks to make sure staff is behaving correctly.
• Trying to create a safe environment for service users and staff members to be involved in.
• Some responsibilities from the central government would be…
• Funding research for new medication and inventing new technology to find the cheapest and most efficient way to improve someone's health.
• Trying to reduce funding however keeping health standards high.

The department of work and pensions support the government by creating and changing policies that are predominantly for vulnerable citizens who are unable to make their own income independently and those who receive benefits due to low income.

The Department of Work and pensions that are located in the central government is responsible for…

•  The welfare of British citizens is looked over regularly to identify whether people need assistance with paying for housing and basic living due to how much income a house is making.
• They are also responsible for how much a person receives by the government monthly once they reach the retirement age. This depends on the minimum pension wage.
• The department of work and pension is also responsible for the child maintenance policy and making sure that single parents are receiving the correct amount of money so that they are financially stable whilst looking after the children.
• They are also responsible for trying to end poverty on a nationwide scale to improve British citizens quality of life.

The responsibilities of the department for work and pension in a local scale are…

• Making sure that those who are in need of extra money within a community are receiving the support they need and will raise awareness if needs be.
• Ensuring those who are meant to be receiving a pension within a community are getting the right money and making sure that they are able to live comfortably with the money they are earning.
• Deciding whether people in the local area are entitled to more money and ensuring that they receive more money if necessary for that families welfare.

The secretary of state is the head of a major government department within the houses of parliament. They have a responsibility to ensure that their government department is running smoothly. They are in charge of administering changes and implementing new policies within their department. For example the health and social care secretary of state is in charge of financing the NHS which is a free healthcare service used in the UK. Without the secretary of state, there would be a lot of different departments that the prime minister would have to control however due to the specific secretary of state focusing on one area it ensures that all departments are being ran to the most efficient extent.

Lack of funding can be seen amongst the retired elderly who are situated in the care homes with most people being charged over a £1000 a week. This could potentially cause distress as the retired may be unable to afford the fees. This is due to an aging population where more people are reaching an older age and needing assistance with day to day activities. Within care homes themselves, it is noticeable that changes need to occur for them to progress. For example, the staff deserve a higher wage due to the number of duties of care they have to perform in one day, staff from the local care home in Bournemouth even said that it is “embarrassing” the rate that they are paid. If care home assistants are paid more nationally, then there will be a rise of quality of care within the country. As people at the moment are unmotivated which leads to more care homes failing.

Other funding issues can be linked to evolving health care needs, such as the increase in diabetes, obesity and antibiotic resistance within the country. This means that more advanced technology needs to be created to prevent the rise of potential deaths and illnesses. However due to budgeting in the government local care homes may not be able to afford the new equipment that has been offered to them. This could also affect a national scale as the equipment may not be brought by surgeries, care homes etc. which could lead to medical advancement companies to be shut down therefore preventing research to go further.

Government policy is where the Government creates a rule or guideline for people to follow to ensure safety and fair proceedings are occurring in the workplace.

For example the health and safety at work act states how the “general principle is that employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare at work of all of their employees. It also covers other people visiting the workplace premises such as temporary workers, casual workers, self-employed workers, clients, visitors and the general public” (-Natural hr)

This is due to countless of accidents where staff members have been under-trained and put themselves or others in harm's way. Debt was noticeable as well in companies as people sued the companies after sustaining an injury due to the wrong training being performed.This policy was created to ensure that people are kept safe at work and the average deaths from work have since decreased after the legislation was placed.

Pressure groups have influenced the government to reform the child services policy after the tragic death of Victoria Climbie.The government created a green paper called every child matters where it shows how every child is important and should be valued. This was done through groups of individuals protesting and demanding a change in law, not only nationally but internationally too.The reason for this being that they felt the government needed to protect children and decrease such deaths and abuse cases. The benefits of pressure groups is that they have the ability to create a powerful force and be listened to, on the news and to parliament. Many cases see pressure groups outside Number 10 Downing Street demanding the Prime Minister to make changes to policies. In addition to this, petitions, letters and lobbying to mp’s, created by different pressure groups may influence a change of law as it is noticeable that changes are needed to satisfy the public. People use these things to display their opinions of a specific subject if enough people create impact then something will be forced to change. Reforms are being made to the health and social care sector to protect people at work and service users to make sure they are safe and secure within their setting.

Research can also be used to influence policies within settings. A key example of this is Ian Huntley a criminal who was able to work as a janitor in a primary school which led to the murder of 2 young girls. He had criminal convictions which the local authority and school where he was working was not aware of. This caused for the local and central governments to work together to create a CRB check, now known as DBS checks. The DBS is a document that seeks to only employ people who are safe to work with children and vulnerable adults. This is a key policy which impacts on a local and national level.

Using the above points recommendations are made. Either due to key failings or due to the policy being outdated. The recommendations can be made via pressure groups, research or professionals working within health and social care. A white paper is then written and debated in parliament. Should it be approved a change to policy is made. This is a positive step as it ensures that individuals are listened to and the changes required are taken into account. However, this can be a lengthy process and may not be seen as a key priority by the government.

The care home used within this assignment ensures that policies are implemented by working alongside various acts and creating policies and procedures. An example of this is could be The Health And Safety at Work Act 1974. This legislation causes the care homes to embed various policies such as Manual Handling Policies, Riddor, COSHH and Safeguarding. Following on from the policies, procedures on how to respond to the policies are provided. In addition to this staff are provided with regular training to ensure that settings carry out their responsibilities correctly. This is one way in which both local and central government work together.

People are influenced by the different political parties and the beliefs that they express to the general public. Every 4 years, the nation votes for their favorite party and leader to become the most powerful party in Parliament. All of the parties have different aspirations for example the Political party Labour believes that…

• They want to create more eco-friendly ways to produce energy to help support the climate crisis.
• They want to begin funding the NHS with more money so that they are able to give the best care to the public.
• They also want to increase the minimum wage in the UK so that people are no longer financially struggling. However, prices for items will increase as more people will be able to afford luxury items.
• Jeremy Corbin, who is the leader of the labor party, says how they aspire to “ continue to stand up for the working people.” and they want to create a “leading a movement based on equality, social justice and compassion to build a Britain we can all be proud of.” -(Jeremy Corbin) However people with more capitalist views may disagree with this as they may believe that people should work their way up to receive more money

The conservatives believe that the country needs to…

• “Cap welfare and immigration” in the country has caused an upheaval of controversy in the country
• “Reducing the deficit” in the country due to past decisions made by the government. This means that they are going to attempt to get the country out of debt.
• “Cutting income tax;” has risen over the years to ensure people are keeping more income for themselves.

http://simplepolitics.co.uk/questions-and-answers/who-are-the-parties-and-what-do-they-stand-for

Liberal Democrats

• “Protecting Britain’s place in Europe and campaigning to keep the UK in the single market”
• Alongside Labour, the Liberal Democrats are “Campaigning to protect the NHS. However they are suggesting “proposing an extra penny in the pound on income tax to invest in health and social care” which means an increase on tax all over the country.
• They are also “Demanding a fairer tax system where people earning less than the minimum wage do not pay tax” which suggests that they have more socialist.

All of the party's views are shared through different campaigns displaying their ideas and beliefs. Using informative videos, speeches and awareness articles the parties communicate their views on the topic, demanding change. These campaigns can lead to a negative outcome if the majority of the public do not agree with the parties campaigns and they may potentially begin protesting against their views. However, sometimes the outcomes of the campaigns can be positive and people may begin communicating and supporting a party's views. Some may begin sharing their own views like Greta Thunberg a 16-year-old climate activist who researched the damage to the environment and began traveling and giving seminars saying inspirational things like”you are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand you betrayal.” to spread awareness. Government parties have been sharing there concern for things like climate change for a long time and due to the advocating from them, the general public have began realizing change needs to occur for the best possible outcome.

“A code of practice is a set of written rules which explains how people working in a particular profession should behave.”- (Collins English dictionary)

The Health and safety at work act policy has to be implemented, within a care home the manager has to make sure that employees are complying with the “Local Authorities health and safety policy and practices” otherwise they have to be trained correctly by the manager as the care home has a responsibility to “carry out their duties safely without risking themselves, the residents or visitors.” -(Essay Writer)

Reference Page

1. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/secretary_of_state - Oxford Writer
2. https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/the-nhs/challenges-facing-the-nhs/ - The Nuffield trust
3. https://labour.org.uk/people/jeremy-corbyn/ - Jeremy Corbin, Labour Party
4. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/code-of-practice- (Collins English Dictionary writer)
5. https://paperap.com/paper-on-legislation-policies-standards-codes-practice-influence-provision-health-service-service-users/ (Essay writer)