Health Policies and Practices - Essay Example

? Policies and Practice in Health I. Critical Review of Health Policy – Diabetes Diabetes is a progressive and chronic disease having very strong impacts upon the health conditions and life of the people (Weng et al, 2000, p612). The prevention and cure of diabetes has evolved as an important and critical issue for the healthcare policy makers of countries all over the world. With no exception, United Kingdom is also facing the problem of massive increase in number of diabetic patients (Diabetes UK, 2001, p83). Diabetes could cause several harmful and long term impacts upon the human health due to which the importance of combating this problem with the help of adequate health policy has been widely realized. The healthcare professionals and healthcare policy makers widely agree that it is very imperative to formulate and implement sound policies and health plan to address the issues and concerns associated with the human health and diabetes effects (Ekoke et al, 2001, p98). In United Kingdom the prevalence of diabetes has considerable increased over the last few decades and every passing year is adding thousands of people in the list of diabetic patients in the country. The situation is becoming worst with each passing day because the problems of obesity and overweighting have also become problem due to which the type2 diabetes is also becoming very common among the people. Since the ratio of diabetes has been continuously increasing with alarming rate, the situation demands the wakeup call by the health campaigners so that this ratio could be reduced and the main factors behind the increase in diabetes cases could be worked out (Diabetes UK, 2001, p83). The issue adequate prevention and care of diabetes through an effective health policy has evolved as an important area of concern for the healthcare practitioners, policy makers as well as general public because the increasing ratio of diabetes is also affecting the children due to obesity as well as due to genetic disposition. Within last decade the number of children with diabetes has considerable increased that demands strategic focus upon implementing adequate health policy to address the issue of diabetes among people (Weng et al, 2000, p612). The increasing numbers of diabetic patients in the country has built pressure upon NHS because it has the responsibility of formulating policies to prevent the accordance of such diseases with such a high rate. While responding to this critical need NHS has worked on several strategic healthcare plans to assure the safety of the citizens from diabetes and other health problems that could evolve from diabetes (Hoffman R et al, 2002, p1748). NHS has demonstrated that the main objective of its health plan related with diabetes is based upon the objective of reducing the number of diabetes patient and improving the care for the people suffering from this disease. NHS diabetes policy aims to develop partnership with the healthcare staff so that these people could also be motivated and properly trained to deal with the people having diabetes (Department of Health, 2010, p23). The National Health Service plan for diabetes instructs the healthcare staff to offer structures and proactive care to the people so that they could be able to manage their own health conditions at their own by taking adequate care of their disease through proper awareness and information about diabetes. NHS has also set up several local diabetes networks to robust the mechanism and policies implemented at the national level so that the benefits of the policies could be spread at local level as well. In this regard, NHS has worked for joint working relations between the Local Health Boards and the Local Diabetes Service Advisory Groups. The place register and clinical management system are also assured within the healthcare centres to allow systematic management and monitoring of the healthcare policies and their outcomes (Department of Health, 2010, p23). There have been several important plans and policies announced by the National Health Service – NHS in United Kingdom aim at creating awareness among the masses regarding the proper care and prevention from this disease. There are numerous healthcare bodies created to specifically focus upon making policies and plans for diabetes prevention and different services are also initiated at national level to address the concerns of general public regarding the health problems associated with diabetes. For instance, the Diabetes National Service Framework (NSF) has been established to improve the quality of service regarding the care and prevention of diabetes. It sets out the standards for providing care and treatment to the diabetic patients. It offers the diabetic patients screening for diabetic retinopathy with high quality standards and safety (Department of Health, 2010, p23). The NSF programme for diabetes care and prevention has developed the 12 NSF standards that indicate the care level required by the diabetic patients. In the light of these standards it has been decided that what interventions are required in the healthcare system to make it more supportive for the diabetic patients. It also offers systematic reform programme to provide clear direction and scope for the setting the priorities across the country. These programs also focus upon involving the local staff in the healthcare process and filling any gap that exist in the healthcare service. NSF plan for diabetes has also set up several screening services that participate in local and national audit and provide dedicated education and advice to the people with diabetes. It also stresses upon the staff to work with the diabetic patients and involve them in professional development and education related with the prevention and care of diabetes so that their next generations could be saved and protected from this disease. The plan set the target of ten years to attain its target of reducing the number of diabetic patients and increasing awareness among the masses regarding the causes and effects of diabetes upon their health conditions (Department of Health, 2010, p23). As a result of these policies it could be expected that the life expectancy of the people with diabetes will be increased and they would be able to having improved quality of health and life despite suffering from diabetes (Pickup and Williams, 2003, p126). These policies have also worked to support self-care among the diabetic patients and the nurses were trained to motivate and assist the patients towards self-care. Furthermore, the Diabetes NSF Implementation Group (External Reference Group) was also created to assure the implementation of all the plans set by NSF in which patients and carers were included to work with wide range of stakeholders. The group arranged several workshops, conferences and focus groups to spread awareness among people. The health policy also allocates considerable amount of money to the diabetes prevention programmes and ?250,000 per year were funded to the national diabetes programs by the government (BBC News, 2005, p2). The analysis of the plans and policies of NHS meant for the prevention of diabetes affirm that it has successfully worked for creating understanding among the masses about diabetes. As a result of the plans implemented by NHS several people with diabetes became able to live longer and healthy life because they learnt how they could better cure their disease and prevent the occurrence of several other health problems (Peel et al, 2004, p183). These plans could be viewed as effective means of improving the people’ capacity to treat diabetes and live long lives that are considerable free from the devastating complications commonly suffered by the diabetic patients of the previous generations. People at large are made aware of the fact that they could delay or even prevent the occurrence of type2 diabetes by keeping tight control over the blood glucose, weight and blood pressure. It is unveiled from the analysis of the key feature of the NHS policy for diabetes that the problem has been addressed very closely and the policy makers have shown due attention and concern towards the resolution of the problem of increase in the rate of diabetes. It is also found that the health policy also focuses upon the factors that have the tendency to increase the prevalence of diabetes like obesity, over weight and genetic disposition etc. (Department of Health, 2010, p23). The health policy effectively works for creating awareness among people about the potential causes of the diabetes so that they could prevent them from diabetes and the diabetic patients could also take better care of their health problems (Croxson, 2002, 66). Despite the fact that the national health policy emphasises upon better prevention and remedies of diabetes it is also a fact that the ration of diabetic patient is continuously increasing among the population of the country (Evans, et al, 2000, 480). The rise in the number of diabetic patient pose several question marks upon the effectiveness of the health policy and indicate that there are some gaps in the health policy due to which the population is still highly vulnerable to this disease and number of people with diabetes is still increasing despite the implementation of health policy and creation of several groups and committees specifically focusing upon diabetes (Davies et al, 2001, p301). II. Policy Plan Rationale of the policy The policy is based upon the motive of providing adequate awareness and information about the treatment and cure of the diabetes among the people of different age groups. The formulation of the policy has been backed by the logic that lack of awareness and quality care of the public health could contribute towards further increase in the number of diabetic patient in the country. This trend will not only affect the present of the nation but the future of the nation would also badly suffer because neglecting diabetes at this stage will produce a generation where most of the people would be suffering from diabetes and several other health problems resulting from diabetes. The policy plan is based upon the foundation that there is still time to bring improvement in the situation by spreading awareness among the people about the causes and effects of diabetes so that they could change their lifestyles to combat with this serious health problem and could save their health as well as the health and wellbeing of their upcoming generation. Since diabetes has the transfer tendency from generation to generation, it is very important to reduce the prevalence of diabetes among people today so that the future of the nation could be protected and their health could be assured safe from the genetically disposed diseases. The policy stresses upon its underlying principle that the national health policies often address the issues at large scale and at local level people often fail to avail close benefits and information from these policies due to which it is observed that at local level also there should be implementation of health policy to address the issue of cure and prevention of diabetes at local level. Aims and Objectives of policy There is essential need of formulating and implementing healthcare policy to address the problem of diabetes at local level because this disease could cause several damaging impacts upon the health of the human beings. Diabetes is a serious health problem and lack of proper knowledge and information about the cure and prevention of this disease (Davies et al, 2001, p301). The health plan aims to create awareness at local level about the prevention of diabetes. The main objective of the health plan is to assure that the rate of spread of diabetes would be decline and people would become able to combat the challenge of fighting against diabetes. The health plan aims to make people well informed and well aware about the factors that contribute towards the prevalence of diabetes. It is observed that the national health policy focuses upon the relationship between the national and local healthcare bodies but still there is great need of improving their relationship so that the strategies included in the national health policy could also be transmitted to the people at local level. There is a gap found in the implementation and execution of the health policy due to which people at local level are still not complete informed about better prevention and cure of diabetes. Desired Outcomes and target population The health policy intends to create an environment where all the people would act responsibility towards improvement of their own health as well as the overall health of the society. The health plan desires to assure that the coming generation of the country would not get diabetic as a heritage from their ancestors and they would be able to live longer and healthy life with the help of better information and healthcare training. The health plan targets the people of all the age groups and professions because diabetes has been affecting people from all walks of life. Children have also become an important target for diabetes hence; the plan also targets the children so that they could also become informed how they could reduce the prevalence of diabetes. Main elements of policy The health policy is based upon some basic elements that aimed to improve the quality of healthcare and reduce the number of people with diabetes. The major elements of the policy include communication programs, funds, training and research and development work. The communication programs include seminars, conferences, workshops and public awareness programs using different type of mass media. The communication programs will work to motivate people towards bringing some major change within their dietary habits and life style. People of all the age groups need information about the relationship between obesity and diabetes so that they could keep an eye upon their weight to reduce the possibilities of suffering from this disease. The communication program will engage people at local level in different awareness creating programs so that people at large would become able to know how they can prevent diabetes. At the same time, these awareness programs will also teach people how they could take better care of their selves after suffering from this major health problem. Another important element of health policy is raising funds. The policy aims to raise funds so that this amount could be used to improve the quality of healthcare services at the local healthcare organizations. The funds would be used to provide people with different medical equipment like glucose meters and weighing scales so that they could become able to monitor their weight and blood sugar level on regular basis. It will also better care and prevention of diabetes at the early stage. The research and development work is another important element of this health policy. The research and development work will also inducing all the recent developments related with the medicines and equipment in the plan. Moreover, it will also work to keep the plan update because the research results will also be used to make the necessary changes in the health plan. Major stakeholders Diabetes is an important social problem because the people of almost each age group are facing the challenging to remain safe from this disease (Jarvis, 2005, p246). Hence, the main stakeholders of this plan include the healthcare staff, social workers, NGOs, media, policy makers, healthcare specialists, paramedical staff, government agencies, national health policy makers and the common people belonging to different age groups, economic class and professions. The plan insists that all the major stakeholders of this plan must play very active role to bring some level of improvement in the situation. The policy makers, healthcare professionals and the common people are required to join hands together so that the combined efforts of all the stakeholders could benefit the situation and the increasing rate of diabetes could also be reduced. They are also requires to maintain good working relationship to allow people with diabetes taking better care of their health conditions in better way. Hence, it is also an important objective of the health plan to insist and motivate the stakeholders to come in front and devote their time and efforts to assure the success of the program. Eventually all the stakeholders would be benefited from their positive contribution because it will improve the health conditions of the entire society. Time frame and Roll-out plan The health plan proposes different interventions and policies with the expectation of improving the healthcare quality and reducing the prevalence of diabetes among the population. These steps and plans are proposed for period of ten years however, it is an important feature of the health plan that there would be detailed and proper monitoring of the interventions to find out their outcomes and every year a report would be prepared to indicate the achievements and problems evolved during that year in relation with the problem and the health plan. After the completion of yearly follow up report, the necessary changes would be introduced to the health plan in order to keep it in accordance with the current situation. The plan would be roll-out after ten years however, if it would be found that the local area still needs the continuation of this plan then it would be extended for more five years or so. The plan would be well supported with continuous research and development work so that any new development in the field of medicine and healthcare practice having implication to the diabetes would also be incorporated in the plan. The research and development work will keep the plan updated and effectives. The monitoring and follow up process will inform the achievements of the plan and keeping in view the outcomes the final decision about rolling out the plan would be made. References BBC News (2005). UK diabetes cases top 2m barrier, Retrieved online from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4204830.stm Croxson, S. (2002). Diabetes in the elderly: problems of care and service provision. Diabetic Medicine, 19 (supp.4), pp66-72. Davies, M. Dixon, S. et al (2001) Evaluation of a hospital diabetes specialist nursing service: a randomised control trial. Diabetic Medicine, 18 p 301-307 Department of Health (2010). Six Years on Delivering the Diabetes National Service Framework, Diabetes Policy Team, London Diabetes UK (2001) Increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Black and Ethnic Minority groups. London. Ekoke, JM. Williams, R. Zimmet, P. (2001). Epidemiology of Diabetes Mellitus: An International Perspective. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Evans, J. M. Newton, RW. Ruta, DA. MacDonald, TM. Morris, AD (2000) Socio-economic status, obesity and prevalence of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic Medicine, 17, p 478-480. Hoffman R et al. (2002) evaluating once- and twice -daily self-monitored blood glucose tests strategies for stable insulin-treated patients with Type 2 diabetes. 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