National Health System - Assignment Example

National Health Systems National Health Systems According to Carey and Baribault (1999), the number of United Kingdom citizens seeking quality medical care has increased in the recent times compared to five years ago. However, the number of public health providers and health centers has barely increased. This has led to majority of United Kingdom’s citizens unable to access prompt medical care in the public health centers. Also, an individual has to wait on very long queue to access these services and when it is his or her time to be treated there are no drugs for his diagnosis.

Therefore, many of them either opt to seek for these services from private sectors, cheaper traditional ways or do without any medical care when they fall ill. This has also be contributed by the fact that some citizens are either underinsured or uninsured. Provision of quality healthcare, accessible to everybody, as efficient as possible and as immediate as possible, is the aim of most healthcare centers. However, there are a number of challenges involved when trying to provide quality healthcare.

Firstly, the increase in population has posed a major challenge to health providers and the state. According to NHS (2013), the number of doctors and health facilities compared to patients is overwhelming. This has resulted to some people looking for medical attention in private sectors. Although it’s more expensive as compared to public facilities, majority of the patients find it more convenient in terms of efficiency and quality. Secondly, patients do not seek treatment during the early stages of a disease.

This becomes very expensive to treat because the disease has either advanced or spread to other organs. Therefore, the National Health services (NHS) has adapted different ways to ensure that quality health care is achieved. There are several factors that the NHS must put in consideration on their quest to provide quality healthcare. The first one is the confidentiality of patient’s information. This is personal information regarding a patient which if not handled with a lot care many end up in the wrong hands.

Therefore, since is the responsibility of every health center to safeguard patient’s privacy, the NHS provides guidelines and policies to be followed when handling information concerning a patient as well as the staffs (NHS, 2013). They also set high standards for handling information and set high standards that must be achieved by all parties involved. Although this can be challenging for some organizations, there are benefits experienced by ensuring patient’s data is protected. For instance, clear and well defined health care records, provides room for efficiency, trust and standardization.

Although, the patient has the right to access his medical information whenever they like, it should always be password protected and monitored for any breach. An organization must also prove that it can be trusted with confidential information. Most patients tend to withhold information if they feel their privacy may be invaded. This makes it hard for health care providers to give appropriate care. This withdrawal of vital data makes it hard to efficiently treat a patient and the trust between the two is compromised (National Academy of Sciences, 1997).

For instance one can adopt the Computer-based patient record (CPR) technology. The main purpose of this technology is to provide patients with information about their progress. Moreover it helps patients and doctors to make informed decisions based on up to date research findings. The second factor UK health care system need to consider is the duration of time it takes to wait for doctor’s appointment. With the increased population, the number of patients is not comparable to that of doctors.

Also, most of public facilities register a higher number of patients as compared to private ones. This is because the public ones are cheaper than the private ones. Therefore those who cannot afford the cost in private facility usually visit the public ones. In UK, only those who are wealthy enough have access to quality health care, Such that, one might wonder if healthcare is a right or a privilege. Some people argue that the state must offer free or affordable health care to all its citizens regardless of their race creed or religion (National Academy of Sciences, 1997).

According to Ricardo-Campbell 29 there is a difference between legal right and moral rights. He states that moral rights are more inclined to humanitarian feelings and reasoning. He also explains that it’s because of their moral rights that they help other people. He further states that legal rights are based on needs of an individual and the capability of a state economically. The state should fund the public hospitals and buy adequate facilities to efficiently meet the high demand of healthcare.

It should also encourage more people to train in medicine so that they can meet the rising number of doctors to meet the current gap in the sector. To be able to maximize its funding they must consider increase in taxes from its citizen to meet this budget (National Academy of Sciences, 1997). Since it is a non-profit organization, the money generated should be used to improve services and purchase better equipment and increase manpower. Thirdly the UK health care system must ensure that there are more hospitals and beds.

However this can only be achieved though funding from both the state and corporate. By increasing the number of hospitals and beds more people will be able to access medical services without fear of spending a lot of time waiting for doctors or a vacant bed. Besides taxation, another way the state can use in increasing number of hospitals and beds is by welcoming funding from corporate, private insurers and sickness funds (Carey and Baribault, 1999). In conclusion everyone is entitled to quality health care.

It is also clear that health care is not a privilege but a right. The quality of Medicare should be improved to cater for the entire population. More hospitals ought to be built to meet the demand of growing population. More importantly the patients must take into account their health and be more responsible regardless of healthcare costs. References National Academy of Sciences. (1997). Focusing on Quality in A Changing Health Care System http://www.nas.edu/21st/health/ Carey, C., & Baribault, M. (1999). Health Care Systems: Three International Comparisons.

Retrieved 22nd march from http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/health.htm National Health Service (NHS). (2013). Information Governance. Retrieved 20th march from http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/infogov/igfaqs