Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care - Essay Example

IMPACTS OF POLITICS ON THE PUBLIC AND ON HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PROVIDERS Politics are so much entangled in our life such that almost all our life isdriven by politics. Politics have been bestowed with the role of making policies which affects our life and hence the reason why our life is dependant on the politics of the land. Politics has had a great impact on the life of the public and also on providers of health and social care. Politics have determined the health system of our country and also has affected the quality of health care that we receive. (Doyal 1983, p. 23) Our health care system has been affected by the framework that is designed through politics. Currently in the UK there are two arms which provide health care services. There is the National Health Service (NHS) and the Local Government Health service. These two arms providing health services are products of history, policies, and sheer acceptance made from professional and party politics. The NHS was politically created in 1948 which was supposed to be free standing and accountable to the ministers and the parliament. This meant that it was accountable to the two mentioned bodies instead of striving to provide universal, free-state-health-care using the local government. The use of local government to provide health services was argued against through a political thought of rationality, efficiency and equity. (The New Politics of the NHS 1998, p. 1) The NHS was supposed to provide health care in an efficient manner to a population greater that the local authority. It was supposed to provide national equality in treatment which is an objective it is yet to achieve. But instead others argued that the local government would prove better health care based on the history of its involvement in the health matters. The local authority was also seen as more democratic and rather flexible to refer than the national body. The public has suffered amid the confusion that reigns about the boundaries between the role of NHS and the Local Authorities. It has affected citizens with long term care needs since Local Authority services are means-tested and charged while NHS services are free. There have been debates of which of the two bodies is responsible for nursing care. This act of divorcing health care from social care has been debated and since 1999, there have been calls to have the two bodies working together to provide care for the public. (Lerbinger 2006, p. 43) The issue of concern has been how the central government has tried to distance itself from the local government in provision of health care. It is to be understood that the central government influence decision made in the local government. Therefore citizens do not understand the difference that exists between the local government and the central government since both of them represents an arm of authority among the people. (Beck 1992, p.12) It is this structure of decision making that makes us feel somehow confused in the way the two bodies have taken time to work together. If the local government is a part of the central government and practically the local government receives funds from the central government, then the government should be playing more central role in coordinating the services between the two. Since 1999, calls to harmonize provision of services between the two bodies have given some fruits although this coordination has seen the NHS emerging as strong player in public heath rather than the local authority. The difficulty that has been faced with the implementation of reforms in the health sector has been due to the approach of using the NHS as the leading body rather than dividing the programs with the local authorities. Local authorities are more close to the people and they understand well the demographics of their local areas. Many health programs that have been initiated like mental health program, every child matters, and others will not achieve their efficiency unless there is collaboration between the two bodies. (Seedhouse 2004, p. 67) The political system in the land has led to an inefficient health system that has led to development of health issues which the NHS is still battling with. There are a number of heath conditions that are evident in the UK despite all the efforts that have been made to coordinate the service between the two bodies. One of the leading medical issues in the UK is increased lifestyle diseases. This has led to increase cases of both type I and type II diabetes, heart disease, and other related complication. In deed the government has come up with several health strategies to help in fighting these lifestyle diseases but the problem is taking toll. The issue of obesity has been fought from all areas of health including coming up with strategies which are aimed at making the UK the great sporting country by encouraging the public to spend more time doing exercises daily. To promote good eating habits the NHS has moved a step further and created partnership with schools and other community service groups in order to help fight this problem. But in all this fight which role has been given to the local authority Another health issue in the UK is smoking. The NHS has been alarmed by the rising cases of lung diseases and cancer which has been leading cause of deaths among the UK citizens. This is one of the problems that need a social and medical approach. The NHS has been moving to bring together social workers and medical workers to help in tackling this problem. The issue of smoking has been highlighted in the 2004's Public Heath White Paper which sought ways of making healthy choices easier. It raised concern about protecting the public against damaging actions raised from others. (Rawnsley 2001, p. 64) Another health condition is that of children health. This issue was also raised in the Public Heath White Paper. It identified the childhood stage as an important age which can be used to improve the heath of the individual. Under this issue, the paper gives the child's emotional and physical development of the young children a priority in the provision of public health. It seeks to protect children from all harms and ensure that they have access to free medical care. (Hubert 2005, p. 34) In response to this need the government published a paper in 2005 which sought to integrate the health provision services of the local authority and that of the NHS. It seeks to train the local communities as NHS health trainers a move that is seen by many to bring the services of the NHS close to the citizens. This strategy moves to reduce smoking, reduce obesity and improve nutrition, increased physical activity, support sensible drinking, improve sexual and mental health. (Department of Health, 2005) It seems the government has woken up to the realization that there must be coordinated effort between the NHS and the local authorities if at all the government will achieve its goals of having a healthy and working public. There is still too much politics in the way the government makes laws concerning public health. Conclusion It is clear that the government will need to have more legislation in the future which will address the deficiencies that exists in the provision of public health. Politics can make our health system better or make it worse. There is need for the NHS to take a more nationalistic approach in providing health care. Reference Beck, U 1992, Risky Society: Toward a new modernity, Philo Press, London Department of Health, 2005, Choosing Health: Making health easier, HMSO Doyal, L 1983, The Political Economy of Health, Philo Press, London Hurbert K 2005, Health Issues, Journal of Health Services, Vol. 6(2): 78-99 Lerbinger, O 2006, Corporate Public Affairs: interacting with interested groups, media and government, Lawrence Eribaum, London. Rawnsley, A 2001, Servants of the people: The inside Story of New Labour, Penguin, London. Seedhouse, D 2004, Health Promotion Philosophy, Prejudice and Practice, 2nd Ed, Whiley Chichester. Read More