Current Policy Initiatives of the UK - Essay Example

SOCIAL POLICY Current policy initiatives There UK has put in place a social care system that is responsive to the needs of its citizens. The UK is one of the countries in the UK which were first to adopt a social care policy that was responsive to the needs of its citizen. It has been undergoing several policy changes in a bid to make its more responsible welfare state. There are several changes that have take place e in the UK social care policy but in this paper we are going to review the current policies that have been developed in the area of health and education. Heath policies The health care system has undergone several changes since the social care system in the UK. It has been playing a curial role in meeting the health demands of the population. There are several intersectoral initiatives that have been taken to address the issue of health care in the UK. This has been influenced by the changes taking place in the health environment in the world and in the continental Europe. The changes have been implemented at the national levels with a trickle down effect felt in the lower level. The UK government has considered health care to be one of its important factor in the development of the social and economic life of the people. Most of the initiatives which are taken at the n atonal level are implemented through the NHS which is then implemented at the local government level. One of the current initiatives that have been implemented in the UK is the individual budget which is to start working in 2009. Under this program individual will be given more autonomy in the management of the funds that they receive from the social care system. This has also been extended to the health care system where individual will be given autonomy to decide on how they are going to use their money. Most of those patients who have been receiving their medical care through the NHS under the social care system will not be given autonomy to decide on the most appropriate health care providers that they will be attending. (Buttler, 2004) This initiative is expected to give the users of the social health care more independence in management of their health care needs. Unlike in the paste where the have been receiving their health services through the NHS they will be able to access these services even from the private practitioners. (Holmes, 2007) Another current heath care initiative that is likely to have an impact on the social care system is the health screening for over 40s. Under this initiative, the government twill be screening those who are over 40 years fro health complications that they may be facing. This initiative is expected to counteract the spreading wave of lifestyle diseases that continued to threaten the life of the aging population. This is a national program that will be expected to identify vulnerability to the vascular disease that has continued to claim the lives of many people in the UK. It is expected that the initiative will help to prevent up to 9500 heath attacks and strokes which occur every years and this could lead to saving of more than 2,000 lives. In the UK, vascular diseases in collection including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and kidney diseases affects the lives of more than four million and leads to loss of more than 170,000 people every year. Vascular disease have also been shown to account for more than half of the mortality rate gap that exist between the rich and the poor as result of the gap in their lifestyles. Education There are several changes that have also taken place in the UK social care system as far as education is concerned. One of the problem that had been experienced in the education sector for along time had been the problem of inclusion education. The current move by the government to work for inclusive education in which children learn in the same class regardless of their disability has been seen as one of the most important way of helping all children access classroom. (Harwin, 2004) Another plan that took effect in 2003 saw the sending of children in care to boarding schools. Under this scheme, hundreds of children in foster have been given an access to fee-paying boarding schools in order to improve their education achievements and give them a more stable environment to grow up in. This move marked the first major partnership between the government and the independent schools since 1997 when the Labour abolished the assisted places scheme. Impact of these initiatives These initiatives will have a lot of impact on the users of the services. They are all aimed at making the delivery of the service more appropriate in order to meet the needs of the users. The aim of the social care in the UK is to mitigate the situation that confines the users of the services under such conditions. Therefore the new initiatives will help them to access more appropriate service that meets their needs. If we look at the first initiative on health, it is expected to help the users of the service to get more access to the basic needs that they have not been able to access through the earlier system. Under the new system the users of the service have been given more autonomy in the use of their services which has made the social care system more responsive to their needs. Individual budgets have been tried and have recorded a huge success in the individual management of the health care service. In the past the beneficiary of the services have been forced to receive the services which were only available from the NHS but under the new scheme they will have h the privilege of accessing even private health care service that they have considered as a luxury. Giving individuals more autonomy in the management of their health care services enables them to decide how they are going to have the health care which they feel meets their needs. This is an important factor in the overall satisfaction of the users of the services. The initiative of health screening for over 40 is a social care initiative that is to be carried out in line with the policy of UK welfare state. This is guided by the need for the government to be more responsive to the needs of its citizens in attaining optimal health care. This policy is expected to have a lot of positive impact on the users of the service as it will help them to management their condition well. It will help the users to understand their conditions and learn how to manage them well. In addition it is expected to improve the overall health of the population as the number of those suffering from the vascular diseases will be drastically reduced. Vascular disease has been costing the government and individual a lot of money in their treatment. While they are simple to treat, most people don't realize that they have the diseases until late when they have reached a complicated and perhaps the terminal stage. Therefore early diagnoses will help to prevent the conditions from reaching the terminal stage through appropriate management. In the education initiative, inclusive education is going to improve the overall life of the student. In upholding the UN Charter on children rights where each child is entitled to have access to quality education, this initiative will help all children in the UK to access education as their basic right. The initiative to send children under foster care to boarding school will help to improve their overall learning experience. They will be given a chance to grow and learn in a normal environment like other children. (Neustatter, 2002) Health care policy since 1979 There are a number of health and social care policy that have been implemented in the UK since 1979. All these policies have been aimed at addressing the core problem of health inequality between different communities in the UK. They have been implemented in line with making the UK a modern welfare state which caters for the welfare needs of its citizens. In the 1970s the health care system in that was more conservative than it is right now. There was less efforts to meet the health care need of the people who were under the social care. As a result there were more people who did not receive medial attention but who were under the social care. This same trend continued in the 1980s. The system did not have much change altogether there were polices that were enacted which helped individual to access medial care. Those who were under the social care system like the old, the orphans, and others were able to access medical care service and other type social care through the social care program. In 1991, the govern put in place regulation fore the arrangement for the placement of children. This was put in place in order to provide a family growth atmosphere for those children who had no homes. This was supported with the implementation of the Every child Matters and the Children Act of 2002 which provided more rights for children. The policy of inclusive education in 2000s has helped all children to access education. However in the 1990s, the government put in place the direct payment method which helped individual under the social care programme to receive their health services in the NHS and then the local authority would pay for the medical bill. (Department of education and skills, 2004)This method was implemented to improve on the difficulties that had been experienced earlier by t the previous system that was used. The direct pay method has recorded to successful in improving the lives of those under the social care program. They have been able to access medical care service through the NHS. The success of the direct payment method has motivated the government to put in place the current personal budget system. Under the current arrangement, individuals will be expected to be given their allowance direct in order to manage them. They will be given more autonomy over the management of their funds. In the new policy, individual have been given autonomy over their allowance and health care service. They will be able to access the health care service that they feel meets their needs. Difference in countries Different countries in Europe have a different health and social care models. The health and social care model of Scotland is planned and implemented different from that of other countries in the UK. The UK and Scotland government have been committed to elimination social inequality which has been the base of development of their health care. The plan and implementation of the health care is different in the countries but it is operated within the framework of the EU. EU has come up with a model of trade that is accepted to all the countries. Europe has for along time operated in line with the need to provide welfare state for its people and therefore it has been working in line with the provision of quality social care service. The adoption of the policies is also different. There is remarkable difference between the health policies of UK and those of Germany for example. There are some similarity between the two countries in the design of the policies since they are all member so the EU. But Germany has been basing its design of the health and social care polices on the policies that have already been adopted in the UK. In the recent past there have been increase conformity to the adoption of the heath an social care polices that have been given by the EU. In this case the UK and other EU member have been reforming their policies to be in line with the demand of the EU. References Buttler, I. (2004): Social work with children and families: getting into practice. Jessica Kingsley Department of education and skills (2004): Independent reviewing office guidance and adoption of children's act. DfES Harwin, J. (2004): Making care orders work. London: TSO Holmes, C. (2007): In safe hands. Community Care, Vol. 18 Neustatter, A. (2002): Inclusive education. London: McMillan Read More