Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS - Essay Example

Outline the main features of the July White Paper “Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS”. Review the reasons for the main proposals in thisWhite Paper. Reasons for the White Paper’s Main Proposals Liberating the NHS The NHS is among the best in the world today. The work force in NHS is highly talented and possesses the skills needed in providing healthcare services to UK citizens. However there is need to improve the current state of affairs so as to increase quality (Department of Health 7). The NHS has scored poorly in several health related areas and this has undermined its effort in ensuring that all UKs have access to quality healthcare. Some of the challenges that continue dogging the NHS today include a high mortality rate related to healthcare issues such as respiratory diseases and cancers. The proposals outlined in the White Paper are meant to help alleviate some of these challenges through liberation of the NHS. The reason given for the presence of these and other challenges is a difference in causal risk factors due to lack of enough focus on public health (8). The proposals outlined in the white paper are meant to transform and liberate the NHS. Liberating the NHS will enable it achieve quality healthcare and make healthcare in the US among the best in the world. With the liberation of NHS, there will be minimal or no cases of unsafe or substandard care that could lead to high mortality rates. One of the main problems of the NHS is poor responsiveness to the different needs of patients. It has been found that NHS has no genuine approach that can be said to be patient centered (10). This means that services offered by NHS do not adequately meet individual needs, aspirations and lifestyles. It is the patients who are expected to have needs which fit around the services offered in NHS. Discrimination and inequality on healthcare is rampant in the country’s healthcare system. Liberating the NHS will play a big role in ensuring that there is consistency in service delivery to individuals. It will be more efficient and citizens will have a voice in the day to day running of NHS. Putting Patients and putting the Public First Another reason for the proposals outlined in the White Paper is to put patients and the public first (13). This will open the doors to shared decision making between he NHS and the patients and public. This will enhance service delivery in healthcare facilities across the country. In its effort to achieve healthcare goals and outcomes that can be regarded as the best in the world, patients need to be fully involved in how they get healthcare services. In the past, decisions used to be made by clinicians alone, with the patients remaining in the dark concerning their own healthcare (14). However, the White Paper seeks to change all these so that decisions can be made in partnership with the patients themselves. In creating a healthcare system which provides for the full involvement of the patients and public in decision making, there is need for an information revolution within the NHS (White 208). One of the reasons that the White Paper proposes changes in the healthcare system is so that patients and the public can have ample access to information regarding their health. As it is, patients and the public do not have enough choice or even control in matters regarding their healthcare due to lack of information (16). Changing the information sharing system in the NHS will enable more patients and members of the public to access and understand healthcare information which can help them become central players in decision making regarding their own health. Improving Healthcare Outcomes NHS aims at improving the outcomes of healthcare for all the people through delivering care that is more effective, safer and that provides and leaves a better experience with the patients. The aim of the NHS to improve the healthcare outcomes will be enshrined in the NHS Constitution. The model contract service and the constitution will ensure that NHS does not loose focus on improving healthcare outcomes of the patients and professionals. A framework will be created that will ensue active responsibility of the staff and patients and they will be empowered to challenge, ask and intervene in matters of efficiency and quality of healthcare. The influence of the politicians in most of the healthcare decisions will be reduced and thus NHS will focus more on the relationship between the patients and professionals (Department of Health 21). The NHS Outcomes Framework will be based on three domains of quality: (a) treatment effectiveness and the care provided to the patients and they will be measured by the clinical outcomes and the patient-reported outcome, (b) patients’ safety in treatment and care accorded to them and, (c) the patients’ experience of the treatment and care they received. The quality standards will be developed and implemented by the NHS Commissioning Board through NICE. NICE will create authoritative standard settings of the patients’ pathway and the indicators for every step. On research, the department will continue supporting the role of Academic Health Science Centres, Biomedical Research Centres and Units and Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care, to create and unlock synergies in the research, patient care and education. Autonomy, Accountability and Democratic Legitimacy Providers will be free of the government control in order to shape their services based on the needs and choices of the patients. More antimony will be achieved by the increased democratic legitimacy and accountability to the patients. The department will devolve its powers and responsibilities for the commissioning services to the local consortia of GP practices. This will enhance the trusted role of the primary care professionals in coordinating patient care through a system of registered patients’ lists. To support the local GP consortia in commissioning their decisions, a statutory NHS Commissioning Board will be created. The commissioning board will be free of political influence and be able to carry out best international practices. The Board will have five functions; provide national leadership on the commissioning for quality improvement, promote and extend the public ad patient involvement and choice, ensure that the GP commissioning consortia is developed, commission certain services, and lastly allocate and account fore the NHS resources. The relationship between the government and NHS will be limited. The ability of the Secretary of State will be limited and this is intended to increase stability and improve transparency. The PCT’s will be abolished in order to align the local government’s responsibilities in the local health and wellbeing. The local democratic legitimacy of the NHS will be strengthened by the government. The providers will no longer be under the political influence; instead they will be governed by a transparent, stable and a rules-based system. Staff engagement and partnership working will be promoted and strengthened. The Department will oversee all the education and training and it will make sure it is aligned locally and nationally in the commissioning of patient care (Department of Health 40). Cutting Bureaucracy The NHS is committed to delivering quality service to its customers by maintaining its values and principles. The management, together with the staff continues to believe that the NHS is an important part of the entire society, reflecting the social solidarity of shared access to collective healthcare. The NHS also ensures that there is shared responsibility to use resources effectively so as to deliver better health to the society. Service delivery by the NHS has, however, continuously been bogged down by problems relating to bureaucracy. The white paper seeks to address the issue of bureaucracy which has remained a problem to the NHS for long. In addition, the health organization is committed to quality service available to anyone, free at point if use, and based on need, not necessarily the ability to pay. The government needs to increase funds to be used in health care in real terms in each financial year. Quality service ensures that citizens are able to receive effective treatment bat attention even during emergencies. Fair treatment to members of the society is crucial to the survival of any health service center. The NHS ensures that all citizens across the country receive the required health service from them. Quality forms one of their main goals. They are ready to implement the ban on age discrimination in NHS services and social care to take effect as from 2012. Further, the NHS commissioning board will have an explicit duty to address inequalities in outcomes from healthcare services (Phg, par 2). It is also worth noting that the NHS is ready to follow its constitution to the latter, the development which has enjoyed enormous support from political parties. By 2012, the government is expected to publish the first statement of how well organizations are living by its letter and spirit. The constitution is expected to create a good environment for the provision of excellent services; the constitution is also expected to outline important principles and values, and the rights and responsibilities of patients and staff. The constitution is all about mutuality, chapter 2 particularly calls for shared decision making by patients, their cares, and clinicians will give better effect to this principle. Finally, on the constitution, it is all about NHS funded organizations being good employers, chapter 4 will give organizations and professionals greater freedoms, leading to better staff engagement and patient care (Department of Health, p 7) . Current statutory arrangements allow the secretary of state a large amount of discretion to micromanage parts of NHS. The management also tries to be clear about what NHS should achieve. However, strict legislation is required so as to establish more autonomous institutions, with greater freedoms, clear duties, and transparency in their responsibilities to patients and their accountabilities, all these depend on the absolute powers of NHS to come up with a binding solution. Conclusion There are a lot of works that still need to be done over the next two to three years. Some of the expected tasks are to manage the transition, as well as to flesh out the policy details. The NHS is committed to taking this forward in partnership with other like minded organizations, seeking their help and expertise in coming up with proposals that work in practice. Implementation of various reforms at the health facility is subject to broad consultation, both with the local government, patients and the public, as well as external organizations. Finally, the government is expected to provide necessary guidance and support geared towards strengthening the NHS constitution and on other draft regulations. Works Cited Department of Health. Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, 2010. Web. 13 December. Department of Health. Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS. United Kingdom, 2010. Print. 2010. PHG Foundation, 14th December, 2010. http://www.Phgfoundation.org/contact/Hilary.burton White, Tony. A Guide to the NHS. London: Radcliffe Publishing, 2010. Read More