Mental Healthcare Policy in the United Kingdom and Sweden - Essay Example

Mental health policy in the United kingdom and sweden by The of the The of the School The City and State where it is located The Date Mental healthcare policy in the United Kingdom and Sweden To begin with, it would be rather logical to provide a brief overview of social work and mental health policy in the United Kingdom. Thus, it must be noted that it was not until Victorian times that metal health disorders were recognized as serious health conditions. In the above mentioned period, the government primarily relied on asylum as special institutions that would detain individuals with the above mentioned illnesses (Lawton-Smith & McCulloch 2003, p. 2). However, as soon as their ineffectiveness was recognized, a wave of de-institutionalisation which happened in the middle of the previous century happens. Closer to the new millennium, the government sought modern ways of treating such individuals which resulted in gradual shift in the attitude towards them. Sweden generally followed the pattern; however, the wave of de-institutionalisation started there somewhat later due to various domestic reasons. As it has already been noted, in the United Kingdome the care used to be provided via specialized institutions which are not that numerous in the contemporary society. In addition to that, inpatient treatment has been regarded as one of the most popular methods as it allows doctors and patient develop the bond that is necessary for treatment (Beresford & Croft 2004, p. 54). Speaking of Sweden, one should point out that asylums as such disappeared later if compared to the United Kingdome; however, due to decentralization of the healthcare system, there has been a rise in the use of different methods of treatment that did not require the patients to be hospitalized in any way. Thus, it would be rather advantageous to carry out an analysis of the way different ideologies are able to have a profound impact on the way social work is carried out and how mental health policies are administered. First of all, one should make a clear distinction between right and left politics. Right politics supports certain inequality when it comes to distribution of healthcare services which are provided according to a market based system. In other words, the government is not responsible for full coverage of the population. Contrary to that, left politics supports completely different principles: it argues that the government should be responsible for universal provision of healthcare that should be available to everyone. As one can easily see, right politics is primarily based on individualism – a kind of thinking that focuses on the needs of a particular person, while left politics adheres to collectivism – an approach which makes wellbeing of the entire population a priority. Considering the example of the United Kingdom, it would not be a mistake to suggest that collectivism is the approach that dominates the society in the area in question and largely defines the peculiarities of it (Beresford, Croft & Adshead 2008, p. 1389). Contrary to that, if one takes a close look at the state of affairs in Sweden, one can not help noticing that individualism is explicit. This can be easily seen in the way the health care systems of the two countries are structured. Thus, there is a tendency of centralization in the NHS with little autonomy of the local bodies, while the health care system of Sweden is often described as quite decentralized where counties have tremendous amount of power over the local issues. As for the political parties that back up the ideology, one might point out that in the United Kingdom collectivistic ideology is largely promoted by the Labour Party (McDonald & Heath 2009, p. 19). Speaking of the Swedish state of political affairs, one should note that the most represented party, namely Swedish Social Democratic Party, adheres to the eponymous ideology and largely supports individualism. It would not be a mistake to suggest that they try to combine different ideologies, but in the field of healthcare they strongly adhere to the course of individualism. Considering the fact that this approach appeared to be quite successful, there is no wonder in that this party enjoys wide support of the population which sees providing healthcare as one of the priorities of the government that takes care of the citizens. One would make no mistake suggesting that adherence to each of the ideology has a decisive influence on the social work as well as mental health policies. For example, due to adherence to collectivism, the local autonomy of different healthcare facilities is limited in the United Kingdome or can be easily blocked from a higher level (McDonald, Postle & Dawson 2007, p. 1371). However, the situation is completely different in Sweden, where the counties are able to make a final decision on virtually every aspect of health care which often results in great variation of prices on the respective services. In other words, in Sweden, there is no higher body that is able to block a certain initiative or create a ceiling for variation of prices. If one analyzes the relationship between collectivism as well as social work through the prism of politics and economics, one will have to point out that in the United Kingdom the government is primary preoccupied with introducing positive changes into the general tendency and is willing to accept policies that are quite broad and, therefore, require a considerable amount of money (McDonald 2007, p. 77). That is why the training of social workers urges the professional to focus on broad perspectives. Contrary to that, in Sweden individualistic approach does not seek to adopt national policies that would cover all the population, but encourages the local counties to find the best way to deal with their problems. That is why the funding is found from different sources, but the budget is rarely regarded as one of the primary ones. The examples of the differences in the approaches may be found in the policies that have been adopted. Thus, Mental Health Act of the United Kingdom adopted in 1983 features the desire to have as many citizens who are struggling with mental health disorders as possible on a unified basis; however, patients often suggest that the image of a doctor may play a key role in the process of treatment (Manthorpe et al 2008, p. 1133). The elderly were able to benefit from it since their mental disorders would have been treated in hospitals by the best professionals free of charge. In addition to that, Human Rights Acts of 1998 provided a firm legislative framework for the people and elderly could benefit from it in particular as they had more opportunities to protect their right receive mental health care. Speaking of the policies that were implemented in Sweden, one would have to mention numerous specialized policies that were designed to address particular problem of the counties and could not have been implemented in other parts of the countries for several reasons. In other words, healthcare facilities would not find it effective in the process of coping with the problems that they are facing, taking into account different factors such as financing or population. There is no doubt in the fact that social work as well as mental health policies for elderly is heavily influenced by the political ideologies that are being dominant in a country. Thus, the collectivistic ideology encourages the government to adopt policies that treat the seniors that a unified group of people, taking into account some broad categories like income, ethnicity and similar to them (Bhui et al 2003, p. 105). As one can easily see this approach does not put emphasis on the factors that might be key ones. Contrary to that, in Sweden, the ideology of individualism allows the local counties to operate independently and make sure that they are able to come up with the best solution for their peculiar problem, even though it may not be implemented in a different county. As one can easily see, the Swedish healthcare system puts great emphasis on effectiveness. Considering the situation that was analyzed above, it would be quite suitable to pay some attention to Neoliberalism that is supposed to be manifestation of the so-called third way. It is considered to be an alternative towards the dichotomy of individualism versus collectivism as well as left versus right ideologies. This is such a political doctrine that is able to combine the benefits of the two extremes (Ferguson 2004). If one tries to apply the above mentioned approach towards social work policies, one will be able to see that it allows the government that have a space for manoeuvre while providing the citizens with the assistance that they need. For example, the desire to cover the majority of the population might be combined with several policies that are designed to affect a particular group of citizens which is likely to maximize the effectiveness. As for a more detailed area of application such as mental health of the elderly, one will note that the general policies that are being implemented will be adjusted to satisfy the needs of the people (Hancock et al 2003, p. 805). In other words, the government will be able to introduce changes into the broad policies in order to make them more suitable for particular groups of people, in this case the elderly. In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party is identified with the Third way is it usually refers to itself as the radical centre and is the main promoter of the values that do not incline to one particular extreme of the political spectrum. Keeping in mind that there was a decade that is largely marked by the political activity of this party, one would make no mistake in that it has been quite notable in the healthcare history of the country. For example, one of the policies that was adopted in 1998 while Tony Blair was the Prime Minister was called Sure Start which, on the one hand, was able to be applied to wide range of citizens and reflected the collectivistic approach, but, on the other hand, was largely designed to meet the needs of the poorest parts of the population. At the present moment, a policy that is titled Making mental health services more effective and accessible might be viewed as an example of neoliberal policy as it strives to combine collectivistic and individualist approaches. Having examined some of the aspects of policy and practice of social work in the United Kingdom and Sweden, it would be necessary to dwell on the similarities and differences that hold the key to understanding of their peculiarities. Thus, it would not be a mistake to point out that the governments of both countries are putting great emphasis on the mental health of the nation (Newton 2013, p. 223). Indeed, the entitlement to mental healthcare is universal in both countries. Nevertheless, the source of initiative of any policy is largely centralized in the United Kingdom; so, a single practitioner or a group of them can hardly implement any changes into the existing program (Callaghan 2004, p. 477). Contrary to that, in Sweden the local practice is regarded as one of the major sources of designing mental healthcare policies. So, the former should learn to develop a fairly customized assistance while the latter might benefit from a more unified vision and coordination. The influence of the political ideologies is evident when it comes to delivering social work. However, the analysis should also include the modern state of affairs. Thus, in the United Kingdom there has been a shift in the political spectrum, ending a decade of the Third Way and being the beginning of restoring some of the previously held values. One should point out that there has been amendment of the policies that were adopted in the times of New Labour. As for the Sweden, the political life of this country is largely characterized by a fair stability which means that the decentralized healthcare system that proved to be quite effective in the previous times is likely to be continued; in addition to that, the biggest party at the present moment heavily supports it. The notion of risk society is the one that should be recalled while considering the modern state of affair in the respective field. Thus, at the present moment the sociologies point out that the social environment has developed a particular awareness about different aspects that are able to affects its development in a negative way which allows one to classify the modern society as risk society (Franklin 1998, p. 121). In this case the anxiety that is being generated while considered a particular issue is one of the features of it (Wilkinson 2002, p. 88). It can be easily seen in that the government pays a considerable amount of attention towards the issues that did not use to be regarded as primary ones. In other words, this shift towards finding solution to new problems may be seen as characteristic. Finally, the analysis of the issue will surely benefit from a broad discussion of the matters that are involved in higher levels. For example, it is obvious that the notions of social policy, social welfare as well as social work values is closely connected when it comes to defining the most effective policies for the elderly that suffer from mental health disorders. Thus, social welfare might be regarded as the result of an effective social policy which is largely affected by the values that are promoted in social work (Evans & Williams 2009, p. 13). However, it is obvious that there will surely be tensions between the above mentioned elements. For example, the society might find it extremely difficult to agree on a particular social policy which will surely be an obstacle on the way of achieving social welfare. In addition to that, the set of values that are thought to influence the delivery of social work is subject to change which might disrupt implementation of the policy. Speaking of the latter, one should mention that the government should do its best while eliminating the gap between the espoused values which are enshrined in codes and standards as well the practice where they are thought to be implemented. There is no doubt that the role of power is crucial when it comes to generating inequality within the social environment. Thus, power distribution as well as access to power may be the key factors that determine the social structure (Alcock 2014, p. 11). In other words, if a society wants to improve the healthcare system that it has, it should focus the way it handles power. In addition to that, power might also contribute to generating inequality on a much smaller level. Thus, the patients should be able to introduce changes in the process of their treatment since otherwise the effectiveness of it will be minimized. This means that the dialogue between the doctor and the patient should be the source of necessary changes that are able to make implementation of a particular policy more beneficial of the latter. In addition to that, one should pay attention towards situations when being non-judgemental which is regarded as one of the primary values that are used in social work might become an obstacle on the way of introducing positive changes into the society. Thus, there are situations when people should be judgmental and those situations primarily happen when a new policy is being designed. It does not mean that people should be prejudiced; it simply means that it would not be harm to be able to focus on some of the issues over the other. 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