Working in Partnership in Health and Social Care essay
The case of the mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A Serious reveals the full extent to which the partnership in health and social partnership is very important but, at the same time, raises the problem of the responsibility and liability of health care professionals and social workers for the provision of patients with health care services and social services of the high quality. In this regard, the development of effective policies that can maintain the tight control over the quality of health care social services provided for patients, especially the aging population and patients that have special needs. The case of the mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A Serious has shocked the nation but, at the same time, this case has triggered the public pressure on the government and legislators to enhance the existing legislation and policies to improve the quality of health care services and social services.
Section A
The health and social care partnership is very important because it opens wide prospects for the development of closer cooperation between health care organizations and social workers. In fact, the milestone of the partnership philosophy is the idea of the provision of patients with the full range of services that is particularly important for elderly patients, who grow more and more dependent on health and social care services. In fact, the health and social care partnership allows health and social care organisations to provide patients with the broad range of services making them more available to them. For example, many people, who have serious health problems, cannot always count on social care because they just do not know about such care or they cannot participate in related programs because of their disability. Instead, partnerships in health and social care improve the interaction between health and social care organisations. As a result, when a physician notices that a patient needs social care, then he/she may report to a social care organisation and it will help the patient providing social care services the patient needs.
Furthermore, the philosophy of partnership in health and social care focuses on the improvement of the quality of life of patients, because health care professionals and social workers can set higher standards of care for patients, especially, those, who are dependent on care givers but do not have family members, who can perform the role of care givers. In fact, the health and social care partnership contributes to the overall improvement of the quality of care that naturally contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of patients, who suffer from serious health problems and need social care at the same time. Often patients with serious health problems cannot get access to social care because it needs time and efforts from their part, while their health condition may impose significant limitations on their movement, for example, in case of physical disability. As a result, patients may fail to receive social care but the health and social care partnership implies that patients, who need social care will receive it along with health care.
On the other hand, the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A Serious case reveals the fact that the health and social care partnership is not always effective and successful. In fact, the problem of professional negligence and the poor communication between health care professionals and social workers can undermine the effectiveness of partnership in health care and social care. At the same time, the partnership in health and social care being integrated in one organisation raises the risk of manipulation and misuse of the partnership for benefits of organisations rather than for benefits of patients. In this regard, the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A Serious case proves that such partnership may be extremely dangerous for patients.
Therefore, the effective implementation of the partnership in health care and social work is possible only on the condition of the effective monitoring and control of the performance of professionals providing health and social care services and organisations responsible for the provision of such services. The monitoring and control over the partnership in health and social care increases the responsibility of organisations operating in the industry because they are legally liable for the violation of existing norms and standards concerning health and social care.
Therefore, the effectiveness of health and social care partnership between is questionable judging from the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A Serious case. At any rate, the risk of professional negligence and the lack if effective control over organisations providing health and social care in partnership increase the risk of the violation of human rights of patients, their abuse, while in some cases, patients’ life may be under a threat. Such cases are apparently unacceptable and have a negative impact on the effectiveness of health and social care partnership but such partnership should be very responsible. In fact, it is the monitoring and control that can help government regulatory bodies to identify cases of the poor or negligent work of professionals working in the health and social care partnership but often such cases are difficult to identify. Nevertheless, the philosophy and potential of social and health care are very significant that makes their partnership an effective tool that can help to improve the quality of life of the population.
Section B
Health and social care partnerships may use different models that determine the nature of partnership and relations of parties involved in the partnership. In this regard, it is possible to distinguish several strategic directions in the development of partnership models in health and social care sector. First, the health and social care partnership model may be based on the full government involvement and control over the partnership. In such a case, the government is often directly involved in the partnership with the governing body of a health care institution being appointed and controlled by the authorities. The application of this model involves the extensive funding and strict control from the part of the government, while health and social care professionals work under regulations and strict control of government bodies.
However, this model is not the most effective one because the excessive involvement of the government in health care raises the problem of the incompetence of professionals appointed by the government, especially in case of managers, who have no medical background and cannot always understand how to manage health and social care partnership effectively. At the same time, the strict government control may raise the problem of bureaucracy in the health and social care partnership that will decrease its effectiveness.
Nevertheless, the government controlled partnership is the most reliable in terms of the observation of existing norms and standards in the field of health and social care. In such a case, the risk of such cases as the Mid Staffordshire NHS foundation trust and Adult A case is low because the tight control over health and social care organisations from the part of the government discourages employees from negligent performance.
Alternatively, the partnership model may include the distribution of functions and responsibilities between the government and health care organisation. In such a case, the government is mainly responsible for social care aspect of the partnership and may interfere directly into social care services and control the social care provided for patients, while hospitals or health care organisations provide health care services for patients. The government can only conduct monitoring and auditing of the health care organisation with in certain timeline and cannot interfere directly into functioning of the health care organisation. In fact, such partnership model is quite effective but again it needs the close interaction between health and social care organisations and the government. The government should monitor and control the partnership in health and social care but, at the same time, they government should not prevent social and health care organisations from their direct functions and their fulfilment.
Working in Partnership in Health and Social Care essay part 2
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