Quality Management: The way to solve social and economic pro
From 1989 to the present, various policies for the NHS have been followed by both the Conservative and New Labour governments. These policies have included, the provision of increased money and the improvement of the management efficiency. In the first of these policies the increase of money has been adhered to, however this increase in expenditure has not been sufficient to cope with the ever increasing population. In 1991,there was a period of immense change and new challenges within the health service. NHS reforms have effected the way in the NHS operates, reforms are leading to a gradual improvements in the quality of care, responsiveness to individuals and even better value for money, from the growing NHS budget. The introduction of competitive tendering for contracts has stimulated a new focus on the quality of care patients are receiving. As the standard of management is often reflected within the quality of service this shall be the viewpoint of this work. After years of the Thatcher governments attempt to cut back public spending her successor John Major sought to instil a more positive approach to public services with the introduction of a Citizens Charter, this was later followed by the Patients Charter. Within the . . .
In each table the total of all the hospitals within one trust are combined into the tables. Management Theory and Practice, DP Publications, London Maxwell,R 1991, The National Health Service, Policy Journals, Berks Oakland ,S. In 1997 the government introduced The new National Performance Framework which as fig 1 shows the drive to become a more efficient and cost effective and quality organisation. Health outcomes of NHS care NHS success in using its resources to:- reduce levels of risk factors- reduce levels of disease, impairment and complications of treatment- improve quality of life for patients and carers- reduce premature deaths Source: The rationale for adopting a new approach to assessing NHS performance, Department of Health, Crown. Patient/carer experience The patient/carer perceptions on the delivery of services including:- responsiveness to individual needs and preferences- the skill, care and continuity of service provision- patient involvement, good information and choice- waiting times and accessibility- the physical environment; the organisation and courtesy of administrative arrangements 6. (The role of the NHS Executive, Crown Publication, 1997) Quality Assurance can be defined as Morgan & Everett, (1990,p23-36) state a system of activities that assure that the production of a defined service is akin to a set and agreed standards. Quality management offers staff at each level an active role in the pursuit of quality, this is with respect of the emphasis on employee involvement. To ensure accuracy, the audit commission has considered the way that the organisation in the NHS are keeping their records and how the figures have been collected. Efficiency The extent to which the NHS provides efficient services, including:- cost per unit of care/outcome- productivity of capital estate- labour productivity 5. In the white paper “Working for Patients”(1988), this put forward a number of proposals directly aimed at improving efficiency and quality. These were attempts to develop the skills and the knowledge of staff. Health improvement The overall health of populations, reflecting social and environmental factors and individual behaviour as well as care provided by the NHS and other agencies 2. Although the bureaucratic structure of the NHS will be streamlined a professional self regulating is to empower clinicians to introduce standards of quality. But we must ask is, if a organisation is self regulating, will this lead to a bureaucratic system that was so dominant within public bodies? As mentioned before the governments intention to set standards and monitor such standards.
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