Critically Discuss the Social, Cultural And Economic Assignment Sample
CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES ON THE DESIGN OF A SERVICE WITHIN A HEALTH SYSTEM
Introduction
Social, cultural, and economic factors are extensively responsible for influencing the design of physiotherapy under a health care system. Through this essay, a brief discussion will be presented which aims to gather a deeper sense of understanding regarding the social, cultural, and economic factors influencing the designing sections of physiotherapy in healthcare. As the essay progresses, a brief discussion will be presented on the role of the NHS in designing physiotherapy services along with the challenges in maintaining such services. In addition to that, the ways will be discussed which will focus on the appraisal for the health care workers and the ethical concern, which the physiotherapy services need to adhere to in order to stay ethically congruent. Every system related to the NHS is inter-linked and therefore every change affects one another. Therefore, the study needs to be done in detail in order to understand all the aspects of the NHS.
Discussion
Social influences on the design of a service within a health system
The social determinants are usually considered as the most essential factors regarding the design of service within the NHS. Physiotherapy services in the healthcare sector are bound by several cultural aspects such as communication and the ability to understand each other’s perceptions. In this regard, it becomes essential for physiotherapists to create a cultural bond with their patients which can effectively help in aspects such as pain management (Yoshikawa et al. 2020). It has been seen that the cultural differences between the patient and the physiotherapist can lead to communication gaps and this can be a major issue in terms of designing the health care service. As per the statistics, the NHS is noticed to employ slightly more than 2% of all local employment in the UK (Maguire, 2020). As a result, the government along with the NHS needs to increase the scope of employment in terms of inducting physiotherapists. The shortage of physiotherapists can also be linked with the culture where this profession in the medical sector has not been quite important. Moreover, inadequate training facilities have also created a notion among the common public that the career-building scope of physiotherapists is quite low compared to other careers in the healthcare sector. This is also considered because of the social determinants. Several national policies are eventually undertaken for or addressing the social determinants through the role of the NHS. These policies include Tackling Health Inequalities in 2003 and others (Bristol, 2021). Through these policies and procedures, the NHS has been able to connect with people more conveniently and thereby, providing them with essential help towards health security.
On the other hand, the Liverpool South Clinical Commissioning Group has also undertaken advice on prescription projects. According to this project, potential general practitioners are allowed to refer patients having a high risk of health inequalities to the citizen advice bureau advice in Liverpool (Liverpool CCG, 2021). This attribute reflects the organisational focus upon extending the quality of Physiotherapy services for potential patients. As a result of this, the NHS has been able to emerge as the most important health care service provider considering and addressing social vulnerabilities.
Apart from the social instances that have affected the NHS, significant economic opportunity is eventually insured by the NHS organisations for the local community. Moreover, the NHS is also looking to provide a positive impact on society by considering the distinctive economic development of the local region and society in the UK (Maguire, 2020). On the other hand, the NHS is also observed to bring innovative changes to the overall health system of the UK.
Cultural influences on the design of a service within a health system
The design of the operational framework for the NHS has been maintaining distinctive suitability with the UK society and culture with the delivery of quality physiotherapy services. In this regard, the UK culture of obtaining quality physiotherapy services can be considered to have driven changes in maintaining flexible and quality physiotherapy services. As an example, it can be stated that the considerable changes conceptualised by the NHS across Britain’s health system included the National Association of Hospitals under the Ministry of Health along with the organisation into regional health authorities (Kings Fund, 2021). A range of different health centres is eventually created by the NHS as an integral part of providing quality physiotherapy services like vaccinations and others.
With regards to effectively addressing healthcare issues in the UK, the NHS has paid attention to characterising their internal workplace culture under the lights of 6 different visions. These include inspiring values, performance and goals, compassion and support, innovation and learning, collective leadership, effective teamwork, and others (Kings Fund, 2021). As a result of this, any kind of change has been able to provide high-quality care with clear goals and performance feedback. Quality patient safety practices within the NHS have also been added with a fair value with continual learning and improvement process.
The extended focus of the NHS can be recognised as complying with the quality physiotherapy service culture in the UK. The characterisation of NHS workplace culture has eventually highlighted distinctive focus upon quality service provision with a collaborative approach and compassionate support. In this case, the culture of the UK healthcare sector can be seen to be efficiently interpreted and adopted by the NHS with adequate reformative measures and fundamental cultural values.
Economic Influences on the design of a service within a health system
Economic factors greatly affect as well as influence the healthcare systems through various perspectives such as employment, premium facilities, costly medicines, and several others. The GDP of the UK has been witnessed to be at 1.43% in the year 2019, which can be said to be a fairly moderate GDP (Statista, 2021). Therefore, the healthcare systems could be moderately maintained in order to provide the best value to the patients, workers and others. Economic factors such as GDP can be said to be a vital part of the economy that influences the design of a health care service. With the growth of GDP, the design of physiotherapy services can be greatly influenced and can be focused on for a higher outcome. In the year 2020, the GDP of the country went down to -9.85%, which affected the funding investment and financial support for the physiotherapy services in several ways such as providing a premium level of facilities or services that were becoming costly for the country (Statista, 2021). With that, the safety of employment was at stake due to the financial conditions of the government due to massive amounts of funds being indulged in procuring medicines for treatment with testing kits and others along with investing in the research facilities in order to discover vaccines and others.
However, the GDP of the country of UK has been estimated to be at 6.76% in the year of 2021, which shows a massive prospect for the growth of healthcare systems through appropriate designing of the physiotherapy services in order to provide value to the patients, who need to physiotherapy and rehabilitation (Statista, 2021). With the level of GDP, it can be said that a country can invest several portions of the fund in discovering new techniques and ways through which the patients and others can be extensively benefitted. With the advent of technological development, economic interventions such as funding and financing, greatly influence the designing of physiotherapy services in several aspects. In addition to that, the NHS has an extensive role in designing physiotherapy services within the country.
Role of NHS in designing a healthcare service
The national healthcare system is said to be having a massive role in terms of designing physiotherapy services for the patients (Pandya-Wood et al. 2017). Everyone is responsible for their own physical health; however, the NHS is also responsible in order to assist people in improving the department that is responsible for providing physiotherapy services Greenberg et al. 2020). The role of the NHS in order to promote healthy living and prevention of poor health is crucial for removing inequality in terms of health and sustaining the NHS for the future generation. People residing in the country have extensive trust over the NHS and the people working in that organisation. The role of the NHS is not only to treat people when it is necessary but also to prevent people from being affected under physical conditions due to a lack of physiotherapy.
NSH is said to be responsible in order to support individuals, their family and their career to act more appropriately in a healthy manner by guiding the people with any further assistance that they might need whenever possible through the intervention of digital healthcare systems (Ross et al. 2018). The responsibility gets accelerated for those people that find it difficult to access the physiotherapy services of the NHS such as the travellers and gipsies, homeless people, and Roma communities. Furthermore, it can be said that by creating and supporting people in order to live healthier, the NHS not only helps for the purpose it was created for but also assists itself in preserving for the future generations. Around 10% of the budget of the NHS is spent on treating people suffering from severe disabilities and other complications. However such risk can be diminished by about 80% only through the adoption of a healthier lifestyle and availing physiotherapy sessions (GOV, 2021). There are various roles of the NHS which provide value to the patients who need physiotherapy however, several challenges can be identified which can cause issues with maintaining high-level physiotherapy services in the UK.
Challenges in maintaining healthcare services
There are several challenges in maintaining physiotherapy services. Among them are the usual challenges that can refer to the ageing population, the growing population along with the increasing demands of patients for better and more effective physiotherapy services. Even the Government of the UK has increased the budget for services linked with physiotherapy by 1.4% over the duration of 10 years starting from 2009 to 2019 (King’s fund, 2021). However, this funding is not enough as the amount is mostly distributed among other medical facilities and services under the NHS and there is no specific department that can help in allocating funds that help in the designing, development, and improvement of physiotherapy services (Kazeminajafi, 2018). This is a major challenge that needs to be overcome within the NHS by the support of the Government and increasing awareness regarding the importance and requirement of physiotherapy in the country.
As demonstrated by Bucci et al. (2019), medical facilities belong with the passing period and among them, technology has become the major force, which has helped to transform the entire healthcare system. Furthermore, there are several other challenges such as the closure of the local physiotherapy services and the extreme growth of privatised physiotherapy services (Cadogan and Hughes, 2021).
It was rather being expected in 2020 that in 2021, the Department of Health will face detrimental challenges. There was an emergence of issues such as the stoppage of both cognitive and emotional healthcare precipitated by the global epidemic which can also cause issues for people under physiotherapy (Morgan, 2020). In addition to this, after the outbreak of covid-19 in 2020, the creation of a healthcare system that addresses both the health care disparities, as well as other flaws susceptible by covid-19, have been developed. The instant issue is the repetition of covid-19 that has certainly resulted in more victims with the infection requiring hospitalisation than during the previous estimated peak year (Subramanian et al. 2021). Simultaneously, the NHS is now being advised to carry out the world’s biggest vaccination programme in its existence, as well as build treatment for patients with long-term plans. Moreover, in accordance with government support, medication in relation to non-covid diseases was further being limited and discontinued, for a particular period of time. In addition to the delay created by the pandemic, this can particularly affect the design, development and improvement of the physiotherapy service within the NHS (Cadogan and Hughes, 2021).
Covid-19 has had a significant effect on public health and their well-being. Due to increasing pressure on youngsters, overburdened resources have been strained even further. Protracted consequences are expected to be significant, with one assessment estimating that 10 million individuals will require extra or supplementary psychotherapy (Ham, 2020). Staff unavailability, induced by both viruses and non-viruses, has turned out to be a major challenge for the department concerning physiotherapy in the NHS healthcare system. As mentioned by Al Amiry and Maguire (2021), hospitals are reportedly seeking information to postpone or limit extended leave, indicating the pressure of physiotherapy services.
Over a long-term period, the outbreak has exposed basic flaws in healthcare infrastructure and related physiotherapy services within the NHS. The Covid-19 pandemic has even reflected a severe lack of effectiveness in the healthcare sector due to which the productivity and effectiveness of the entire healthcare sector have worsened. This has been further affected by massive cuts in health care budgets. As suggested by Lodato et al. (2021), the pandemic’s effects on elderly people in inner cities showcase the important practicalities of disparities and the necessity for a coordinated implementation strategy. Aside from the NHS, the government is required to make realistic undertakings in the framework of psychological care and service disparities. A minimal necessity has enhanced public funding to supply appropriate care solutions and address the uncertainty of the social care system that can also support physiotherapy for elderly people in need. Effective working relationships of human service entitlement, as well as greater cooperation with the NHS, are required along with appraisals of the physiotherapists (Iliffe and Manthorpe, 2020).
Appraisal for the physiotherapists
As demonstrated by Murphy et al. (2018), appraisals can indeed be characterised as systematic and appropriate documentation for evaluating an individual’s daily physiotherapy progress. For several generations, physiotherapists have been compelled to annual evaluations, with authorities utilising the results to gauge an organisation’s effectiveness. It might be claimed that all this encourages conspicuous consumption, casting doubt on the purpose of estimating the worth of an individual’s personal assessment. Appraisals continue to be a source of dissatisfaction among physiotherapists. National Health Service survey that was conducted for the staff, 87% of employees have said that they have experienced an appraisal, with a rating system of 3.1 out of 5 (Layland and Leena, 2017). Despite significant inspection, every corporation, ironically, seems to have the freedom to design its own method for employee evaluations.
Apart from that, appraisal for the physiotherapists is essential as it helps them to get motivated, along with improving their individual performance and the culture of the firm. The healthcare industry is diverse, in which the most important individual is the patient. In conclusion, all physiotherapists must improve their skills in order to meet service quality. It is very advantageous for both senior healthcare officials and physiotherapists to evaluate the present achievement understanding and increase adjustments if physiotherapists’ skillsets are evaluated. As stated by Antony (2018), performance management also contributes to the training and development programmes, allowing individuals to be mentored to increase their skills who can be inducted by NHS as physiotherapists.
To strengthen appraisals, establishing comprehensive reviews on a regular basis will guarantee that the annual appraisal is well informed. The appraiser ought to have the necessary leadership and management skills, and the ability to analyse goals and develop personnel (Maijala et al. 2018). This could also initiate the yearly evaluation solely to have meetings and activities, permitting to concentrate on continuous self-development and ensuring that now the future is prioritised along with maintaining ethical concerns effectively.
Ethical concerns linked with providing healthcare services
The appraisals of healthcare in the UK have reflected a significant requirement of ethical concerns in terms of developing healthcare services. Physiotherapy services operating within the UK are required to follow the guidelines and regulations established by the government, which also includes ethical ways of providing the services. It is essential to develop quality physiotherapy services that are aimed towards providing benefits to the patients and are carried out efficiently (Nebeker et al. 2019). It has often been seen that negligence causes the provision of poor physiotherapy services, which also reflects the lack of efficiency and effectiveness in physiotherapists. In order to ensure that physiotherapists are efficient in terms of providing the services to the individuals in need, regular monitoring and training facilities are initiated by the NHS to identify skills and skill gaps present within physiotherapists (Mousa and Puhakka, 2019). This also allows in balancing the care quality that is provided for every health care facility and service within the country. For instance, the government as a regulator body is required to balance the quality for all the services provided by the NHS to ensure that no services have poor quality management in terms of delivery and development.
Another ethical concern in this regard is the improvement towards making physiotherapy facilities more accessible to the individuals in the country. It has been seen that people suffer from various ailments and are unable to receive treatment since physiotherapy services are not accessible due to either financial and economic conditions or lack of health care service providers in their local region (Wernhart et al. 2019). As a result, analysis is required to take necessary steps to ensure that physiotherapy services are accessible to every individual UK regardless of economic status or geographical position.
Sustaining the physiotherapy workforce for the future and its development is another ethical concern that is part of the NHS and its ethical norms. The development of a long-term health care workforce ensures that physiotherapy services would be provided to the individuals in the country in the long run without compromising quality and care (Agarwal et al. 2018). Moreover, this also ensures that the NHS recruits effectively as well as continuously upgrades the skills of the physiotherapist within the country. Apart from that, focusing upon the development of physiotherapy services in the long run also ensures that better and more effective facilities and services would be available in the near future which is essential for the growing number of elderly people in the country.
People suffering from neurological disorders is another matter of concern in terms of maintaining ethical guidelines. It is essential for healthcare practitioners to advise people and create awareness regarding the neurological disorders that might be of use for individuals who are at risk. However, in some cases, it has been seen that unethical practices are carried out and individuals suffering from neurological disorders are not treated as they should receive from their physiotherapists. Hence, several individuals follow this unethical practice and provide substandard physiotherapy as elderly people or people suffering from neurological disorders do not understand how much they are actually benefiting from the overall physiotherapy sessions (based on the ideas of Hussain et al. 2018). These individuals who are the victim of lack of knowledge and awareness get swindled by unethical practices as motivated by financial gains that need to be stopped and monitored by the concerned authorities. Furthermore, increasing awareness in terms of physiotherapy can also help people to understand the standards of the services they are entitled to which would allow them to avoid substandard services.
It is also essential for the government to ensure that no unethical practices are carried out within the healthcare sector that is responsible for the physiotherapy services. Unable to do so can reduce the amount of trust that people have in the NHS and its physiotherapy services. Unethical practices such as poor-quality services, inadequate physiotherapy or charging extra money for the service needs to be eliminated by regularly monitoring the practitioners and the individuals working in the healthcare sector. Feedback mechanisms can also be developed that would ensure that people living in the country of the UK can report any form of unethical practices directly to the authorities and the government in case they might arise.
Conclusion
The above discussion has helped in identifying how social economic and cultural factors affect the development and design of physiotherapy services in the UK. Moreover, the above discussion has provided an in-depth critical analysis of the impact of these factors on the physiotherapy service structure of the NHS. In this regard, the discussion helps in understanding the development of physiotherapy services, their importance in the present context, and the amount of funding that is required. The discussion has helped in understanding how the Government of the UK is working alongside the NHS and utilising the existing resources within the country to improve the overall healthcare infrastructure necessary to provide effective and quality physiotherapy services to the citizens of the country.
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