Task 2 A Consultancy Report on understanding strategies for achieving quality in health

and social care services.

2.1)

An explanation of the standards that exist in health and social care for measuring quality.

A number of different standards are used to measure the quality of health and social care in the
organization. Following are some of the standards that are used to measure the quality:

Federal Standard 1037 C

ISO 9000
ISO 14000
BS 5400
Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
AS 9000
PS 9000
TL 9000

These standards are extremely important for the organization because they are proves that the
company is taking good care of its workers. Moreover, they make sure that the company is
meeting all these standards and is also maintaining them to give efficient and quality services to
its customers also.
These quality measuring standards make sure that the raw materials which are used in
manufacturing of the products, the processes that are adopted while manufacturing the products,
and all the other aspects of production are safe and clean. This is important for the workers of the
company because the company has to provide safe environment to them. Moreover, it is also
important for the customers because they must be provided with the best products, which do not
harm them and must provide them the satisfaction they are expecting.
There are some laws and legislations that are regarding the operations of the companies and they
have to follow them. These standards also make sure that the companies are abiding by the rules
and regulations regarding their operations. In addition, the ISO and other health and quality

control standards also safeguard the rights of the buyers and consumers of the services and
products of the company (Guyatt, G.H., Patrick, D.L. & Feeny, D.H., 1993).
2.2)

An evaluation of different approaches to implementing quality systems.

In the health care establishment, the need for increasing concern and improving quality about the
different aspects of are done with the help of different approaches that implement these quality
systems. The quality systems are the present in the organizational structure and they are the
processes that are used to implement quality within the organization. These quality systems are
also found in the documents of the company and they must be followed by the stakeholders. It is
essential for the stakeholders to follow them so that the organization will end up achieving the
positive desired results (Wu, M.L., & Chan, L.K., 2002).
The health care employer is the one who is actually responsible for the implementation of these
quality systems in the company. Following are some of the approaches that must be fulfilled in
order to implement the quality systems:

The health care employer must form the team that has the right staff or the people who

can perform the job they will be assigned to do.

The approach also includes that the employer must be very sure that the people, he is
selecting for the job, are competent enough and know what they are expected to do; they

must know about their responsibilities.

The people in the team, must be flexible so that they can deal with different situations;

especially the uncertain ones.

The company has to deal with many different conditions; hence, the employer must select
has the diverse workforce so that different people can manage different tasks. Eventually,
they will achieve the result, collectively. In other words, the more qualities the workers

2.3)

have, the more successful the team will be!

An analysis of potential barriers to delivery of quality health and social care services.

There are a number of different barriers in the delivery of quality health and social care services
(Friedmann, D., DAunno, T.A. & Alexander, J.A., 1999). Following are some of the reasons and
their analysis of the reasons that come in the way of the provision of the delivery of quality
health and social care services:

Cynicism: In this type of barrier, all the concerned people are willing to bring the
positive change in the delivery of quality health and social care services but the deviant
person will have a different perspective. These people will be reluctant about the change
and it mostly happens because of the lack of trust on the Managers or the workers.
Moreover, they think that the changes are just unnecessary or extravagant for the

company.
Apathy: Once Marshal said in 1999, regarding the hindrances that come in the way of
improving quality of health and care services that Health authority described an
effective working relationship with only a small minority of doctors but a high degree of
apathy among the majority. This research of Marshal is a prove that there are many
barriers within the field of health care. Sometimes it happens that the staffs of the
company think that the change or the improvement is unnecessary. It mostly happens

when they are not competent enough to deal with the changes and the new dimensions.
Lack of Resources: It is not easy to bring change within an organization. Other than the
reluctance from the Managers` or the staffs` side, the other biggest problem is the lack of
resources. Sometimes, the company does not have many funds and hence cannot afford
the change. Moreover, they may not have enough time to work on the change and other

4.1)

similar issues.
An evaluation of the methods for evaluating health and social care service quality with
regard to external and internal perspectives.

A number of methods are there that can evaluate health and social care service quality with
regard to external and internal perspectives (Bowling, A., 2014). Following are some of the
methods that can be used:

The very first one is to construct good questionnaires that can cover all the relevant
points. These questionnaires will be given to the patients who will be asked to fill them
and take their time. These questionnaires will help the company in understanding the

weaknesses and the strengths of their product or the services they are providing.
Interviews of the small focus group can also be conducted so that the company can

achieve the best level of product and service quality.

Complaints box should also be there and feedbacks must be appreciated. The company
can get the feedbacks by asking the customers to fill out the feedback forms at the end.
These feedbacks forms can be extremely beneficial for the company because they can

help in improving the quality when they will act according to the suggestions.
The scientific methods must also be used in the evaluation and the measurement of the
quality of the service. It is because good methods are required to form the best result in
the process of evaluation. Later, these results can be used to bring the significant and
necessary changes in the organization. Hence, the data must be accurate because the

4.2)

wrong results can bring disasters to the company.

A discussion of the impact that involving users of services in the evaluation process have
on service quality.

The evaluation process will not have the impact on the users only; instead, the staff of the
organization will also be influenced by them. Here, the example of an elder patient can be taken.
This patient was expecting a nice and gentle treatment from the health care center. The elder
patient needed the staff to listen to him properly and fulfill his requirements. Most of the time,
the old aged people usually do not take help from the young people because they want to show

that they can still work by themselves. Moreover, they require complete freedom and do not like
anyone else to restrain their liberty. So, when these people fill the service quality forms or the
questionnaires, they consider these points as well. According to the care worker, the good nurse
patient relationship is actually the good quality service. Hence, the mutual understanding and
respect are essential to have complete trust on each other (Healy. J., 2011). Moreover, the good
bonding between the patient and the care worker can only be established when they will
understand the mental and the physical state of the patient.
The patient must also have to trust the care taker so that he can treat him properly. This is the
only way through which the evaluation can be conducted in a peaceful manner and can prove to
be successful. These methods are not going to help the staff of the organization but also help the
patients. As a result, the health care center will experience benefit in the long term.
References
1. Bowling, A., 2014. The research methods in health. McGraw- Hill Education (UK).
2. Friedmann, D., DAunno, T.A. and Alexander, J.A., 1999. Organizational correlates.
Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 15 (2), pp. 61- 70.
3. Guyatt, G.H., Patrick, D.L. and Feeny, D.H., 1993. Annals of internal medicine, 218 (9),
pp. 522- 529.
4. Healy, J. 2011. Improving health care safety and quality: reluctant regulators, (3).
5. Wu, M.L., and Chan, L.K., 2002. Quality function deployment. Journal of Operational
Research, 43 (2), pp. 363- 397.