The UK National Health Service - Case Study Example

The UK National Health Service (NHS) Introduction The National Health Service (NHS) was started in 1948, in England. It was established so as to provide good health care to all citizens irrespective of their social status. NHS is financed by the government from their tax revenue collected. New health care specialists such as the doctors, nurses, opticians, and dentists were introduced during its launch. NHS has employed more than 1.7 million workers serving at different ranks becoming the biggest organization serving over 53 million people. The Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) structure was first introduced in NHS in 1953. Other programs have been introduced in NHS. For example, the smoking and cancer link in treating ling cancer and the polio and diphtheria vaccination program. The overall performance of the organization is the second best as compared to other health care systems in Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, USA and Netherlands according to the Commonwealth comparison conducted in 2010. Some organizational changes have taken place in NHS, in England, recently in 2013 whereby there was the introduction of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and abolition of strategic health authorities (SHAs) and other sectors (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 19). Origins of National Health Service in England The Park Hospital in Manchester was opened by Aneurin Bevan in July 5 1948 which was a plan for delivering services to all people. This was marked as a climax in the provision of health care which had not been achieved before. Doctors, pharmacists, dentists, opticians and nurses were brought together to work under one roof and provide health services at lower costs. The core principle of introduction of NHS was to provide health services to all people. In 1952 prescription charges was made to be one shilling and a rate of 1 pound for dental treatments. DNA structure was revealed in 1953 by two scientists from Cambridge University; Watson and Crick. Deoxyribonucleic acid is a material known for making up genes which passes hereditary characteristics from parent to child. The structure of the DNA enabled doctors to research about the defective genes that cause diseases (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 20). The establishment of smoking and cancer link resulted from the increased cases of lung cancer London hospitals. NHS attempted to introduce the daily visits of children in hospitals to look after their parents in the wards, but it never worked. However, further attempts have been made to allow children to visit their parents, which has improved gradually up to date. One of the plans implemented by NHS in 1958 was the introduction of diphtheria and polio vaccine which was aimed at promoting good health amongst large populations, which had been affected by the diseases for a long time. The program ensured that everyone under the age of 15 was vaccinated against polio and diphtheria (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 21). In 1960, kidney transplants were introduced where the first kidney transplant took place at Edinburgh Royal Infirmly in UK which involved an identical set of 49-year-old twins. Kidney transplants gave an alternative to a lifetime of regular dialysis, which was rampant in UK. The contraceptive pill was introduced in 1961 which played a major role in women control of pregnancies and enhancing sexual freedom. The number of women taking pills increased from 50,000 to 1 million between 1962 and 1969. The Enoch Powell’s Hospital plan was introduced in 1962 where NHS was divided into parts like the hospitals, general practice and local health authorities. A doctor conducted a hip replacement in the same year 1962 (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 22). In 1967, The Salmon Report was established and required recommendations for developing the structure of the nursing staff and also improving the status of the health professions. The Abortion Act was introduced in the same which legalized abortion up to 28 weeks if carried out by physicians who are registered and other doctors who agree with the termination for physical and mental interests of the woman. The first heart transplant took place at the National Heart in Marylebone, London, in 1968 conducted by surgeon Donald Ross who was born in South Africa. In the same year fertility treatment at Birmingham Maternity Hospital led to a woman giving birth to sextuplets, two boys and four girls. Other inventions in NHS have been made since 1968 up to date including test tube fertilization of a baby in early 1970’s (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 22). The organizational structure includes the government, health specialist like the doctors and nurses and programs providing community health care. The national parliament has the full control of NHS. It holds debate through Public Accounts and Health committees which determines the amount of funds to be allocated to NHS. The Department of Health, which consists of six health ministers: It is responsible for social and health care. They also provide the overall resources used by NHS and make the main executive decisions on the policy frameworks to be used in NHS. Recently, there has been the setting up of an independent NCB aimed at providing the appropriate commissioning guidelines to NHS aimed at improving public health. The Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs): They act as the headquarters of NHS in England and were created in 2002; they are 10 in number. Their key role is coordination and provision of leadership across different geographical areas. One of their main tasks is to build capacity and the capability of people, buildings and facilities across all organizations. Primary Care Trusts (PCTs): Involves in commissioning and direct provision of health services in local areas on behalf of NHS. The PCTs are involved in commissioning of a wide range of services such as the screening programs, dentistry, patient transport and provision of medicine to people in local areas. However, they were abolished in April 2013 following an organizational change where they were replaced with GPs consortia. NHS Trusts: Currently, there are around 190 NHS Trusts controlling over 1,500 hospitals and centers for special care. Ambulance and Foundation Trusts have also been introduced. Trusts are large self-governing organizations comprising of a chair, five executives and five non-executive directors and normally run by finance directors. However, they have been abolished in some countries in UK. Care Trusts are put in place in order to allow social, and health care commissioning to integrate and provide both in one NHS organization. They usually focus to old people cares. Children Trusts were introduced to work with organizations that commission and provide services to young people and children usually led by local authorities. Independent providers: Private companies, social enterprises and voluntary organizations are included here which are aimed at increasing the choices of NHS patients for their health care. There is outsourcing of subcontracts from private providers, which has enabled some hip replacement and cataracts surgeries. The services provided by the independent health providers have increased in a rapid rate over the last five years. The third sector: This sector includes a wide range of institutions that fit neither in the public nor the public organizations. Some of the institutions include the voluntary groups, charities, cooperatives, social enterprises and the small community enterprises. The inpatient and outpatient sexual health services, mental health services, and drug rehabilitation cares. Primary care providers: The primary care is normally provided by community nurses, pharmacists, dentists, opticians and other health professionals. In this sector, continuity in the provision of care to patients is enhanced since 90 % of NHS patients benefit from primary care. GPs: They are required to advise the ill people, managing those with chronic diseases and making referrals. Walk-in centers: These are the urgent care centers for minor injury nursing usually managed by experienced nurses. Dentistry services: In the provision of primary care, the dental services are provided through contracts with individual self-employed dentists and other individuals. Community pharmacies: Their aim is to provide medicine to patients with the help of the GPs. Opticians: They are involved in carrying out eye tests, identifying eye diseases. Community health services: This involves reaching out to patients’ homes in provision of health care. The services are usually provided by art therapists, occupational therapists physiotherapists, community nurses and other health visitors. NHS Direct, A & E departments and Ambulance services which are in a sector that deals in the provision of emergency and urgent care. Other care providers include the mental health nurses, defense medical services, prison and asylum seekers health care. In government and regulation there is the trust boards, Care Quality Commission (CQC), Monitor and Tools for Governance for trusts and many more regulation commissions and boards (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 24). The National Health Service (NHS) of England plays a great role in the provision of care in England and other countries in various ways. First, NHS provides health care to all sorts of people irrespective of their financial statuses. In addition, the introduction of polio and diphtheria vaccines programs in 1960’s saved lives of many children under the age of 15 years. In partnership with other private health companies NHS has managed to improve their health care to serious diseases like the chronic diseases. Kidney transplants, hip replacements and heart transplants are some of the major invention in the past years. NHS involves itself in the provision of clinical services which usually reaches out to local people through the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). In direct provision of health services, they conduct out-of-hospital services such as health visiting, district nursing, therapy and prevention of diseases especially those caused by smoking and unhealthy diets. They a provide health care services to the older people through care trusts and Children Trusts to the young people. NHS allows independent health providers to participate in the provision of health care which makes the NHS patients to have choices by using those providers. The independent health providers have provided over 1.5 million operations, primary care and diagnostic assessments to NHS patients. NHS has promoted the health care to patients through the inclusion of community voluntary groups in their organizational structure. Rehabilitation of drug addicts and outpatient mental health services has taken place in rural areas in England and other countries. NHS, in partnership with other private health care providers, managed to reveal the DNA structure in 1953 which was used to diagnose and treat diseases associated with defective genes. Introduction of the contraceptive pill by NHS health specialists in 1961 helped to manage the problem of increasing birth rates in European countries, which had resulted to overpopulation. In 1986, NHS played an important role in fighting the spread of AIDS by setting up a strong campaign aimed at improving the health, prevent diseases and offer treatment. Recently in 2013, there has been organizational structure changes aimed at improving the provision of care to all patients (Sines, Saunders & Forbes-Burford 2009, p. 25). References List Sines, D., Saunders, M., & Forbes-Burford, J. 2009, Community health care nursing. Chichester, U.K., Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 19-26 Read More