Managing Quality in Health and Social Care

Unit 27 Managing Quality in Health and social Care

Unit 27 Managing quality in HSC forms the optional unit for the BTEC coursework in Health and social care. This unit lays the emphasis on key aspect as why it is important for health carers to manage quality of health and social care services extended for the patients. The main aim of the unit is to draw attention on the various perspectives of the health and social care service quality parameters. Moreover, this unit also detail how this service quality is evaluated in order to empower and involve users of services in Health and social care setup.

Unit abstract- Managing Quality in health and social care

Quality is an essential component of health and social care services and a concept with many different interpretations and perspectives. It is important to both users of health and social care services and external stakeholders. In this unit learners will gain knowledge of these differing perspectives and consider ways in which health and care service quality may be improved.

Improvement of service quality requires both the empowerment and involvement of users of services, as well as addressing the requirements of external regulatory bodies. Learners will explore the requirements of external regulators and contrast them with the expectations of those who use services. Learners will also gain knowledge of some of the methods that can be used to assess different quality perspectives, and develop the ability to evaluate these methods against service objectives. Health and social care is a high contact service industry, and learners will be introduced to some of the concepts of managing service quality with an aim of achieving continuous improvement and exceeding minimum standards.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit a learner will:

1. Understand differing perspectives of quality in relation to health and social care services
2. Understand strategies for achieving quality in health and social care services
3. Be able to evaluate systems, policies and procedures in health and social care services
4. Understand methodologies for evaluating health and social care service quality.

Unit content

LO1 Understand differing perspectives of quality in relation to health and social care services

Quality perspectives: perspectives of external bodies eg conformance; perspectives of staff; perspectives of those who use services eg Servqual – Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry; technical quality; functional quality; quality assurance; quality control; quality audit; quality management

Stakeholders: external agencies eg Care Quality Commission; Supporting People; National Institute for Clinical Excellence; Health Service Commissioners; local authorities; users of services eg direct users of services, families, carers; professionals; managers; support workers

LO2 Understand strategies for achieving quality in health and social care services

Standards: minimum standards; best practice; benchmarks; performance indicators; charters; codes of practice; legislation eg local, national, European

Implementing quality: planning, policies and procedures; target setting; audit; monitoring; review; resources (financial, equipment, personnel, accommodation); communication; information; adapting to change

Barriers: external (inter-agency interactions, legislation, social policy); internal (risks, resources, organisational structures, interactions between people)

LO3 Be able to evaluate systems, policies and procedures in health and social care services

Evaluating quality: different quality methods and systems eg Total Quality Management, Continuous Quality Improvement; concepts; preventing problems; management leadership, control of processes, involvement of people; quality circles

Health and care organisation: services eg an NHS trust, a local authority social care service, a private health or social care service, a not-for-profit health and care service

Improving quality: methods eg customer service, empowering users of services, functional quality, putting people first, valuing front-line staff, internally generated standards that exceed minimum requirements

LO4 Understand methodologies for evaluating health and social care service quality

Methods for assessing service quality: methods eg questionnaires, focus groups, structured and semi-structured interviews, panels, complaints procedures, road shows

Perspectives: external eg requirements of inspection agencies (minimum standards); internal eg organisational standards; continuous improvement

Involving users of services: mechanisms eg consultation, panels, empowerment, user managed services

Learning outcomes   On successful completion of this unit a learner will:	Assessment criteria for pass   The learner can:
LO1 Understand differing perspectives of quality in relation to health and social care services	explain perspectives that stakeholders in health and social care have regarding qualityanalyse the role of external agencies in setting standardsassess the impact of poor service quality on health and social care stakeholders
LO2 Understand strategies for achieving quality in health and social care services	explain the standards that exist in health and social care for measuring qualityevaluate different approaches to implementing quality systemsanalyse potential barriers to delivery of quality health and social care services
LO3 Be able to evaluate systems, policies and procedures in health and social care services	evaluate the effectiveness of systems, policies and procedures used in a health and social care setting in achieving quality in the service(s) offeredanalyse other factors that influence the achievement of quality in the health and social care servicesuggest ways in which the health and social care service could improve its quality
LO4 Understand methodologies for evaluating health and social care service quality.	evaluate methods for evaluating health and social care service quality with regard to external and internal perspectivesdiscuss the impact that involving users of services in the evaluation process has on service quality.