Introduction
In some cases, a health and social care course is offered online whereby learners receive their level 4 qualification diploma upon successful completion of their assignments and assessments. This level 4 diploma is equivalent to a first-year university degree course, also known as FHEQ level 4 (Alexandrova et al., 2020). Additionally, diploma holders of health and social care can attain up to one hundred and twenty credits in each academic year in order to pass and 360 credits attainable in three years to graduate. These credits are attained by developing comprehension of the social and health care industry as well as the distinct communication, support, and care strategies in place. One advantage of taking this course is that learners of this care are able to offer their acquired knowledge and completely supportive service to people in their care.
The basic goal of social and health care at the course of QLS level 4 is to issue learners with the appropriate knowledge, resources, and tools to provide effective care and assistance to the ageing population in the United Kingdom. Another objective of a health and social care management diploma is equipping learners with underpinning skills and understanding, which are critical in regards to a health and social care career at a managerial level. Moreover, the above career is among the highest paying careers in the UK. Not only do these learners help and care for vulnerable people, they also make a great difference in the lives of UK citizens. This paper aims to support individuals and manage care by utilizing information from health and social care level 4.
Factors Influencing Health and Social Care Relationship
It is evident that health care and lifestyle are essential aspects of determining health. However, factors available in the social environment determine health services access and influence lifestyle choice, to begin with. Therefore, many factors combine in order to affect the health of communities and individuals. Whether an individual is unhealthy or healthy is dictated by their environment and circumstances. Factors like education level, level of income, relationship with friends, where people live, and genetics contain considerable health impacts. On the other hand, other factors are more considered. These factors include usage and access to health care services t, which have minimal impact.
There are a variety of social, environmental, economic, and personal factors that influence the status of health. These factors are referred to as health determinants classified as the social and economic environment, the concrete environment, and personal behaviours and characteristics. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) broadly categorizes health determinants as social factors, policymaking, health services, individual behaviours, genetics, and biology. Policies at the state and community levels affect both population and individual health. For example, when environmental taxes on tobacco sales are reduced, it causes an improvement in the health of the population since it results in a reduction in tobacco users (Rasella et al., 2018). On the other hand, physical and social health determinants reflect on the conditions in which people live, play, learn, are born, and work.
Additionally, these factors have a wide range of impacts on health as well as quality of life outcomes. Besides, social factors represent political and economic systems, social and physical environments, and access to health services. An example of a social factor that influences health is unemployment. For instance, most families experiencing unemployment in the UK have increased mortality rates due to anxiety and depression, which contributes largely to suicide (Brenner & Bhugra, 2020). Concerning health services as a health determinant, both health services quality and health services access have an impact on the community and individual health. Examples of barriers to accessing health services include high costs, lack of availability, restricted access to language, and lack of insurance coverage. These health services barriers often cause unmet health requirements, delays in receiving appropriate health care, insufficient preventive care services, and hospitalizations that could otherwise be prevented. Personal behaviours, including physical activity and drug usage, play an important part in health outcomes in individual characteristics and behaviour. Moreover, genetic and biological factors cause more effects on certain populations than others. Some examples of genetic and biological health determinants are sex, inherited conditions, genetic makeup, and age.
Aiming at improving worldwide health, World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified the three most common interventions that improve universal health conditions. One such intervention is education, whereby a large percentage of studies demonstrate a strong relationship between a good education and good health. Moreover, education proves to be reliable in predicting low mortality rates (Nemati et al., 2018). Generally, the probability of having good health is higher for people with post-secondary or university education. Social protection is another health intervention demonstrated by the World Health Organisation. Countries with some social protection reveal that social security or safety has a notable improvement in their health and economic outcomes, especially in cases where people cannot work. Lastly, urban development, the environment in which communities live, has a great impact on the health of residents. In this intervention, factors influencing negatively on health include crime, overcrowding, and a damp living environment. World Health Organisation finalizes that accessibility highly determines most health outcomes to proper housing, adequate transport conditions, and safe and healthy urban environments.
Policies Influencing Change in the Care Environment
Strategies for promoting health and preventing diseases are affected by PSE (Policies, Systems, and Environments), which are braced by health. Moreover, strategies in policies, systems, and changes in the environment are designed for promoting health behaviours through making choices that are healthy, easily accessible, and readily available in the community. In addition, PSE changes strategies with sustainability in mind. A policy is defined as a tool that is used to achieve the goals of preventing diseases and promoting health. In most cases, the process of decision-making concerning policies is done by organisations, stakeholders, and agencies. Examples of policy approaches are taxation, fiscal measures, regulatory oversight, and legislative advocacy. On the other hand, examples of disease prevention and health promotion policies include establishing policies for smoke-free and public events zones, the addition of tax to food options that are unhealthy, and establishing options for healthy food to vending machines in public areas. Furthermore, the requirement of safety equipment used in workplaces is a policy that aims at avoiding injuries at work.
Under systems change, it is known as a primary shift on the problem-solving methods. Change of a system can affect function, connections, and organisational purpose within institutions through addressing institutional policies, relationships, beliefs, goals, and culture. Various examples of systems change in preventing diseases and promoting health include implementing new technologies and replicating or adapting certified health promotion models (Rockwell & Gilroy, 2020). Besides, creating certification and training systems that align with health policies is also an example of systems change.
Contrastively, strategies in environmental change include changing the social, economic, or concepts and physical surroundings that cause effects on health outcomes. These strategies mostly address health outcomes in a population and are more effective when combined with other strategies. There exist several examples of environmental strategies that promote health and prevent diseases. These examples include installing signs that help in promoting the use of biking paths and increasing the number of greenways, trails, and paths in the community. Moreover, increasing the presence of healthy and fresh foods in cafeterias, schools, and restaurants is an environmental strategy that promotes health.
Key Legislation Relating to Care Management
Safe practice and management are essential aspects of care provision. Some various legislative regulations and measures in the UK support safety and health at work. These measures aim at protecting people at work, people using health care services, as well as the overall public. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Local Authority Trading Standards, as well as Care Quality Commission (CQC) altogether have the ability to introduce prosecutions against certain caregivers who distort the standards of safety and health. Examples of safety and health regulations and legislation involve the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, and the Health and Safety Act (HAS) (Johnson, 2020). The Manual Handling Operations Regulations protects people from the suffering and pain linked to Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).
MSDS are informative emergency services for workers that focus on safeguarding occupational health. However, the various risks associated with manual handling jobs like using life tracks could be fatal, especially where appropriate training is not offered. Moreover, substandard lifting strategies and uncomfortable postures increase the risk of injuries when handling manual tasks. On the other hand, Health and Safety Act covers a broad range of health, workplace, welfare, and safety issues across diverse sectors. Nevertheless, when workers fail to install the appropriate healthy procedures, their risk of poor health and serious injuries is heightened. The development of statutory instruments has supported the implementation of this Act and the provision of an interface to accommodate European regulations in the UK.
Besides, the HSE assists in holding implementation powers that cause unlimited jail sentences and fines. Therefore, employees have an overall duty under the HSE to care for other people and cooperate with their employers’ health and safety requirements. Further, Manual Handling is a big issue for providers of health care since people with limited mobility require assistance to safely transfer and move. Therefore, it is essential for manual handling to be done in ways that respect individual dignity. While an employer must see to it that they act in accordance with the regulatory framework, it does not mean disregarding the human rights of any individual. However, what employers should do is use a balanced and equal approach that minimizes risks for working people and at the same time maintains the privacy, autonomy, and dignity of the people they are serving. For example, the difficulty of lifting a sick, overweight patient should be solved rather than ignored.
Motivation, Objective Setting, and Performance Measurement in Care Management
Motivation is highly influenced by a composite set of economic, professional, and social factors. Additionally, there are many reasons why health workers are consistently motivated and decide to stay in their jobs. Health workers are generally motivated and express satisfaction in their jobs if they perform well. Various factors that contribute to job satisfaction and motivation include strong development of career, sufficient compensation, and satisfactory living and working conditions. For example, nurses are more pleased with their jobs if they feel they have greater autonomy in making their personal decisions regarding the necessities of patients (Oshodi et al., 2019). When secure human resources mechanisms are established in health systems, the appropriate motivation factors are also developed at adequate levels to maintain the satisfaction of health workers in their jobs.
Regarding objective setting in care management, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends various approaches to care, taking into account multimorbidity by establishing patient goals, priorities, and values. Goal setting is the process by which health patients and health professionals set practical goals and agree on the best course of action (Maribo et al., 2020). In addition, the above allows doctors and patients to focus on health care outcomes that matter to patients. Examples of these outcomes involve reducing the burden of treatment, independence maintenance, and undertaking voluntary or paid work. Finally, performance measurement improves the quality of decisions made by all actors within the health care system. An example of essential use of performance measurement is providing feedback to clinical practitioners concerning their actions and comparison between these actions and those of their peers. Examples of care performance measures are profit margin, productivity, and cost. These measures of performance are some of the metrics that health institutions can follow to determine if their target goals and objectives are met.
Conclusion
In conclusion, health care is increasing in homes and often involves distinct tasks, a mixture of people, and an extensive divergence of devices and technologies; it is also occurring in a diversity of domestic environments. The elements driving this resettling involve an increase in the prevalence of diseases, rising costs of health care provision, and growth in the number of old adults. Furthermore, a notable improvement in the survival rates of injuries, diseases, and other conditions, including new-borns, has also contributed to this migration. Here, the resulting health care considerably varies in effectiveness, efficiency, safety, and constituting high-cost care. Therefore, it is important for hospitals to implement hospital management systems to help store all kinds of records, implement policies, and improve daily health care operations.
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