International Healthcare Policy Assignment Sample 2

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Introduction

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Every nation has certain healthcare policies to support the healthcare needs of the citizens. With the integrated support of government and private partnerships, the healthcare policies are implemented in the hospitals and that ultimately offers the best care to the citizens. Likewise, the United Nation also has certain healthcare policies to support their citizens. Thus, the study shall discuss regarding healthcare policies in the United Kingdom such as United Kingdom offers public healthcare to all the permanent residents and the health coverage is free (under the National Health Service) and is paid through general taxation. Nearly 18% of the general tax goes towards healthcare services (Allel et al., 2021). The study shall also discuss regarding the cultural and social impact on the policies. It shall also discuss regarding the impact of funding issues on healthcare policies. Moreover, it shall discuss regarding how Barts health NHS trust translate the policies into practice along with their involved challenges. However, it shall be revealed that the hospital is located in London and was found in 2012. They have 5 hospitals across London and are one of the biggest NHS trust within entire England. Currently they have 17,741 employees as reported in 2019 and serves over 2.6 million people. They have a capital value of £116 million (Weller et al., 2019). The study shall also discuss regarding the healthcare campaigns. Thus, various aspects of the healthcare policies of the United Kingdom shall be discussed.

Task 1

Impact of social and cultural issues towards the healthcare services

There are various cultural and social issues that impact the attitudes towards the healthcare approaches. Likewise, the social issues are as follows-

• Class and income- Health care is linked to the health insurance policies. The ability of an individual to obtain the health insurance is based on their employment status and income. The “patient protection and affordable care” Act in the UK increased medical programs for the lower income group people but still more than 27 million people remains “uninsured” as reported in 2019 (Anderson and Mossialos, 2022). Although, the NHS offers free healthcare for the citizens but certain services such as purchasing medicines, additional surgeries and some other private services are chargeable and people from low income group often fails to opt for those services. Thus, the government shall further increase their investment on healthcare so that every citizen can afford the best quality service.
• Legal status- the non-citizens in UK faces certain obstacles to get the insurance coverage including the undocumented immigrants, non-permanent citizens and others. The nation requires proof of legal residence for offering the healthcare services.
• Sexual orientation and gender orientation- these are two crucial aspects that affect the healthcare services in UK for instance, abortion and surgeries related to gender confirmation are politically quarrelsome and are not covered by the government healthcare scheme. Such issues impact the lives of LGBTQIA and cis-gender people. However, the federal government has issues regulations to protect the transgender individuals and is putting their efforts so that each member gets equal service (Enoch et al., 2021).
• Disability- the Europeans with Disability Act reflects reasonable accommodations for people with disability so that they can get healthcare access in public space. Disables people those who receive SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance or SSI or Supplemental Security Insurance is also eligible for NHS support (Kerasidou, 2019). Such social support increases the trust of the citizens towards the government healthcare policies.

The impact of cultural issues is as follows-

• Religion- Healthcare services are lesser in rural areas moreover; the black people also face issues with healthcare services in the United Kingdom. Such phenomenon decreases the trust of the people toward the policies. Although, the policy has the regulation to treat every people equally but there are some loopholes within the service.
• Race and ethnicity- race and ethnicity impacts the healthcare services in UK to greater extent. For instance, UK has an issue with “anti-black” racism. Such issue resists the people from getting access to healthcare. Latino, Black, and others are often underrepresented within the medical fields. For instance, due to certain historical inequalities the minorities are likely to residein those areas where the health providers are less in number (McMichael et al., 2022). Such cultural issues results in minor inequalities and the attitude of people changes negatively over the government and their healthcare policies.

However based on the above mentioned social and cultural issues, the government of United Kingdom has tried to mitigate the issues and to change the attitude (positively) of citizens towards the healthcare services through the following amenities-

• The healthcare policies are being reshaped with the involvement of private employers, healthcare consumers, healthcare unions and the policies are being reshaped so that every individual can get equal access to the healthcare services irrespective of their income and religion (Saxena et al., 2019).
• Moreover, theNational Health Service, England,included the policy of offering cost effective process for pharmaceutical products but working adults has to pay for prescription charges. However, certain items are free such as medicines for admitted patients, contraceptive pills and others (Maben et al., 2021). It supports the low income group people.

Evaluation of healthcare policies in the United Kingdom

The healthcare system in UK has been set under the Health and Social care Act (2012), Public Health England and NHS Trust Development Authority. The collaborative effort has developed the healthcare policy for the nation that reflects free healthcare to the permanent residents of the nation. Moreover, the charges are paid through the general taxation that the citizens pay. However, certain additional private surgeries and medicines are chargeable (Kerasidou, 2019). Moreover, the policies also reflects that the clinical service groups including the doctors, nurses and other professionals shall serve the patient and the local council shall promote the public health policy. The “health and wellbeing” board hasintegrated the local organizations and they have partnered with powerful voices in the local community so that each citizen can become aware regarding the policies and their benefits.

The health care policy in the UK under NHS trust and government support implies that the“care quality commission or CQC” shall measure whether the services meet the national standards regarding the safety and quality and shall ensure that people are treated with respect and dignity. The “Health Research Authority” operates to promote and protect the public health research. The “Medicine and Healthcare product regulatory agency” explores whether the medical devices are safe to use or not. Moreover, the policy implies that all the social and healthcare professionals are registered such as under the General Medical Council (Maben et al., 2021). However, it shall be revealed that in comparison to other nations such as US or China, they have various health policies but UK is primarily based on the NHS trust policy and offers free health service to the permanent residents. 

Moreover, the government of UK has included certain healthcare related policies and guidelines and the organizations under the NHS trust such as Barts health NHS trust follows the policies. However the policies are different as compared to other national policies which are given by the private healthcare organizations as follows-

• The government health policy reveals that people shall be respected irrespective of the cast, religion, gender, origin, language, appearance, political belief, socio economic status, and mentaldisability and others and the care shall be given in safe environment. Mistreatment shall be eliminated along with eliminating verbal, physical, sexual and mental abuse. However, the private health policy in UK believes in equality but the difference lies in charges as the private facilities takes charges for each service (Heron et al., 2019).
• The policy under the government of the UK also implies that the patients can choose for their health care provider. They can speak to the chosen healthcare provider. They shall also have a sound knowledge regarding the names of the doctors, nurses and other team members and the patients shall have regular family member or doctor who will be notified that they are in hospital. However, on the other hand, the private policies do not get give the chance to select the doctors rather the private organizations select the suitable doctors according to the patient’s needs (Atkinsor et al., 2020).

However, there are certain policies that are same for both government and private health policies as follows-

• Moreover, the policy implies that the patients shall share regarding the complaints, issues and concerns that the patients face and they shall not be afraid of talking regarding the needed care.
• The policy shall protect the personal and private information of the citizens (Maben et al., 2021).
• Furthermore, the policy implies that the patients shall not be involved in any kind of medical research until the patient themselves gives permission (Weller et al., 2019).

Influences on policy formation

There are various factors that influence on the policy formation as follows-

• Actors- They are the individuals, state or the organization for example, structure and capabilities of NGOs, funding organizations, bilateral organizations, private companies, local council and others, their actions impact the health policies. For instance, in case NGOs can offer better findings them more people can be served (Allel et al., 2021).
• Context- they are the systematic factors such as the economic, political, cultural, social, national and international factors that impacts the health policies. There are 3 components under systematic factor- For instance- situational factorsare conditions such as drought, war and others impact the policy formation. In this case government offers more health care fund to support the citizens,Structural factors or unchanging factors in the society such as demographic features, political system, economic type and others impact the policy formation. For instance, economic stability can further increase the investment on healthcare industryby the UK government and cultural factors such as ethnicity, gender, religion and others also impact the policies (Maben et al., 2021). Such as UK’s government is supporting to offer equal service for the transgender. However, policies offered by the private organizations do not offer free service or additional funds for any of the citizens.
• Content- it refers to content or substance of the policy that deals with topics and subject cover and impacts policy formations.
• Process- it refers to the ways in which the policies are originated, formulated, developed, communicated, negotiated, evaluated and implemented. For instance, government develops the policies based on the needs of the citizens, their annual incomes and others on the other hand; the health policies by the private hospitals are developed for business purpose (Weller et al., 2019).

Impact of funding issues on policy formations

The UK government’s spending on healthcare has increased by 1.6% in the last 5 years however; it is much lower as compared to the previous years or as compared to other advanced countries such as USA (4.3% and an investment of $4.1 trillion, China (7.3 trillion) and others (Heron et al., 2019). UK’s daily spending is average but capital investment is low. However, the government shall further increase the investment to overcome certain loopholes within the system such as workforce shortage, maintenance backlog and others. Previous “inadequate investment” is one of the reasons behind it. However, the government has announced £3 billion funding for 2024 to further modernize the healthcare system and £4 billion for long term plan (Alel et al., 2021). The focus is on the primary health, mental health as well as on community service however, there remains the challenge of staff shortage however the government has promised for extra findings to overcome the related challenges. On the other hand, the private bodies do not pay extra funds to support the citizens rather all the treatments are chargeable. They invest(£1.39 billion as on 2019) to incorporate modern machineries in their hospitals and to enhance their service quality (McMichael et al., 2022). Enhanced service quality shall attract and support more high income group patients.

Healthcare services and policies of the U.K

Health care services and policies in the United Kingdom are the most vital factor for any individual family. In the United Kingdom, the National Healthcare Services provides various health services and insurance for the free treatment of the people of the United Kingdom. These insurance and policies help the people to get the free hospital services and treatment even in the private hospitals of the U.K. (Brookes et al., 2022).There are lots of policies and insurance available in the U.K. which provide huge benefits, are mentioned below in detail.

• Insurance for private hospitals

The private hospitals insurance which is also known as the comprehensive plan, provides the whole package of health care services and insurance policies to the people of the United Kingdom. The cost of the health care services is increasing day by day in the U.K. For that consideration, the private hospital insurance is also very costly in the United Kingdom. Still, the National Healthcare Services of the U.K. create few policies and provide the private hospital's insurance at a sustainable cost which is really affordable. They primarily provide the insurance to the people of the age group who are from 40-to 50 in every individual family (Baxter et al., 2018).

• Cancer treatment

Sometimes the cost of cancer treatment is really unmanageable for the people of the United Kingdom who do not have sufficient financial support because the services of cancer treatment are really high. That's why the National Healthcare Services includes the cancer treatment policies into their private treatment policies to make massive changes. This cancer treatment package provides the benefits of surgery for cancer, chemotherapy, and the other therapies which are necessary for this treatment at a low price(Williams et al., 2018). Before adopting the policies, it is necessary to read them because they include a few terms and conditions in their insurance and policies to make them more sustainable.

• Financial and cash planning

It is one of the most beneficial health care services and policies in the United Kingdom for the people who have low financial support. This health care service includes the expanses of health care like medicines, supply of blood and oxygen, etc., which is not so costly, but it is paid at a frequent time which makes the services costly(Leon et al., 2019). For that reason the National Healthcare Services create the policies of cash plan which provides a huge benefit to the people of the United Kingdom.

• Dental insurance

The National Healthcare Services of the United Kingdom also include dental services insurance for the treatment of oral issues. Compared to other treatments, dental insurance is low in cost. The perspective of including this service in these policies because sometimes the treatment procedure of oral problems is more expensive than the other treatments and the dentist refers people to the private hospitals, which make it more costly(Cave et al., 2020). Moreover, the daily routine checkup is also considered as a part of the oral treatment, and for that reason, this service is also included in the health care services and policies of the United Kingdom.

• Eye care policies

The healthcare of the United Kingdom also provides the policy benefits of eye care and its treatment in the private hospitals in the United Kingdom. This policy is known as the Vision Strategy Development of the U.K. (Gunner et al., 2019). The main purpose of this policy is to improve the performance of eyesight of each and every person in the United Kingdom who has a creative problem. Moreover, the policies give a massive benefit to doing operations and surgeries for the people who have low finance management. The other perspective of this policy is to provide eyesight to the blind people.

• Baby health policies

The most vital and essential factor of these health care policies is babies are also part of it. The health care management in the United Kingdom provides various benefits to the babies from an early age which is also beneficial for their family members too(Lechner et al., 2020). Babies are affected by many things such as infection due to less breastfeeding, diabetes at an early age, low development, and other things too. The primary purpose of these baby health care policies is to provide a safe environment and healthy development to every baby in the United Kingdom.

The practical implication of health care policies by Barts Health NHS Trust

The Barts Health NHS Trust is one of the well-known hospitals in London, United Kingdom. The hospital has separate policies in their treatment and services, but they also adapt and practice the health care services and policies of the United Kingdom, which is created by the National Healthcare Services(Mazanderani et al., 2021). To improve the health care services, the Barts NHS Trust is examining the public health care issues and be more focused on the policies and trying their best to provide the benefits of such policies in various treatments in their hospital.

They are organizing a program which is known as the seasonal flu vaccination program in the year 2021. A considerable number of people are being a part of this program and get free vaccination through the help of the cash plan health care policies of the United Kingdom(Moreh et al., 2022). The hospital adopted the policies and provided every person with the benefits of cash plan policies. Moreover, they run a health program for the women of the United Kingdom, which is the Breast Treatment Program. The hospital provides the best breast treatment at their residence for women up to the age group of 50 (Weller et al., 2019). They invited the women to their hospital for free breast surgery. The primary purpose of this health program is to reduce the numerical rate of breast cancer in the women population of the United Kingdom. Women who have private hospital insurance benefit from the other major surgeries in the hospital except for breast surgery.

The hospital runs a program of cervical screening to reduce the cost of cervical cancer. Women who are from the age group 23-60 are doing their treatment at this hospital for free with the help of the cancer healthcare policies of the United Kingdom. The hospital management is doing such small things for free like the cervix test and HPV test, which are part of the cervix surgery. Moreover, they checked the precautions and treated them so as not to get a chance of cervix cancer in the near future (Maben et al., 2021). The purpose of running this program is to reduce the number of people who are affected by cervix cancer and also reduce the number of people who are dying from this complicated disease.

The hospital also provides health care services for the newborn babies and mothers of their hospital. They provide the free service such as various tests during the time of pregnancy. The tests after delivering the baby are also considered as free services from the side of the hospital. These tests include such ultrasonography, blood tests, spinal cord tests, etc., which the hospital provides free with the help of the cash plan facilities of the United Kingdom. Moreover, they provide the benefits of free services in the test of bowel cancer for the people of the United Kingdom who are from the age group up to 60. But this health care program expanded its services to the people 56 years old in the year of 2021 (Kerasidou, 2019).

Barriers to healthcare policies

Though the health care policies of the United Kingdom are providing considerable facilities in the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust but there are some barriers that may impact on the facilities of the hotel and on the patients too. The primary purpose of these health care services and policies is to provide the best quality and affordable health services to the whole population of the United Kingdom. But the poor people are facing a huge amount of disadvantages in the situation of accessing these health services. People also from the rural areas are facing various challenges to receive these health care policies. Here are some barriers mentioned below that the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust faces during providing these Healthcare Services.

• Transport system

Each and every year, more than 2 million people in the United Kingdom do not have access to health care services and policies due to the worst maintenance of the transport system(Ball et al., 2020). For that reason, the people of the United Kingdom are unable to make an appointment in the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust, and the result is that they do not provide the benefits of the health policies of the United Kingdom. Basically, people who are from rural areas are majorly facing these challenges even if they had the health care policies. The transportation system such as access to buses and taxis are available in a good condition only in the urban areas.

• Geographical barriers

According to a geographical survey report approx. ? of people live in the rural areas, and it has low-quality health services and policies compared to the urban areas of the United Kingdom(Venturuni et al., 2021). For that reason shortage of doctors and hospitals make a destructive impact on the health care services. The hospital Barts Health NHS Trust provides a considerable benefit for the rural people too. Still, the long-distance and the distances of travel for the people create an excellent barrier for them and the hospital too. This issue is considered as a national health issue in the United Kingdom.

• Age difference

The healthcare policies of the United Kingdom are created for a specific age group. The current population of the United Kingdom is considered as 20% senior citizens and the least among the other citizens(White et al., 2021). For the older people to, making an appointment from the hospital at Barts Health NHS Trust is quite stressful and the most common challenge for them, but they have the facility of healthcare policies of the United Kingdom. For that reason, the needy patients who genuinely need the services are neglected by the health care management of the United Kingdom, and it creates a hectic situation.

• Low finance management

More than 10% of people in the United Kingdom have failed to access the health care services and policies due to their low financial situation. It causes the death percentage to increase day by day due to the lack of medical checkups. It reflects that more than 10 million people in the United Kingdom are returning without a medical checkup annually(Rumsey et al., 2018). The poor citizens of the United Kingdom cannot afford the health care policies due to their financial situation. For that reason, the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust does not provide the benefits of health care services in their hospital.

• The long time wait

In the hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust to, make an appointment with their doctors is a long process sometimes because the average time to make a schedule for checking up is almost 15 days (Enoch et al., 2021). This process is quite long for the people of rural areas compared to urban areas because of the distance. For that reason, the needy and emergency people are not taking the health facilities at the right time, which sometimes causes death. That's why access to the facilities of these health care policies is becoming more critical sometimes, which creates a devastating situation between the patients and the hospital.

• Lack of specialty care

Sometimes the particular health care needs such as heart specialists and eyes specialists are creating many disadvantages due to the lack of specialist doctors in the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust. Though it is a well-known hospital in the United Kingdom, such problems create a lot of disadvantages in the health care services of the hospital, and the patients also survive from this hectic situation even if the patient has the health care policies of the United Kingdom.

• Structural barrier

The structure of the health care management of the hospital Barts Health NHS Trust sometimes creates a lot of disadvantages in the situation of providing health care services because the management team of the hospital is not providing sufficient support to the patients. For that reason, the patients are facing a few hectic challenges in their hospital.

Task 2

National and international public health campaigns in the UK

The public health campaign attempts to persuade public engagement in health-improving behaviour. It has to refrain from unhealthy behaviour in the public health sector identified as Bart's health NHS trust. The public health campaign encourages the target group members to resist the various types of serious health issues and threats. The different types of the health campaign are-

Blood donation campaign

The blood donation campaign is one of the most important and unique concepts. Every day, around 5000 donors are required to meet the patient's blood needs in the United Kingdom. So, the Barts Health NHS trust has to conduct a blood donation camp to encourage the people of London (Perrotta et al., 2021).

National diabetes education programs

The diabetes self-management education program is very important to motivate the people in the United Kingdom. The diabetes self-management education program is a 6-week group program. Stanford University mainly develops this program in London to identify the diabetics' symptoms and the way to prevent this issue. So, the Barts Health NHS trust wants to build diabetes programs to motivate this particular organization's staff and patients.

COVID 19 precaution campaign

Nowadays, the COVID 19 is rapidly increasing all over the United Kingdom. So, the government needs to take the step to prohibit COVID 19. The NHS has to develop a team to encourage and motivate London's people and tell them the base effect of the covid 19.

Impact on the demand for healthcare in the UK

Nationalized medical services were the only way the united kingdom could help fight against the difficulties, illness, ignorance, misery, and laziness. The NHS principle was to provide a comprehensive, tax-funded service available to everyone and free of charge when needed. The demand for health care depends on various types of consumption of the person in case of illness (Lazarus et al., 2020). It has been seen that as the income of the people has increased, then the people want to buy more goods and products and also expect to get better medical services. The different types of medical products and services ensure good health, and the income does not significantly affect the demand for medical goods. The increased revenue can increase the demand for premium medical and health services. It can be said that the need for good health and service depends upon the people's pay in London. Levels of consumption depend on factors that influence the market, like income, prices of services, education, social traditions, and quality. The market also depends upon the consumer's preference. The consumer's p