Quality in health and social care is very subjective in the eyes of different stakeholders involved in the service delivery. For instance, a patient may view the quality of health acre in a different manner compared to how the care provider will. The World Health Organisation [WHO] (2008, p. 8) defines quality health service as that which organises given resources in an effective manner so as to meet the health demands of those in need for the appropriate services. Stakeholders in health and social care comprise of the care receivers, the care providers such as physicians and the managers among many others (Foot et al., 2014). This essay seeks to explain different perspectives of health and social care stakeholders concerning service quality.

According to WHO (2008, p. 18), patients may view the quality as the service provided in relation to what they want and expect both during and after service. In order to assess the quality of care in line with the patients’ perspectives, the measurements of satisfaction levels, complaints and data-related claims at the service level is essential (WHO, 2008, p. 19). From the Care Quality Commission’s (2014) case study, the ‘black escalation’ depicted low quality services because it’s during that time that complaints and concerns from the patients increased as patients were waiting for care services for so long. However, there was an increase in the quality of care in some areas of the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust as indicated by positive patient feedback from the surveys. Acharyulu and Rajashekhar (2007) continue to explain that patients view quality health and social care in terms of the outcomes after service delivery. That means that the quality had increased when reports showed that the hospital’s standardised mortality ratio was less than what is in other hospitals and there wasn’t any difference between the weekend and weekday mortality (Wilson & Yoshikawa, 2007, p. 619)

On the other hand, care providers’ perceptions of quality are based on the provision of quality care to their patients (McGlynn, 2003, p. 2642). WHO (2008, p. 18) asserts that quality for these stakeholders can be assessed by evaluating what patients miss or get as well as collecting various indicators of clinical outcomes and error reports among others. In most cases, care providers focus on the technical nature of the health acre events and processes in addition to the availability of facilities that enhance service delivery (Foot et al., 2014). However, their view on quality may not necessarily be the same to that of the patients and their relatives. From the case study, the care providers may have seen some quality improvement when the audit revealed that the surgical procedures were safe in addition to having an improvement in the infection control rates before the warning. Furthermore, a good nurse-patient relationship is an indicator of quality for both the patients and the nurse.

Managers can also have a different perception of health and social care quality because their view is inclined at a different angle compared to other stakeholders. Managers perceive quality in terms of the use of the available resources in ways that an outstanding in achieving patient and professional quality in an effective manner (WHO, 2008, p. 18;). In the case study, the staff levels and financial resources are key in the improvement of quality in the eyes of managers. Due to the boost that the institution obtained, the staff and other resources were sourced, and this enhanced the quality of service care in the eyes of the institution’s managers.

 

 

References

Acharyulu, G. V. R. K., & Rajashekhar, B. (2007). Service Quality Measurement in Indian Healthcare Industry. Journal of International Business & Economics, 7(2).

Care Quality Commission (2014). Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust: Quality report. Care Quality Commission: England.

Foot, C., Sonola, L., Bennett, L., Fitzsimons, B., Raleigh, V., Sarah Gregory, S. (2014). Managing quality in community health care services. London: The Kings Fund.

McGlynn, E. A., Asch, S. M., Adams, J., Keesey, J., Hicks, J., DeCristofaro, A., & Kerr, E. A. (2003). The quality of health care delivered to adults in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 348(26), 2635-2645.

Wilson, P. A., & Yoshikawa, H. (2007). Improving access to health care among African-American, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations (pp. 607-637). Springer US.

World Health Organization (2008). Guidance on developing quality and safety strategies with a health system approach. Copenhagen: World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.