Trends in Health and Social Care Industry

Introduction

The purpose of the health and social care industry is to promote health, support healing, delivery treatment and increased life quality of the individuals who are cared for their health. In the health and social care industry, various organisations such as care homes, hospitals, primary care centres and others are involved in delivering care to the service users. In this aspect, the trends in the health and social care industry for supporting care of the adults is to be discussed. Thereafter, the work environment of a care home for adults is to be analysed and based on the facts recommendation to improve care is to be mentioned.

Trends in Health and Social Care Industry

In the UK, one of the key trends in the health and social industry is the increased requirement of specialised skills and knowledge among healthcare professionals and carers to ensure high quality support to the adult patients. This is because of the higher quality demand of adult healthcare support for managing increased co-morbidity among adults that has led them unable to take their own care and depend more on carers to support them in managing their everyday activities of living (pwc.co.uk, 2021). It is evident as in the UK nearly 2/3rd of the adults are expected to be living with multi-health morbidities by 2035 which is currently faced by 1/3rd of aged individuals in the UK who are 65 years and above. Moreover, 17% of the adults (65 years and more) are expected to be living with 4 or more diseases which is double the number recorded in 2015 (Hall, 2021; evidence.nihr.ac.uk, 2021). This indicates that existing health professionals and carers are required to show greater efficiency in managing more multi-morbid conditions in adults in the coming years for which they require to have more updated skills to show care efficiency.

The other trend in UK Health and Social care industry is tailoring medical services for each patient based on their specific needs and demands in care. It indicates that the blanket therapies developed previously to provide care to wider patients will become non-functional (nationalvoices.org.uk, 2017). This is because current health condition demands each patient to be separately treated and managed with the person-centred approach as the cause and progression of the disease among each adult patient is not the same (HEE, 2021). Therefore, each patient requires specific care related to their health so that the care offered to them are based on resolving the specific risk and choices of the patients that vary from one another. In contrast, the study by Wang et al. (2018) mentioned that the current trend in the UK health and social care industry is increased use of advanced data analytics in managing inventory and resources needed for care. This is because the data metrics achieved through data analysis helps in raising any red flag regarding shortage of healthcare resources in the inventory needed for delivery of quality care. It assists in keeping up-to-date information about the requirement of the resources to be stocked in turn avoiding hindered delivery of care due to lack of availability of resources for care (kingsfund.org.uk, 2021).

In the UK Health and Social Care Industry, one of the current trends is using real-time data of medicine of the patients in accelerating drug development for them. This is because real-time information regarding the impact of medicine on patients assists researcher to understand the further improvement to be made in the existing drugs and new drugs to be developed for better, efficient and quality healthcare outcome for the patients (Tan et al., 2021). In the UK, adult patients as well as others are demanding faster health improvement and safe care as they are being unable to cope with the long-term health issues and avoid further compromising their safety even after paying increased amount for healthcare through taxes. It has instigated the trend of creating advanced healthcare support in the health and social care industry so that mentioned demands of the people can be met (Baxter et al., 2018). In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend in the UK health and social care industry is that better innovative research and development for health issues are to be created so that in future such pandemics can be predicted and well-controlled in saving more lives of the people. The trend mentions focusing on devising new therapies, care and technologies so that accelerated initiative can be taken for improving health of the patients from complex diseases in future (Haines et al., 2020).

Analysis of Roseacre Care Home

In respect to the current trends in UK Health and Social Care industry and adult care management, the analysis of actions performed by Roseacre Care Home is to be executed. This is to develop an idea regarding the rate of efficiency with which the care home is delivering care to the adults while following and meeting the demands in the industry. The Roseacre Care Home is located in London which provides different care support to the patients with special care support for the dementia patients (carehome.co.uk, 2021). The analysis of Roseacre Care Home in respect to safe care delivery trend in the industry mentioned that enhanced safety for the adult patients in the home is not maintained. It is evident from the CQC report which informs that damaged equipment and risky premises in the care home is not changed or managed in timely manner. Moreover, violation of regulation 13 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 was seen which mentions that no abuse towards the patients are to be entertained. However, a case of abuse was reported in the premises on a patient during review showing instance of safeguarding issues (legislation.gov.uk, 2008). As argued by Heather McLean (2018), lack of safety in the care home leads to support the development of unnecessary damages, abuse or harm and health issues for the patients. It compromises the health of the patients and makes them vulnerable to develop complicated health issues which adds to their increased dissatisfaction and distress with receiving care.

In respect to trends of care improvement in the UK Health and Social Care industry, the analysis of care functioning in the Roseacre Care Home mentioned that effective care improvement and delivery is focused by the service providers, but it requires further improvement. This is because the service providers are seen to perform person-centred care towards the adult patients based on their care needs and demands. However, due to shortage of staffs in the care home, it is seen that patients are not holistically allowed to decide their care in all aspects. Moreover, there is lack of personal space provided to the patients during communication with their families due to which the patients felt their privacy to be compromised (CQC, 2020). As argued by Bombard et al. (2018), lack of care improvement in services leads service users or patients to be treated with less dignity and compassion. This is because their needs and demands in care are not adequately fulfilled which makes the service users feel less understood and cared by the service providers.

The further analysis of the care efficiency in Roseacre Care Home revealed that the services provided by them are not well-led due to inadequate care support is provided to the service users. It is evident as effective monitoring and auditing the care environment of Roseacre Care Home is not performed to examine the efficiency of their care and improvement to be made further (CQC, 2021). As criticised by Bunn et al., (2018), lack of health monitoring and auditing in the care home leads to deliver care in hindered manner. This is because without examination of care environment, the way changes in care is to be made and in which aspects could not be identified. The analysis of the service efficiency in the Roseacre Care Home also mentioned that is lack of systematic data analytics and metrics present in the care home. It is evident as the reports regarding the training records of carers, resources present and other when asked to be provided even after prior notice of requirement of the information by the CQC, the care home authorities were unable to provide them (CQC,2020). The hindered data analytics and metrics management in care environment lead to confusion regarding the efficiency of performance of care in the organisation which is crucial in understanding the achievement of strategic goals set by the organisation (Uddin and Syed-Abdul, 2020).

Recommendations

The analysis of Roseacre Care Home mentioned that wide nature of improvement in their existing services as well as environment is to be made so that safe and well-driven care is provided to the service users. The first recommendation for Roseacre Care Home is that they are to improve the safety assurance and protocol within the organisation so that no abuse or harm is caused to the patients. This is because abuse or harm leads to hinder the patient’s care satisfaction as well as lower the reputation of the organisation (Rapaport et al., 2018). The safety protocol and assurance are to be improved by providing training to the existing staffs in the organisation to impart knowledge and skills in them regarding the way to care for the patients so that abuse towards them can be avoided. Moreover, strict implication of safety protocols is to be made and effective monitoring is to be executed in the organisation to determine the extent to which the rules are followed in delivering safe care. The Roseacre Care Home is also recommended to supporting patients to mention their choices and the care are delivered based on their choices rather than the personal decision of nurses. This is because it would make the staffs show value towards the patients which would make them show more compliance in care out of respect and dignity showed with acceptance of their choices of care (Tejedor, 2020).

The further recommendation to Roseacre Care Home for improving safety is that they are perform effective review and risk assessment of all the equipment and way of care service delivery in the workplace. This is because the risk assessment would indicate the level of risk with each equipment and services as well as help them determine the strategies to be taken to minimise the risk so that enhanced safety within the organisation can be ensured (Thakur et al., 2020). The other recommendation for Roseacre Care Home is that more staffs are to be recruited in overcoming the staff shortage that is hindering their effective service delivery with care to the patients. The increased staffs are to be recruited through online application and recruitment process so that the cost can be minimised that is raised with physical execution of interview and recruitment. The other recommendation is that improved remuneration to the existing staffs are to be provided and enhanced working facility is to be ensured for them so that they do not feel exhausted from overworking in the workplace. This is because enhanced remuneration and facilities makes the organisation show value towards their staffs which makes the employees feel increased zeal to work out of dignity and support (Gilster et al., 2018).

The Roseacre Care Home is recommended to improve their data analytics management within the organisation by recruiting technologically efficient staffs. This is because enhanced data metrics and analysis in the organisation helps to keep enhanced track of resources, equipment performance and others needed to deliver seamless care (Wang et al., 2018). In addition, Roseacre Care Home is recommended to perform systematic auditing and monitoring of the care practices provided to the patients. This is because it would help to determine the extent to which the staffs are efficiently meeting the needs and demands of the patients as well as change and improvement in existing care is required for better satisfaction of the patient (Wolf et al., 2017). The other recommendation is that effective multi-disciplinary team is to be included in the Roseacre Care Home who are to work in collaboration with the existing staffs in delivering enhanced person-centred care to the patients. This is because multidisciplinary team assist in sharing expertise with staffs to determine best care for patients based on their specific needs (Wolf et al., 2017).

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that the current trend in UK Health and Social care industry are increased use of technology, use of data metrics and analysis, need of advanced care and others. In regard to the trends, the analysis performed in Roseacre Care Home mentioned it is working poorly as it showed inadequate safety and service-driven care to the service users in their organisation. The recommendation to improve their services are inclusion of technology-friendly staffs, increased recruitment of caring staffs, enhanced auditing and monitoring in care and others.

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References

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