Paper Example on National Health Service Five Year Forward View

Introduction

The United Kingdom (UK) is a global leader in quality monitoring and improvement. In a bid to elevate all the sectors of the economy to the highest standards possible, the country has dedicated most of its energy into the growth of the healthcare quality by undertaking stratagems such as the Patient Service Innovation (PSI). The National Health Service (NHS) Five Year Forward View was a collection of strategies that sought to revolutionize the healthcare service industry by 2020 (England 2015). These innovation programs share the common goals which include narrowing the health, care and quality, and the funding and efficiency gaps (England 2015). These blueprints were to be enabled by the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) which intended to fast-track the implementation of high-impact innovations the NHS staff, the patients, and the community at large.

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PSI is the NHS's plan to refine the health care delivery system in the country. It is patient-centered as it focuses on individual management of healthcare; taking into account the level of awareness among the patients and the methods that they embrace to look after themselves. These steps call for innovative techniques and partnerships between and among the relevant stakeholders who work towards the achievement of the NHS above Five Year Forward View. For instance, the teaming up of Wessex Academic Health Science Networks and Imperial College Health Partners was a worthwhile venture as the two bodies worked towards seeking the techniques for the timely identification and treatment of psychosis (England 2015). Notably, the incorporation of digital technologies, which are part of the innovative strategies, ensures that these measures are patient-centered as they are encouraged to manage their health at their convenience. These technologies have facilitated the collection of feedback by the concerned parties, and this information is used for the improvement of service delivery. Further, innovation has enabled the use of programs that aid in the promotion of individual health. These include applications such as Promoting Health Apps which encourage individuals to be health-conscious.

Service improvement and clinical excellence are of the essence as these ensure that the patient is accorded acceptable and appropriate treatment. In this way, a patient has a worthwhile experience regardless of their interaction with the clinical and the non-clinical staff. Also, service improvement which is in line with the cost implications is instrumental in the fortification of cost-effectiveness within the healthcare facility (Gyani, Shafran, Layard & Clark 2013). It is in the NHS's interest that each patient receives the best quality of healthcare.

This paper prefers public education as the mode of innovation. This selection was informed by the NHS's need to close the gaps between care and quality, and funding and efficiency. To this effect, these cannot be achieved when the public is illiterate on the levels that they can be involved in the NHS's programs. The NHS cannot act in isolation, and it takes the effort of informed individuals to realize their (NHS) goals. As such, this dissertation will document the use of leaflets in the creation of awareness among the public on sepsis; a killer disease in the UK. These leaflets contain the general description of sepsis and its symptoms and the effectiveness of this information in bridging the health gap will be evaluated and documented.

1.2 Context of the NHS and current health and social care environmentThe NHS was formed on July 5, 1948. It was launched in the present day Trafford General Hospital by Aneurin Bevan who was the then secretary of health. This organization was meant to consolidate the services provided by professionals in the healthcare sector and to ensure that everyone could access these in the healthcare facilities without incurring any costs (Choices 2015). At that time, it was expected that taxation would finance health services. Later on, in 1952, patients were required to pay a shilling for prescription and a pound for conventional dental treatment and these charges may have foreboded the current costs. Most of the genetic developments pay tribute to the revelation of the DNA structure in 1953. This finding by James Watson and Francis Crick opened the research channels for diseases that are caused by defective genes. One of the most significant social and health care challenges that the NHS faced in 1954 was later solved in 1959 through the inception of the Mental Health Act. Accordingly, people with mental illnesses were treated in isolation. The treatment that was accorded to other patients differed significantly from those with mental illnesses, and the Percy Commission thought it wise to remove them from large psychiatric institutions and instead integrate them with the rest of the community. It came to pass that in 1959, and these patients were allowed community care as they were no different from those with other illnesses. NHS's significant milestones in the mid-nineteenth century include the instigation of the emergency contraceptive pill, a full hip-replacement surgery by Professor John Charnely, and a successful kidney transplant at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (Choices 2015). The Abortion Act of 1967 set the precedence for the ongoing debate within the society which questions the health care implication of the act as well as its moral standing in the community.

The early twentieth century saw to it that NHS trusts were established in light of the 1990 NHS Community Care Act. According to Choices (2015), these trusts were meant to encourage hospitals to focus on the provision of services to the communities within which they were set up. The formation of this trust was succeeded with the launch of an e-health service which handled hundreds of thousands of calls from patients within a month. This service was a useful innovation in the healthcare sector that currently seeks to attend to patients on request. Individuals who need emergency medical help are free to dial NHS 111 from whence they will be accompanied to accordingly. Further, the NHS sought to make healthcare more accessible through the installation of walk-in centers which are run by nurses (Choices 2015). These provide free healthcare services to all, especially at odd office hours.

The NHS deemed it fit to revamp its core structure so that individual competent individuals were tasked with the decision-making responsibility. These changes are the likely cause of the Commonwealth Fund's recognition of NHS as the second most impressive healthcare system among six competing countries. Further 20th century boasts of significant breakthroughs in the healthcare sector including the successful sensitization campaigns on how to handle a stroke victim. In July 2010, the white paper was launched and in it were proposals that would improve the body's efficiency. These stipulations include narrowing their focus on patients and sanctioning and emancipating clinicians to concentrate on innovations that would be beneficial to the tweaking of healthcare services (Choices 2015). This white paper charted the path for the current Five Year Forward View which borrows immensely from its ideas especially on patient focus.

Strengths and challenges of the NHSThe NHS Constitution succinctly highlights the patients' rights and responsibilities. Additionally, it outlines the interrelationship between patients, the public, and the staff's expectations. The documentation of all the stakeholders' expectations is important so that no information is misconstrued and that one does not infringe on the other's rights. For instance, the NHS Constitution informs patients of their right to receive NHS services for free (McHale 2012). In that case, the patient is expected to raise the alarm when the staff charges for services other than those sanctioned by the parliament. Also, the constitution assures the patient that they have the right to receive NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence)-recommended drugs and treatments upon the doctor's prescription. Regardless of the clarity, patients and the public need the primary education that will facilitate the conceptualization of these rules in addition to the steps that they can take in case of a violation. Further, the constitution is lacking in the provision of guidelines on the emerging trends in health care such as the incorporation of new media and the initiatives to reach new groups in sensitization programs. In that case, there may be blurred lines in the legality of PSI initiatives which may not be vividly mentioned in the constitution.

The NHS Five Year Forward View is a timely and ambitious venture that could provide for some of the healthcare elements that are missing in the constitution. It is counted as one of NHS's strengths since it emphasizes the need for innovative technologies to create awareness among the patients and the public on health issues (England 2015). This view is realistic as it acknowledges the financial and clinical transformations that will characterize the 21st century. Inherently, it strategizes on how to meet the patients' needs in that century. For instance, clinicians are encouraged, under the NHS Five Year Forward View, to invent technologies that will improve the patients' quality of life. Also, this initiative emphasizes the importance of funding schemes in reinforcing innovative ideas. Inherently, this view supports the education PSI initiative which may need donor funding in the sepsis sensitization program.

The inception of the NHS raised public expectations. It is in everyone's interest that the provision of healthcare services significantly improves hence the need to hold the body into accountability. The NHS Outcomes framework is the tool for the body's answerability that was installed by the Department of Health (Employers and General Practitioners Committee 2009). It contains structures that monitor the health outcomes among the adults and children in England. The indicators include employment of people with mental illness and patient experience of maternity services, among others. While there have been some positive changes in some of the signs, other are stagnating or nose-diving, and there are some deficits notably in the 2016 to 2017 mandate (Dunn, McKenna & Murray 2016)...