Social Welfare Services and Standards of Practice in the Health Care Provision

Question One: Key Milestone in the Development of Social and Community Welfare Services

The development of social and community welfare services is extensively addressed under the National Health Service. In particular, the NHS is a renowned national healthcare system in the United Kingdom. Throughout the existence of the organisation, there have been major milestones in the development of both social and community welfare services. Some of the examples of the milestones are such as the establishment of the Health and Social Care Act in 2012. Notably, this had significant impacts on the provision of social and community welfare services in the sense that, this act plays the role of transferring the responsibility for commissioning community health services from primary care to the newly formed Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). In this regard, services such as the public and community health services were transferred to the local authorities.

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Another significant milestone in the development of community welfare services is the implementation of the 2014 NHS five year forward view. Essentially, this was implemented with the ambitions to bring about transformation in the provision of welfare in the society and the community as a whole. Dubus and Howard (2016) point out that the five years forward view sets out a vision on the manner in which the National Health Service is intended to change so as to meet both the current and the future needs in the community and social health. Besides, this puts a lot of emphasis on the prevention, integration and also ensuring that patients and communities are in control of their health. Also, the implementation of the NHS five year forward view marked the beginning of a shift from acute provision of care to primary, social and community services which are also inclusive of new care models.

Today, the social and welfare system is considered a significant part of every individual's life. Primarily, the social and welfare system plays a significant role in helping a majority of the British citizens in obtaining the best and most optimal healthcare services. The system is built upon a framework that frequently changes with the most important changes over the recent years being the introduction of the three pillars of the health and social welfare system. For instance, with the National Health Service, the UK community and social welfare has changed in various ways. For instance, unlike in the past where certain institutions controlled the provision of health services, today, the health of the community has become the responsibility of the NHS which ensures that the health services provided are free and accessible for everyone living in Britain. In a similar regard, the modern day social and community welfare system has been significantly impacted by the fact that the local authorities provide the personal social services. This includes service provision for the disabled, the elderly, for the mentally disordered people, and also for the families and their children. Finally, the current community and social welfare service provision are considered more efficient as compared to the previous ones due to the introduction of the social security. This, in essence, is a health measure that was introduced to help secure a basic standard of living for the unemployed people, help for families and also help towards the cost of disablement. These changes are deemed crucial as compared to the previous social and community welfare provision since in the past, the unemployed people did not receive any form of social security.

Question Two: How a Professional Code of Practice Contributes to Standards of Practice in the Health and Social Care Provision

By definition, the Code of Conduct and Practice, especially for health and social service workers is a set of professional rules and standards that are agreed on by the members of the profession to lay down the responsibilities that help the members to comply with the profession's ethical standards. In particular, the code provides a framework of standards of conduct and practice for all social service workers. With reference to the intention and the role played by the code of practice, Komic, Marusic and Marusic (2015) point out that professional codes of practice are intended to reflect on the existing good practice and with them, it is anticipated that both the employers and the workers will recognize, in these codes, the shared standards to which they already aspire. Similarly, Komic et al (2015) contend that regarding its intentions, a code of practice is not expected to answer all the ethical and professional issues. Instead, the code is expected to not only dictate particular actions but also to describe the ethical environment for the delivery of healthcare as well as reflect its character alongside its general approach.

Also, a professional code of practice should not try to make subjective aspects of care more objective value from what is considered the practical situations; instead, with regard to the intentions of the code of ethics, it is in the nature of the work of the professions that there should remain individual responsibilities for professional practice.

In professional healthcare practice, ethics of conduct are not optional; instead, they are an essential and integral part of the practice. This being the case, in a code of conduct, ethics of value denote the moral principles and standards that exemplify a certain degree of importance with the primary aim of determining and describing the significance of different actions. This being said, there are various ethics of value that are addressed in the professional healthcare code of practice. Some of the examples of ethics of values that are addressed in a code of practice are such as; personal standards and corporate standards of behaviour.

Carsten (2010) highlights that other than setting the desired standards for members, professional code of practice enhance both social and community welfare provision in various ways. For instance, the 6C's, care, compassion, courage, competence, communication and commitment, our core values in nursing, midwifery, and care staff strategy. Particularly the 6C's enhance the provision of community welfare through helping people to remain independent while at the same time, maximising their well-being and improving health. Besides, these core values benefit the care staff who in turn optimise their welfare provision to the society through offering a range of ways that help them deliver the six areas of actions. This, in essence, is enhanced by signposting to evidence-based techniques, tools, and best practice.

On the other hand, the NHS Constitution, which sets out rights for patients, the public as well as the healthcare enhances the provision of community and social welfare provision through ensuring that every person's needs are met. Besides, owing to the fact that the value of "working together for patients" is a central tenet in the NHS values, the community and the social benefits since this constitution ensures that services are offered relatively and effectively.

References

Carsten, R. (2010). Smart Healthcare Applications and Services: Developments and Practices: Developments and Practices. IGI Global.

Dubus, N., & Howard, H. (2016). Current realities and future vision: Developing an interprofessional, integrated health care workforce. Social Work in Health Care, 55(9), 766-778. doi:10.1080/00981389.2016.1223260

Komic, D., Marusic, S. L., & Marusic, A. (2015). Research Integrity and Research Ethics in Professional Codes of Ethics: Survey of Terminology Used by Professional Organizations across Research Disciplines. PLOS ONE, 10(7), e0133662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133662