The purpose of this essay is to introduce the history of the National Health Service (NHS) and how its formation derived from the early 1600s. It will analyse two current political issues that occur within the NHS, the postcode lottery and the reformation of the NHS, examining the positive and negative effects they have had. It will also discuss implications of regulations within professional practice and how they account for quality of care.
Initially set up in 1601, the Poor Law Act was introduced by the government in an attempt to provide shelter and food for those most in need, in exchange for hard labour, otherwise known as workhouses; “a poorhouse where able-bodied poor are compelled to labor” (Vocabulary.com, 2014). The poor who were unable to work were cared for by a parish. The law offered relief to people who were unable to work, mainly assisting the elderly or helpless. The Poor Law Act created the framework for poor relief in England that was to last until the next act was introduced.
It was not until 1834 that another scheme was established, named the Poor Law Amendment Act with the similar aims and objectives. They established a Poor Law Commission to oversee the national operation of the system and parishes were put into Poor Law Unions so that relief could be provided more easily. In 1905 the Liberal government was voted in, when they began to devise laws which would benefit health care systems. Through 1905-1908 was considered the biggest stage of progression towards forming the National Healthcare System. Although the Royal Commission began to amend the Poor Law Act (1834), further advances and progression was interrupted due to the First World War (1914-1918).
The Beveridge Report (1942) was the main point o...
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NHS Choices. (2013). Health watchdog and authorities: CQC. [Online]. .GOV.UK. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/healthregulators/Pages/carequalitycommission.aspx [Accessed 30 April 2014].
NHS Support Federation. (2012). Less fair: postcode lottery. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nhsforsale.info/database/impact-database/less-fair/Less-fair-subpage.html [Accessed 29 April 2014].
Weng. (2000). Geographic and social factors are related to increased morbidity and mortality rates in diabetic patients. Diabet Med.17(8), pp 612-617.
Vocabulary.com. (2014). Workhouse. [Online]. Available at: http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/workhouse [Accessed 30 April 2014].
Equality act (2010) http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
There was a growing sense that the poor did not deserve assistance and so in 1834 the ‘Poor Law Amendment Act’ was introduced. This was designed to make conditions more severe and to even further force self-improvement amongst the poor. ‘The central objective…was to withdraw poor relief from men judged ‘able-bodied’ in Poor Law terminology’. (Thane: 1978: 29) Alternatives such as the work-house were introduced. The notion that you should only ask for help if you desperately needed it as a last resource loomed. The Charity Organisation Society was ‘a body w...
“The NHS was created as one of the pillars of the welfare state, however, it was soon consuming a large proportion of welfare spending; this issue of cost has remained an important factor throughout the history of the NHS.”
The changes to health policy and the re-organisation of the NHS in recent years which has led to improve integrated governance, has all developed as a result of the catastrophic failings that occurred in Mid-Staffordshire healthcare Trust. The Secretary of State for health, Andrew Lansley, announced a full public inquiry to parliament on the 9th June 2009 into the role of the commissioning, supervisory and regulatory bodies in the monitoring of Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Trust (Midstaff inquiry online, 2013). This inquiry was led by Robert Francis QC, who proposed recommendations to ensure that similar events do not repeat in future. The Francis report made 290 recommendations which included improved support for compassionate, caring and committed care, as well as stronger healthcare leadership (Health Foundation Online, 2014).
Collapse of medieval social structure paved the way for the policies which majorly concentrated on the upliftment of poor. This resulted in the poor relief act for the betterment of the underprivileged people of the society. During 1547 beggars were grouped as ‘V’ and were forced to slavery for two years. The law of 1572 continued this approach stating that beggars should be punished and for a third offence should be given death penalty. The only help for poor people was through private charity. Growing numbers of beggars and vagrants were of great concern to the then ruling government. They were of the view that this might lead to social disorder and hence a distinction was being made between the poor. The poor then were categorized into deserving and the undeserving poor. The deserving poor consisted of the elderly and the very young and families who occasionally found themselves in financial difficulties due to a change in circumstance they were considered deserving of social support. The undeserving poor were those people who often turned to crime to make their living, migrant wo...
Clark, M. L., & Utz, S. (2014, June 15). Social determinants of type 2 diabetes
Schulz, L.O., Bennette, P.H., Ravussin, E., Kidd, J.R., Kidd, K.K., Esparaza, J., and Valencia, M.E., “Effects of Traditional and Western Environments on Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in Pima Indians in Mexico and the U.S.” Diabetes Care 29.8 (2006): 1866-1871. Google Scholar. Web. 3 May 2014.
McBean, A. M., Li, S., Gilbertson, D. T., & Collins, A. J. (2004). Differences in diabetes prevalence, incidence, and mortality among the elderly of four racial/ethnic groups: whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Diabetes care, 27(10), 2317-2324.
In this essay I will analyse the origins of Community Care and what benefits emerged when the NHS Community Care Act 1990 was established. Later on, I will explain and critically evaluate the effects of privatisation in social care and health.
Jost, Kenneth. “Diabetes Epidemic: why is this serious disease on the increase?” The CQ Researcher (March 9, 2001): 185-200
Diabetes is one of the growing health issues worldwide (Magliano et al 2008). Type 2 diabetes is a common and rapidly increasing disease. Globally around four million people die in each year due to the complication of diabetes and their life expectancy has been reduced by 15 years in average (Vuori 2007). The Number of type 2 diabetes patients is expected to increase further by the year 2030 and it is expected to be double the current figuring (Vuori 2007). People with Type 2 diabetes are at higher increasing rate in Australia over coming decades as the population ages and become more overweight (Magliano et al 2008). The Australian population consists of migrants from different parts of the world. Proportionally, people born in overseas have high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than the people born in Australia (Liu et al 2009). Therefore, there is a high possibility of many people in Australian being affected by diabetess in the near ...
Davis, C; Finlay, L; & Bullman, A. (2000) ‘Changing Practice in Health and Social Care, London: Open University Press
The NHS was founded on similar principles as Canada- universal, free to a point, equitable and paid by central funding (Grosios et al, 2010). Over the years, the NHS has seen numerous organizational and political changes, but still remains universal and offers care to people who need it and are not able to pay for it. The NHS is funded by national insurance contributions and taxes. The healthcare policy and healthcare delivery is a responsibility of the central government in England, whereas in Wales, Scotland and Northern Island it is the responsibility of the local governments. In the UK, the NHS is composed of two major sections- one which deals with policy, strategy and management and other section that deals with medical care; this department is further subdivided into community care, pharmacy, dentistry and general medical practice. In Britain there are many barriers in seeking specialty care; one has to see a general practitioner first, who is a gate keeper and decides on where and who gets specialty care. It can often take years to bypass this gatekeeper because there are very few specialists in the country. In the past two decades, there has been a major shift in funding moving away from central government to local counties. The UK healthcare center is facing cutbacks in funding and complaints of long waits to see surgeons and specialists is common.
The Elizabeth Poor Law advocated and placed responsibility of the poor to the churches and government. If parishes could not meet the responsibilities, counties were required to assume relief-giving functions. The government became the chief enforcer of poor relief. However, the local parishes fulfilled their welfare responsibilities in several ways. They provided outdoor relief to persons in the homes; provided indoor relief to person in special institutions that came to be variously known as almshouse, poorhouses or workhouses; or required person to become indenture servants or apprentices. It also required relatives to care for their impoverished relatives. The poor were provided with unemployment relief, initiated works; regulated local prices to help poor persons; gave in-kind assistance such a as food, clothing, and wood, provided health care; and removed children from abusive households’ and gave legal protection . Many local jurisdictions possessed “laws of settlement” that entitled people to receive local poor law relief after a year’s residence.
Our English heritage has greatly affected social welfare today. Some of the standards set in England include: indoor relief; a national policy for the poor; the provision of serving the poor by placing them in institutions; and the categorization of the poor into two basic categorizes, the worthy poor and the able-bodied poor (unworthy poor). The Elizabethan Poor Law also set precedents which include: clear government responsibility for those in need; government authority to force people to work; government enforcement of family responsibility; responsibility for carrying out programs at the local level; and strict residence requirements.
think of the poor law as a charity, more of a prison, for people who