Assignment: Health Services Management
Assignment: Health Services Management
Question:
The health workplace is a complex and sophisticated environment that can be understood in many difffferent ways and mean difffferent things to difffferent members of an organisation. Assumptions about organisational structure and action are based on conceptualisations and beliefs about the nature and goals of an organisation. This unit aims to develop an understanding of organisational theory and its application to management practice and organisational analysis in the health arena.
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Learning Outcomes
1 Explain the fundamentals of organising, organisational design and culture in health care services.
2 Identify basic health management skills in monitoring and controlling human and capital resources, risk management and work safety rinciples.
3 Explore and apply the fundamentals of leading: through communication, oral and written including using report format; group dynamics and teamwork in health care.
4 Apply management decision making practices used to ensure quality outcomes for both patients and staff in health services.
5 Analyse the strategic planning, strategic management, performance management and decision-making processes of the health system in the current climate of reform.
Assignment: Health Services Management – Sample Solution Draft:
Introduction
The New South Wales (NSW) government via the NSW ministry of health has for some time provided health services to the people using the local health districts in the region. The NSW ministry of health facilitates the delivery of healthcare through sixteen local health districts. The districts offer services over a wide range of settings which include primary care stations located in the remote regions and the metropolitan health centers. The system involves a network of specialists who deal with children and pediatric services. Also, there are specialists in forensic mental health and custodial fitness. However, the Australian government in 2015, introduced Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to improve patient care and to ensure that the health care system in the nation is efficient and effective (“Primary health networks (PHNs),” 2018). The introduction of the health networks calls for comparison and critique relative to the local health districts. The report will compare and contrast the two health systems looking at different aspects to determine which is better.also; the report will offer recommendations on how to improve the two systems to ensure effective and efficient healthcare delivery.
Primary Health Networks
There are 31 PHNs established across Australia. The aim of the health networks is to improve medical care for patients especially those vulnerable to unfavorable health outcomes, to ensure that government money is allocated where it is most needed and on health programs that are more efficient, to enhance the connections between hospitals and local health services to ensure that the patients receive health services at the right time and in the right place (Rørtveit, 2014). The primary health networks work hand in hand with local hospital networks and operate under the same boundaries as the local hospital networks.
New South Wales has the PHNs covering the entire region, from the central and eastern Sydney to the western Sydney to the south-western Sydney and the north coast. The PHNs have replaced the Medicare locals in the region, and there is likely hood of healthcare improvement. However, there is a need to evaluate the differences between the primary health networks and the local health district. Comparing and contrasting the two systems will show the potential benefits and possible consequences of the primary health networks on the NSW government and the people.
Comparison between PHNs and the local health districts
1. The budgetLike all government projects, the primary health networks and the local health districts require money allocations to ensure that health care services are efficiently delivered to the patients. The Australian government released the 2017-2018 health budget in which it provided for the PHNs. The PHNs were allocated $80 M throughout four years to be utilized for community mental health services. The service (psychosocial support) is aimed at assisting people with various mental illnesses who do not qualify for insurance coverage. Furthermore, the PHNs will receive over $145 M to facilitate after-hours primary health care. Also, about $8M is allocated to the PHNs to be administered for about three years to cater for home-based palliative care (“Summary of 2017-18 budget health announcements”, 2017).
On the other hand, the NSW ministry records a $1.9B to cater for mental health in the 2017-2018 financial year. Also, an extra $20M was allocated to the local health districts to aid in the implementation of the NSW reforms on mental health. Other budget additions for the local district hospital included $23M to facilitate an increase in services for the admitted and non-admitted psychiatric patients, $10.6M to ensure the continuity of Port Macquarie Hospital of Mental Health. Furthermore, there is approximately $1B to enhance paramedics services who provide relief in NSW. The budget also caters for ambulance and helicopter retrieval services that will incorporate doctors and paramedics in all flights (“Record $1.9 billion budget for mental health – News”, 2017).
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FunctionsThe primary health networks focus on the needs of the local community as well as on issues deemed by the government as important. They focus on cancer control, dementia, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes. The PHNs conduct research on the health needs in a particular region. The findings of the research help point out the vulnerable groups of people who require more resources and services thereby aiding the PHNs to customize health services in line with the people’s needs. Also, the PHNs implores the external health providers to offer extra services such as; after-hours services, health promotion programs, collecting information regarding children immunization, and mental health services (Booth & Boxall, 2016).
The Local health districts, on the other hand, have their share of responsibilities. They are tasked with clinical governance which involves patient safety management, patients’ complaints management, and clinical risk management. Also, they provide nursing services and ensure that nurses are deployed to all stations. The local health district also engages with the community to find out more on the community health needs that require an immediate response. They are also responsible for the transfer of patients to higher level care facilities, managing the trauma centers as well as facilitating ICU retrieval(“Key functions of each NSW Local Health District – LHD Boards,” 2017).