IS Implementation in the UK Health Sector

2011 ◽  
pp. 1232-1236
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Barnes

Since the mid-1980s, the UK public sector has been the subject of wide-ranging reforms involving the introduction of IS and IT. Change has been sought in the ways that services are managed and delivered, the evaluation of the quality of aforesaid services, and in accountability and costing. One of the most predominant of such changes has been the introduction of competition for services, the motivation of which has been to invite efficiency, effectiveness, and related benefits ensuing from the accrual of economies. Pivotal to such change has been an explosion in the introduction of a variety of information systems to meet such challenges. Focusing on health care, a large part of the work of the health service involves collecting and handling information, from lists of people in the population to medical records (including images such as X-ray pictures), to prescriptions, letters, staffing rosters and huge numbers of administrative forms. Yet until recently, the health service has been woefully backward in its use of the technology to handle information by the standards of private industry. This has been quickly changing in recent years and by 2003 the National Health Service (NHS) spent £2.8 billion annually on capital in hospitals (Department of Health, 2003a), around 10% of which was for IT. In the last 20 years, IT has added 2% to overall health expenditure (Wanless, 2001). This investment is still small by the standards of the private sector, but is all the more significant when we consider that health care is an industry which has been slow to adopt IT and one which presents some of the biggest IT opportunities (Department of Health, 2002).

Author(s):  
Stuart J. Barnes

Since the mid-1980s, the UK public sector has been the subject of wide-ranging reforms involving the introduction of IS and IT. Change has been sought in the ways that services are managed and delivered, the evaluation of the quality of aforesaid services, and in accountability and costing. One of the most predominant of such changes has been the introduction of competition for services, the motivation of which has been to invite efficiency, effectiveness, and related benefits ensuing from the accrual of economies.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dang Boi Huong ◽  
Nguyen Khanh Phuong ◽  
Sarah Bales ◽  
Chen Jiaying ◽  
Henry Lucas ◽  
...  

China and Vietnam have adopted market reforms in the health sector in the context of market economic reforms. Vietnam has developed a large private health sector, while in China commercialization has occurred mainly in the formal public sector, where user fees are now the main source of facility finance. As a result, the integrity of China's planned health service has been disrupted, especially in poor rural areas. In Vietnam the government has been an important financer of public health facilities and the pre-reform health service is largely intact, although user fees finance an increasing share of facility expenditure. Over-servicing of patients to generate revenue occurs in both countries, but more seriously in China. In both countries government health expenditure has declined as a share of total health expenditure and total government expenditure, while out-of-pocket health spending has become the main form of health finance. This has particularly affected the rural poor, deterring them from accessing health care. Assistance for the poor to meet public-sector user fees is more beneficial and widespread in Vietnam than China. China is now criticizing the degree of commercialization of its health system and considers its health reforms “basically unsuccessful.” Market reforms that stimulate growth in the economy are not appropriate to reform of social sectors such as health.


Author(s):  
Stuart J. Barnes

Implementing large strategic IS in the UK health sector has recently become the subject of much debate, as hospitals have undergone wide-reaching government-led institutional reforms involving the introduction of IT. Many of the developments have followed the patterns in the U.S. One such example is that of Case Mix, introduced strategically as part of the Resource Management Initiative and aimed at the facilitation of both clinical and financial audit. Moreover, Case Mix was implemented alongside significant changes in hospital structure and culture, requiring clinicians to get involved in management tasks and decision making within the structure of the hospital, supported by a new information infrastructure. Case Mix was implemented blanket-fashion throughout many UK hospitals, and the success of such systems has varied significantly. A number of lessons can be learned from the way that the implementation was approached. This chapter stems from a research project focusing longitudinally on the implementation of Case Mix in four UK hospitals. It draws a number of findings from the cases, and importantly, explicates a framework for strategic IS implementation, as generated from the cases and supported by the extant literature. Such a framework has implications for both theory and practice, and assists in the understanding of what is often a dynamic and poorly understood situation.


2009 ◽  
pp. 1408-1428
Author(s):  
Astrid M. Oddershede ◽  
Rolando A. Carrasco

In this chapter the user interface perception and resources for mobile technology (MT) support in health care service activities is investigated. Most procedures oriented to provide better operation and quality of health service depend on the existing information and communication technology (ICT) system. However, the implementation of new technology competes with funding available for health institutions resources, hence introducing them is complex. The technical difficulties encountered in using ICT are: an inadequate physical infrastructure, quality of service (QoS) issues, and insufficient access by the user to the hardware/software communication infrastructure. A case study by multi-criteria approach was investigated involving three categories of hospitals in Chile and empirical data was collected comprising diverse health sector representatives. The main contribution is the proposed research decision-making model using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate and compare information and communications systems as fixed, wireless, or computer-assisted provisions for health-related activities and to identify the high priority dimensions in a health care service.


2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Croucher

An integrated care pathway (ICP) is an outline of planned care for a specific patient group. It highlights usual practice that is evidence-based, from which variations occur as health-care professionals use their professional judgement. The objectives of the study were to identify the key elements within an ICP, to formulate a checklist utilizing the ICP key elements, and to evaluate ICPs available from the UK National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) against the checklist. An ICP key elements checklist was produced from a review of ICP literature. In all, 90% of the ICPs evaluated contained a plan of anticipated care along some form of timeline, including processes and outcomes. Also, 70% of the ICPs evaluated did not contain a variance-recording framework. In addition, 70% of the ICPs evaluated did not contain any evidence of evidence-based best practice. This study shows that there is wide variability in the quality of the ICPs being developed in the UK National Health Service (NHS), and that the development of ICPs in many health-care organizations is inadequate. Variability of the ICPs being developed will have a direct impact on the quality of patient care, and improvements in care and service delivery may not be identified, implemented or reviewed. It is recommended that a tool be produced, which would provide a standard framework for NHS staff to follow when developing ICPs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e000756
Author(s):  
Yu Zhen Lau ◽  
Kate Widdows ◽  
Stephen A Roberts ◽  
Sheher Khizar ◽  
Gillian L Stephen ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe UK Department of Health have targeted a reduction in stillbirth by 50% by 2025; to achieve this, the first version of the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle (SBLCB) was developed by NHS England in 2016 to improve four key areas of antenatal and intrapartum care. Clinical practice guidelines are a key means by which quality improvement initiatives are disseminated to front-line staff.MethodsSeventy-five clinical practice guidelines covering the four areas of antenatal and intrapartum care in the first version of SBLCB were obtained from 19 maternity providers. The content and quality of guidelines were evaluated using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) tool. Maternity health professionals in participating organisations were invited to participate in an anonymous survey to determine perceptions toward and experiences of the use of clinical practice guidelines using a series of Likert scales.ResultsUnit guidelines showed considerable variation in quality with median scores of 50%–58%. Only 4 (5.6%) guidelines were recommended for use in clinical practice without modifications, 54 (75.0%) were recommended for use subject to modifications and 12 (16.7%) were not recommended for use. The lowest scoring domains were ‘rigour of development’, ‘stakeholder involvement’ and ‘applicability’. A significant minority of unit guidelines omitted recommendations from national guidelines. The majority of staff believed that clinical practice guidelines standardised and improved the quality of care but over 30% had insufficient time to use them and 24% stated they were unable to implement recommendations.ConclusionTo successfully implement initiatives such as the SBLCB change is needed to local clinical practice guidelines to reduce variation in quality and to ensure they are consistent with national recommendations . In addition, to improve clinical practice, adequate time and resources need to be in place to deliver and evaluate care recommended in the SBLCB.


Issues of Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
E. V. Shirmanov ◽  

The Right to health protection is one of the most fundamental constitutional rights. It is subject to criminal legal protection. While the attacks on him appear not only in the form of crimes such as causing harm by negligence (part 2 of article 118 of the Russian Criminal Code), failure to assist a patient (article 124 of the Russian Criminal Code), etc., but also corruption crimes. Corruption threatens the normal relationship between doctor and patient, medical institution and patient, which reduces the quality of medical care. It threatens not only people’s property, but also their lives and health. Manifestations of corruption in health care are different, they are many, and they should all be taken into account in determining measures and means to combat this dangerous social phenomenon. The effectiveness of the fight against corruption in the health sector is largely due to the knowledge of its various manifestations. These problems are the subject of the proposed article


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Agustinus Hermino

Latar belakang: Seiring dengan perkembangan jaman, dalam beberapa tahun terakhir ini banyak perhatian yang difokuskan pada eksplorasi dampak penyakit fisik dan mental pada kualitas hidup seseorang baik secara individu maupun masyarakat secara keseluruhan. Sifat subyektif dari 'kualitas hidup' individu, merupakan konsep yang dinamis untuk diukur dan didefinisikan, tetapi bahwa secara umum dapat dipandang sebagai konsep multidimensi yang menekankan pada persepsi diri dari keadaan pikiran seseorang saat iniTujuan: penulisan ini bertujuan untuk memberikan pemahaman tentang peran masyarakat dalam memahani pentingnya kesehatan di era global ditinjau dari perspektif akademis. Pada sektor kesehatan pemahaman kesehatan menjadi sangat pentingnya karena akan menunjukkan pada kualitas hidup seseorang, tetapi hal ini tidak cukup secara individu karena diperlukan pemahaman secara menyeluruh terhadap masyarakat tentang makna kesehatan dan perawatan kesehatan.Metode: penulisan ilmiah ini adalah dengan melakukan analisa akademis dari dari berbagai sumber rujukan relevan sehingga menemukan makna teoritis baru dalam rangka menjawab tantangan yang terjadi di masyarakat.Hasil: Berdasarkan berbagai sumber rujukan yang ada, dapat disimpulkan bahwa kesehatan merupakan gaya hidup yang bertujuan untuk mencapai kesejahteraan fisik, emosional, intelektual, spiritual, dan lingkungan. Penggunaan langkah-langkah kesehatan dapat meningkatkan stamina, energi, dan harga diri, kemudian meningkatkan kualitas hidup. Dengan demikian maka konsep kesehatan memungkinkan adanya variabilitas individu. Kesehatan dapat dianggap sebagai keseimbangan aspek fisik, emosional, psikologis, sosial dan spiritual dari kehidupan seseorang. Kata kunci: masyarakat, perawatan kesehatan, kualitas hidup Society Community and Health Care in Improving Quality of LifeAbstract Background: Along with the development of the era, in recent years there has been a lot of attention focused on exploring the impact of physical and mental illness on the quality of life of a person both individually and as a whole. The subjective nature of an individual's 'quality of life' is a dynamic concept to measure and define, but that in general can be seen as a multidimensional concept that emphasizes self-perception of one's current state of mindAim: purpose of this study is to provide an understanding the role of community in understanding the importance of health in the global era from an academic perspective. In the health sector understanding of health is very important because it will show the quality of life of a person, but this is not enough individually because a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of health and health care is needed. Method: The method of scientific writing is to carry out academic analysis from various relevant reference sources, and find new theoretical meanings in order to answer the challenges that occur in society. Keyword: Community, Society,Health Care, Quality oflife Resullt : Based on various academic reference, it can be concluded that health is a lifestyle that aims to achieve physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and environmental well-being. The use of health measures can increase stamina, energy, and self-esteem, then improve the quality of life. Thus the concept of health allows for individual variability. Health can be considered as a balance of physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of one's life. Keywords: community, health care, quality of life 


1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Frances Millard

During its first twenty years the Polish health service represented a neglected sector of government activity, as the development of heavy industry remained the predominant economic goal, with social policy regarded as a “nonproductive” sphere. When Edward Gierek came to power in 1970, the promise of reform extended throughout society to include health. However, despite a fundamental organizational reform, the health service has remained in a state of crisis, currently worsening as a result of mounting economic dislocation and political tension. Inadequate access to treatment, lack of continuity of care, poor quality of care, profound shortages of drugs and supplies, and the absence of preventive medicine are some of the manifestations of this crisis. Its main causes lie in the political weakness of the Ministry of Health, with consequent underfunding and the nonfulfillment of its plans. This situation is exacerbated by continuing organizational fragmentation, the neglect of primary care, the existence of conflicting aims in health policy, and the dominance of an ideology of clinical specialism.


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