The National Health Service: Human Resource Management

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Table of Contents

Introduction
General overview of the NHS
Organization of the stuff work
Reducing the stress level in the medical establishments
Hospital manager requirements
Competitive element in managing the NHS
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Modern life is subordinated to the laws of market and it is very important to be competitive and effective or you will be just charged off on the wayside of the society. The rivalry is very keen that is why it is vital for personalities and organisations to be quick responsive to any little move in the fast changing world of work. The science of management comes in useful to help people organize their time in order to be the most effective on the market; it is “about controlling the use of your most valuable (and undervalued) resource” (Blair n.d.).

General overview of the NHS

“The UK NHS, particularly the NHS in England, has been subjected to continuous ‘re-disorganizations’ over recent decades” (Karen & Maynard 2010). The National Health system consists of thousands of hospitals all over the country. Each of them presents itself absolutely independent organisation with the other stuff and principles according to which the work there is organised. Traditionally the organisational pattern was the same – some kind of the distributing mechanism, which sends patients to the specialists.

The model is quite general, though its effective work depends on the good people management on all stages. Moreover, it is easy to determine whether the establishment works according to the principles of human resource management as “better management is strongly correlated with better hospital performance measured by both clinical and financial outcomes” (Management practices in the NHS 2010, p. 1) The satisfaction of the patients is one of the main purposes for the hospitals to succeed.”Patient satisfaction is highest in organisations where staff report clear goals at every level.

In such organisations, patients say they experience good communication with staff and they feel involved in care decisions” (West 2013).As we can see, it is not easy to achieve it with not prepared and bad organised stuff – “the more engaged staff members are, the better the outcomes for patients and the organisation generally” (West, Dawson, Admasachew, & Topakas n.d.). Being “the basis for all management activity” (Torrington, Taylor, Hall, & Atkinson 2010, p.4), human resource management should also be the basis for the effective functioning of the NHS.

Organization of the stuff work

The traditional way of the organisation of the work had some obvious drawbacks. The first and the most evident is the irrational use of time – the patients have to wait long queues in order just to ask for the needed procedure or specialist. That is why, it is vital for the personnel of the hospital to know definitely their objectives and execute their duties fast and with the high quality. Well structured organisation of their labour will help to increase efficiency and get rid of the queues. The cases with the poor qualified stuff are not taken into consideration.

Constant training is very important here – “where more employees receive training, learning and development that is felt to be relevant for the job, the better the outcomes” (West et al. n.d.). That is why great efforts nowadays are made by the government to stimulate the workers desire to continue their study and further develop their skills. The system of encouraging of the retrained workers is in being establishing, having understood that the “human factor is crucial to success” (Blair n.d.a)

Reducing the stress level in the medical establishments

The stuff of any medical establishment is constantly under the stress. The kind of work they do supposes the random appearing stressful situations which can badly influence the physical and emotional state of the worker and reduce his productivity greatly. That is why the great deal of the efforts of the hospital manager is directed to the lowering the level of stress among the stuff and creating a good atmosphere within the establishment. The stuff also should not be under a high pressure from the authority, as when the worker feels the constantly growing stress he cannot work in a proper way.

The accumulated anger and aggression may suddenly spurtle on the patients in very unpleasant way. There are special groups of the psychological support in the NHS where everyone from the medical personnel can get help from the professional psychologist and decrease the level of stress. The employee also should feel himself comfortable among his colleges and count on their help in the case of emergency and be motivated to help them, understanding that they are doing one business. The motivation plays a great role as it “formulate strategies to help organizations achieve their specific objectives” (Warigon n.d.).

Hospital manager requirements

Being organised in the proper way and according to the recommendations of the human resource management, the stuff of any hospital feels more comfortable and confident, because of being the part of a well-organised structure.

When staff feel that they work in a well structured team environment (one where teams have clear objectives, have to work interdependently to achieve these objectives, and meet regularly to discuss their effectiveness and how it might be improved) their engagement levels are also higher than those who do not (West et al. n.d.)

It becomes obvious that creating the aligned mechanism of the stuff functioning is the first task for the clinic manager to do. By the way, it is strongly recommended for the senior manager of the hospital to have some clinical training, because, it is obvious that they show better results in clinic management than those who do not have any (Management practices in the NHS 2010).

The post of a chief manager of the hospital should be given to a good specialist as “the effective management of people in organization requires an understanding of motivation, job design, reward systems and group influence” (Managing People n.d., para.1). He should work in partnership with stuff, encouraging their creativity and successes (Managing People in the NHS in Schotland 2001).

Competitive element in managing the NHS

As we have already said, the science of the human resource management considers motivation and competition as a good stimuli for better stuff management and functioning. In this terms the desire of the government to stimulate the competition between hospitals becomes obvious. The increase of the choice of clinics will lead to the growth of the competition between hospitals. It will result in the great improvement of the provided medical service. The competitive element is also being stimulated within the collective.

The tradition of the constant encouraging of the best workers is provided in the great number of medical establishments. This is not only the question of fame for the chosen worker, but the recognising of his successes and acknowledgment of his professional skills. Undoubtedly, everyone likes when his achievements are recognised, that is why it is very important to award the person with the bonus in full view of the whole collective, stimulating his further achievements and motivating the rest of the stuff to repeat his success at the same time. The enlarging of the choice of the hospitals positively influenced on the functioning of the NHS and increased the general outcome level.

Conclusion

Having analysed the establishments of the National Health Service it is possible to come to conclusion that managing people and personnel is very important here and the necessity of its implementation is obvious. Having understood the importance of its well functioning, it is possible to admit that only qualitative and professional management will help system to work much more effective – “Healthcare Commission ratings are higher in hospitals with higher quality management” ( Management practices in the NHS 2010, p.17). The traditional ways, the system has been functioning, lost their efficiency that is why the great need in the reorganisation appeared.

Being not able to fulfil the demands of the patients, who need more professional level of the service, they should be replaced with the new ones, which work according to the main principles of the human resource management. Being provided in some medical establishments they should become widely-used in the whole country, suggesting the new standards of the service and outputting the NHS to new level. In other words, hospitals, implementing the well structured work organisation, creating positive work environment and encouraging people’s innovation and successes have more chances to win the rivalry in the sphere of medicine.

Reference List

Blair, M, G, n.d. Personal Time Management for Busy Managers. Web.

Blair, M, G, n.d.a. The Human Factor. Web.

Karen, B & Maynard, A 2010, Reforming the English NHS: A Continuing Journey, Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Vol. 8, n. pag.

Managing Peoplen.d., Web.

Management practices in the NHS. 2010. Web.

Managing People in the NHS in Scotland. 2001. Web.

Torrington, D, Taylor, S, Hall, L & Atkinson, C, 2010.Human Resource Management. Financial Times Publishing, Cambridge.

Warigon, S, D, n.d. Managing People for Organizational Success. Web.

West, M, 2013, People management is a simple equation. Web.

West, M, Dawson, J, Admasachew, L, & Topakas, A, n.d., NHS Staff Management and Health Service Quality. Web.

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