Meeting the needs of service users
Meeting the needs of service users
3000 word case study
Case Study
Community Hospital Foundation Trust (CHFT)
The Context and Situation Analysis
Community Hospital Foundation Trust (CHFT) operates within a local health economy. The
demands upon its services well exceed CHFT ability and capacity to meet such demands in
terms of existing staff support and other financial resources.
A consequence of this has been reports in the local media of ambulances waiting for long
periods outside the hospital unable to receive patients, and patients waiting on trolleys in the
hospitals corridors.
As part of an ongoing audit of their service users (past, present and likely future), the report
confirmed that an increasing number of attendees were frail elderly people with multiple
health conditions who in many cases had also experienced falls within their home. It was
also found that there was an increasing number of incidents of young people attending the
hospital on Friday nights and weekends. These were arriving with injuries from fights
induced by alcohol and drugs, and had diverted staff time and resources away from other
patients.
Challenges and Opportunities
The above challenges to this hospital provide sound reasons for greater collaboration
between health and social care professionals from partner public services, and also
community-based workers from voluntary organisations. Seeking better integration of health
and care services is an opportunity to also provide new ways of helping elderly service users
with complex needs to live independently in the community, and where young people feel
they can access appropriate support services when needed.
Legislation has been put in place to help remove some of the obstacles in order to improve
collaboration and joint working, such as:
Allowing pooled budgets
Allowing trusts to jointly commission services
Providing the legal underpinning for further integration (e.g. piloting integrated health
and care teams supported by single budgets to improve service user experience of
their care).
In view of the above opportunities there are other challenges that relate to cultural and skills
development for CHFT. These are around health and care professionals working with each
other to improve the current and future situation for users, their families and communities.
You need to address for Part 1: Q1 and Q2 in relation to the above case study:
For each question please focus on EITHER elderly service users OR young service users.
Part 1
Q1 State some of the reasons why CHFT will want to find out more about the situation behind
service users attending their hospital. Include in your answer a discussion of the assessment of
care needs, the formulation of agreed goals with them, and the use of systems and structures to
help with this.
(Learning outcome 1) 500 words maximum.
Q2 Briefly describe how you might go about using relevant theories (as well as drawing on your
own skills or the skills of others) in producing an assessment of their needs.
(Learning outcome 2) : 500 words maximum.
Total of 1000 words –
Part 2
Q3 In the light of limited resources and time, reflect upon options around how you could carry out
your own work in the implementation of any care plan for service users, in ways that can best
meet their needs in the short, medium and longer term.
(Learning outcome 3) 30% of marks: 1000 words maximum
Q4 How might you evaluate what has worked and what has not worked, with service users and
managers of the hospital trust? How can professionals and their own or partner organisations
work to deliver good practices around addressing the needs of service users better in the future.
(Learning outcome 4) : 1000 words maximum
Total of 2000 words –
Guidelines:
You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and
wide ranging academic research and ensure this is correctly referenced using the AU
Harvard system both in-text and end of text list. The My Study Skills Area contains the
following useful resources:
Guide to Harvard Referencing
http://moodle.bl.rdi.co.uk/guides/HarvardRef/AU_Harvard_Quick_Ref_Guide.pdf
Guide to Harvard Citation
http://moodle.bl.rdi.co.uk/guides/HarvardRef/AU_Guide_to_Harvard_Citation.pdf
You must use the AU Harvard Referencing method in your assignment.