The
importance of team work contributing to quality health care provision:

Quality
health care is a key factor of the right to health and is the route to equality
and improvement to health outcomes (WHO, 2018). The
provision of quality health care is hugely reliant on how different health
professionals work together as a team. This is because the work they do
together could potentially provide a good quality service affecting the treatment
and outcome of the patient (Zwarenstein et al, 2009). This assignment
demonstrates the impact of how different health professionals working together
has an effect on quality health care. Appendix 1 demonstrates feedback from a
patient who was satisfied with the care she received at Aintree University
Hospital. This satisfaction was primarily due to the effective team work
noticed. 

The
patient states that she had a pleasurable visit and is grateful to all the
staff working on the ward she was placed. The fact that she noticed that there
was a team of people working together shows how well it was done and has
described their work to being ‘exceptional’. She claims that a very difficult
time of hers was made pleasurable due to the expertise and dedication provided
by the staff. The patient comments on the attributes of the staff concluding
they are a credit to the NHS. The most important attribute seen was their team
work as well as their individual professionalism. The responses to this story
were very appreciative (Opinion, 2018). 

The
importance of communication between team members:

It
is said according to Barrett et al, 2005, that the
quality of health service received is dependant on how different health
professionals work together effectively. As shown in the above feedback,
patients receive more thorough care and are more satisfied when they notice
health professionals collaboratively working. 

During
the outstay of a patient in the hospital environment, the patient is faced with
several different health professionals each an expert in different fields. In
order to provide a professional and satisfied approach, it is vital that all
professionals work together as a team to achieve their goal in providing
quality care for the patient. The Canadian health services research foundation
found that it is easy to function as a team when a common purpose and goal is
found (McGuire, Perrier and Soklaridis, 2006). The feedback states that the
staff all had one motive which was recognising that the patients are first
priority. This shows that all the staff worked together to achieve a similar
goal which was providing good quality healthcare service and therefore
satisfied the patients needs. Thus, the contribution from different
specialists, sharing resources and findings contributes to providing quality
health care to the patient (Librarian, 2018). 
However, this is solely reliant on how well the team members communicate
with each other.

There
are numerous benefits of working as a team such as the ability to work
collaboratively. As clinical care is becoming more complex, this means certain
medical professionals have to learn to adapt to new methods (Librarian, 2018).
This adaption can be done through the aid of different health professionals
each having specific specialities. Collaborative working allows diverse skills
to be put together and therefore improves the quality of service. This is
enabled through effective communication with confidentiality limitations
(Arnold & Boggs, 2016). Through effective communication, a range of ideas
on decision making can be discussed to improve the health of the patient.

Good
communication between different health professionals would also comfort the
patient making them feel confident in the health professionals as they all work
towards the same goal. Many different professionals working together enables a
faster approach, improving the quality of service and also shortening the time
kept in care (Ovretviet et al, 1997). This proves that effective collaborative
working due to communication improves quality health care provision which benefits
the patient. This is because if one professional was unable to meet the needs
of a patient, their case with patient consent can be discussed with other
professionals, more experts in the field, in order to meet patient needs.

Failure
in collaboration and communication are amongst the most common factors for loss
of productivity (Arnold & Boggs, 2016). According to the HCPC (Standards of
conduct, performance and ethics, 2012) health professionals “must work in
partnership with colleagues, sharing skills, knowledge and experience.” This
implies the importance of communication between teams as on the contrary,
failure in conveying information can cause misconceptions and affect quality
care. Also, the restriction of information held from other professionals can
affect the flow of work (Freeman, 2000). This shows the significance of
communication within teams as otherwise, this could hinder performances.

A
case study showing a prime example of poor quality health service is the conditions
found in mid-Staffordshire. This hospital lost sight to provide quality care to
its patients where they were left starved, thirsty and living in poor
conditions. ‘Some patients received wrong medication’ (Calkin et al, 2018)
implying that there was no communication transferred between different health
professionals and therefore patient treatment was unknown.  The Francis report is a prime example of how
teamwork could bring good quality health care service. This is because the poor
conditions which were examined were not noticed by any health professional. If
this was found at an earlier point, through communication of staff members,
action could have been taken at an earlier stage. The fact that wrong
medication was given to patients shows the lack of communication between team
members which impacted on the patients. This highlights the importance of
communication between different health professionals contributing to the
treatment of the patient (Calkin et al,2018).

The
patient within Appendix 1 comments on the attributes of the staff concluding
they are a credit to the NHS, ‘particularly their communication skills.’ This
comment suggests that communication between teams can provide an increased
patient satisfaction and improve the quality of service provided.

The
significance of involving patients in their treatment plan:

When
a patient is involved in their own treatment plan, this gives some sort of
empowerment and psychologically speeds up their treatment time. This is because
they feel as though they have some control over themselves and therefore tend
to ‘choose care, support or treatment packages’ which coincide with their
personal preferences (NHS England, 2018). Thus, decisions are made by them to
optimise their health and wellbeing. ‘New approaches to value in health and
care’ provides evidence that people who are involved in their own health care
decisions tend to have a greater satisfaction with the service (Redding, 2016).
Also, they are more appreciative and approve the decisions which have been made
regarding their treatment. Thus, a better health service is maintained (Babiker
et al, 2014).

Many
government policies such as the National Health Service Act 2006, now advocate
and state that patients should be included and involved in decisions related to
the ‘prevention or diagnosis of illness, or their care or treatment’ (NHS
England, 2018). However, there are certain views which oppose to this idea as
sometimes patients are unaware of what is best for them. This is because
healthcare professionals often provide ‘too much information without checking
the level of understanding’ (Gary, Nielsen and shepherd, 2015). This lack of
understanding could be due to reasons such as the failure to understand medical
and treatment opportunities and therefore some argue that patients shouldn’t be
involved in concluding what is best for them. This is also because if a patient
made a decision for themselves and this was a wrong decision, they would be responsible
for this.  

Despite
this, involving patients in their care plan is part of the NHS act in shared
decision making. This also coincides with the NHS values which emphasises on
good quality healthcare provision as the principle of patient involvement
ensures that each person feels involved and is responsible. Thus, despite
contrasting opinions regarding this topic it is becoming part of legislation
and therefore it is expected to be followed (NHS England, 2018). As seen in
appendix 1, the patient was very satisfied for many reasons as well as being
‘involved in all medical decisions.’ This relates to good quality health care
provision as the patient is left satisfied and is content with the service
provided.

In
conclusion providing good quality healthcare service is vital and is provided
through several factors such as the team work from different health
professionals. The effectiveness of their work is what affects patient care and
therefore is vital. This effective teamwork is enabled through good
communication between HCP’s allowing them to work together. As well as the team
of different health professionals, involving the patients in this team is
extremely beneficial. As shown from patients feedback, teamwork plays a huge
role in patient satisfaction in regards to good quality healthcare service.