OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE

Abstract

This study shows the expectations and demands of the customers from the healthcare sectors and

how the sectors are making strategies to fulfill the necessary expectations of the customers. In

COVID-19 pandemics, the patients are expecting more emergency services from the healthcare

companies and this concerns the quality of health and social care facilities of NHS. They demand

for some faculties that will be helpful in normal situation also and the healthcare sectors are

trying to fulfill it. This study demonstrates the quality standards of NHS healthcare services and

how they meet the expectations of its patients.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Overview of Health and Social care facilities of NHS 3

Expectations of the customers 4

Reviewing the Quality of Services to meet customers expectations 6

Two components of quality to achieve effective quality standards 8

Conclusion 9

References 11

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1. Introduction

This study is prepared with a purpose of evaluating the customers’ satisfaction with the service

quality and excellence of the HealthCare sectors.

In this study there is a profound discussion on the services provided by the NHS of the United

Kingdom, how much the customers are satisfied with their services and facilities and what are

the components that help them to achieve good quality of their services.

1.1 The Operation Management system in Healthcare sector and its importance

The Operation Management System is the design that includes the process of management in the

improvement and operation of the Healthcare sectors. It is important to proceed a healthcare

sector smoothly with proper service provided to the patients.

1.2 The customers in the healthcare sectors

The customers of the Healthcare sectors are those people or patients who are suffering from

various disease and psychological problems.

1.3 Expectations of the users of the healthcare sectors

The customers expectations is to get proper service from them. The patients are desired to get

best treatment and care from the stuffs and nurses of the Healthcare sectors.

1.4 Importance of quality management in Healthcare sectots

The patients will be willing to come to the healthcare sector when they find it best choice for

them and the choice of the patients comes from their observation of the quality of the treatment

and services of the Healthcare sectors.

1.5 The essay sheds light on

NHS is a UK based Healthcare organization which is a public funded organization and it is the

single payer sector of health organization which is the second largest healthcare sector in the

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world (Nhs, 2022). This study sheds light on the important components of the Healthcare sectors

that help them to provide satisfied facilities to the customers.

2.1.1 Overview of Health and Social care facilities of NHS

Health and social care sectors are those organizations that provide healthcare support for the

people who need it. The main purpose of these organizations is to serve correct facilities and

services for the people's well-being who are suffering from various health issues regarding

physical and psychological both (andall, 2014). I have been working in the NHS for many years;

it is the second-largest healthcare sector in the world based on its services and facilities. The

facilities provided by NHS are urgent and emergency care services, whenever anyone needs

urgent care or emergency services they try to provide all the necessary help with their best; they

also provide help with related to the health costs, when anyone needs personal health cost or

travel cost or credits they helps them in that situation; they also provide services related to sexual

health and also serves informations to the customers about the service of sexual health who need

it; nest is Dentists, they provide information and guidance of dental services and also allows the

customers to know about the cost of dentist in various purposes; The facility of Opticians is also

available where they research about the customers whether they are allowed for the free eyes

checkup or not; along with all these facilities they are also known for the healthcare services they

give to the community of armed forces and finally there is the availability of Online services also

(Carvalho et al. 2019).

According to my perception, the reason of this fame of NHS is that of its perspective to provide

facilities and services to the customers avoiding the discrimination on the ground of gender, age,

race, religious belief, disability and sexual orientation. It fulfils the social expectations of people

as it is always prepared to provide the best services to all the citizens of the United Kingdom

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depending on their medical necessity rather than their financial condition (Dahlgaard-Park, et al.

2018). NHS provides services including primary care, social care, mental health, hospital

services and ambulance services. They are always ready to provide the best quality of healthcare

and spend their money on effective places. NHS also runs a foundation trust and it is conducted

by public members, local managers and staff (Bai et al. 2020).

2.1.2 Expectations of the customers

I observe that at present the expectations rate of patients is rapidly increasing in healthcare

sectors. The patients expect the services such as listening to them properly; they expect to

receive correct information and a clear explanation regarding their health condition and also to

be treated properly with concern and care by the staff that is in charge of the patient

(Dharamdass and Fernando, 2018). It is noticeable that the most prevalent issue that the patients

and customers point out regarding the comparison of these two Healthcare sectors is that that the

private healthcare sectors as owned by a group of people or individuals it provides best quality of

care while the public Healthcare sectors are funded by the government the quality of the care

services is poor in comparison to the private healthcare sectors. Though the private healthcare

sectors provide the best quality of service in healthcare, it is expensive and in this regard the

NHS is exceptional as it provides the healthcare facilities with minimum cost and it is the

facilities that draw customers’ attention towards it.

During my working times in the NHS I came across the customer's view and expectations to

improve the services of the Healthcare organizations. The expectations are:

Guidelines for public health

During the Covid 19 pandemic, I observed that customers are quite careful and responsible

towards their health care and demand for the public health guidelines. They want more safety in

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healthcare sectors with masks and sanitization (Bag et al. 2020). It is claimed that the employees

and customers both need to use masks always and they must keep their hands sanitized as there

is an issue with the staff of the sector touching the patients and providing food.

Increase the contact rate of clients

Because of the social distance, the customers are unwilling to visit the clinic though it is

necessary for the reason they expect to increase the contact rate with clients. The doctors and

nurses are asked to create contacts with their patients in other ways such as mailing, video

calling, texting and other alternatives. Face to face meetings increases the risk of affecting with

Covid 19.

Innovative to improve care

The customers demand innovation, they ask for a curbside waiting room as it is no safer to sit

with many patients in the waiting room for the appointment of the doctors.

They advised for sms appointment or calling, where they said that the stuffs must not come to

call the patient when their part of meeting the doctor comes rather they want that the must send

sms to the patients when their turn of meeting the doctor comes thus they can avoid contact with

the stuffs of the Healthcare organizations.

Be personable

The customers often face communication with the Healthcare sectors that give negative

impressions to the customers, for this reason, they are advised to use smart devices in which the

personal information of both the customer and the staff can be recorded which provides trust.

Contactless payment

it is claimed everywhere especially in the healthcare sector as the customers are not willing to

come in contact or touch with the staff of the Healthcare sectors, for this reason, they ask for

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contactless payment such as online payment, card swiping and other smart devices and ways to

avoid physical contact with each other.

Hygiene processing

It is one of the most common demands in every health sector as it is necessary to provide a clean

and hygienic environment to the patients. They need to keep their Healthcare sectors clean and

hygiene along with the foods and also need to pay attention to the staff's hygiene, they must wear

masks, use sanitiser, and their clothes must be clean (Saffar and Obeidat, 2020).

2.1.3 Challenges in healthcare sectors and the importance of effective management

operations

The healthcare sectors face various types of challenges in for example Harnessing Advanced

Health Technology, the health care sectots use the technologies which become old now and

many advance technologies come in existence; Cybersecurity, it is one of the security problem

every organisation faces, Rising cost of the Healthcare is a challenge both for the sector and the

patients,Processing of payment and Invoice;the regulatory changes in healthcare, shortage of

stuffs and many others challenges. To overcome these challenges the healthcare sectors need

Operational management that helps these sectors to proceed their work smoothly (Guha and

Kumar, 2018).

2.1.4 The responsibility of the stakeholders on cliants

The stakeholders of the Healthcare sectors are the healthcare professionals, pharmacist,

suppliers, consumer who are responsible to pay attention on the better services of the Healthcare

sectors. They all are responsible in various aspects to provide best quality services to the patients

and the customers.

2.1.5 Reviewing the Quality of Services to meet customers expectations

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I have already noticed that the customers are little satisfied with the services and facilities

provided by the NHS. The percentage of customers’ satisfaction regarding the Healthcare

services in the NHS has increased seven percent in comparison with the last few years. I am

going to discuss the experience of a few customers regarding their satisfaction and how much the

NHS is successful in meeting the expectations of the customers. Statistics show that 53% of UK

patients are satisfied with the NHS healthcare facilities in 2020 (Statista, 2022). The following

statistics show how the patients respond to the healthcare services of NHS:

Figure 1: Patients’ responses to NHS healthcare service

(Source: Statista, 2022)

Continuous growth of consumerism

The customers are now able to ask questions regarding their health issues rather than blindly

following the recommendation of the doctors and the technology helps the customers to gain

additional knowledge or basic knowledge about their health problems which leads them to

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enquire about their health issues. The HealthCare sectors need to improve their health care

systems by improving their way of treatment (Stevenson, 2012).

Feedback

It is necessary for both the healthcare sectors and the patients as the customers choose to attain

those healthcare sectors which have good reviews from the patients and it also helps the sectors

as the good and positive reviews can attract customers towards its services.

Technology

It plays an important role everywhere and also in the healthcare sector. As people at present,

based on the self care system, they expect guidance of technology that can guide them with

proper feedback and suggestions for their well-being (Walley, 2017).

Customer care services

It includes some services that the NHS try to meet according to the customers' expectations. The

customers care services include their opening of a series of their workshops, online service

provided, training the trainer session, availability of corporate options. They provide a series of

workshops upto four workshops for customer care for the support of the staff at every level

(Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984). They provide online virtual sessions for the customers to avoid

contact and also serve them with trainers for their health routine.

2.1.6 Suggestion for improvement

Training and coaching

The healthcare sectors need to provide training and coaching to the stuffs and nurses of the

Healthcare sectors.

Use advance technology

The healthcare sectors needs to adopt better technology devices for better treatment.

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Nurses need to become more caring towards the patients

The nurses need to treat patients with care and they need to encourage the patients as

Encouragement helps a patient to recover quickly.

2.2.1 Maintaining Health and social care is important

The patients choose to go for treatment in those healthcare sectors that will provide best services

along with best care and treatment. The nurses are responsible for the caring of the patients and

treat them in such a way that they can overcome their health problems and recover soon. For the

reason to attract the customers towards NHS it is necessary that they must make their game by

providing good health and social care (Better et al. 2020).

2.2.2 Important of SERVQUAL dimension

Reliability

It is the responsibility of the doctors and the nurses both to do their job properly as they promise

to do so. The doctors must be committed towards their patients and the nurses must be caring and

responsible towards the patients.

Responsiveness

It is the responsibility of the doctors to give answer of every querry that the patients wants to do

and it is also responsible of the nurses to build good communication with the patients.

Assurance

The doctors need to gain the trust and confidence of the patients by providing them effective

treatment and suggestions. The nurses by providing good behaviour and communicating with the

patients can gain the trust and confidence of the patients.

Empathy

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The doctors, nurses and other stuffs of the Healthcare sectors need to be caring towards the

customers and shows their sympathy by giving attention towards their problems and health.

Tangibles

It includes the quality of service, the facilities and the quality of equipment that the doctors and

nurses use in the sectots.

2.2.3 Two components of quality to achieve effective quality standards

I have noticed that the NHS has the view of providing the best services and in order to provide

the best services and stay the customers healthy, they follow the four components of quality

standards among which two are Quality Assurance and Quality Planning (Oxleas, 2022).

Quality Planning

It is the first step of quality management where the organization needs to know their goals and

then make strategies to achieve their goals. NHS has the goal to provide the best services to their

customers and fulfil all the expectations they are expected of the customers (NHS, 2022).

Through Quality planning, NHS tries to meet all the improvements that are expected by the

customers and they make strategies to design the appropriate invention to fulfil all the demands

the customers are asking for. NHS is planning for the new strategies for an online appointment,

cashless payments and consulting the doctors in other ways through which physical contact can

be avoided. Hygiene is another issue though the NHS has already maintained hygiene awareness

they can be more concerned in this regard.

Quality Assurance

It is the inspection process where the service and products are inspected by the organization. In

this process, they keep their attention on the manufacturing process of the products and their

delivery for example medicines. In this process, the NHS looks at the services they provide and

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they show their awareness in providing services properly towards their customers. NHS review

all the services and services providing a process to meet the customers with best services

especially on those fields NHS faces the most dissatisfaction complaint from customers. The

need to follow few steps to complete this process: they must measure the fields where the

customers are facing problem or dissatisfaction, then they need to appoint a third party for the

inspection of the process, then the organization itself must observe how much effective it is for

the customers and how much it is able to meet the expectations of the customers (Merigó et al.

2019). These two components help the NHS to develop their services for the customers.

2.2.4 Different perspective of quality in healthcare sectors

The difference perspectives of quality are safety, the agencies and managers need to be aware of

the safety of the patients; effectiveness, the healthcare sectors must work effectively; patient-

centeredness, the sole purpose of the health Care sectots must be the wellbeing of the patients;

efficiency, efficiency is necessary as health of patient are crucial and sensitive matter; and

equity, the employees and doctors must be always honest and impartial regarding everything in

healthcare.

2.2.5 Quality standard to be achieved

The healthcare sectors need to work with standard, they need to maintain the standard of the

Healthcare sectors. The structure of the Healthcare sector must be such that will be effective for

the patients and the stuffs. The process and outcomes are the most important part and it is

important to pay attention on the effectiveness of the process of the treatment and services of the

patients so the outcome will also effective. NHS needs to monitor the standard of the

Healthcare in such way that all the stuffs can work properly and there must be no argument and

avoidance in their work and care towards the patients.

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Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that healthcare organisations are facing many

challenges and issues regarding the services they provide to the customers. The customers are

expecting innovation and new services from the healthcare sectors especially during this Covid

19 pandemic. Covid-19 makes people aware and conscious of many things regarding the

Healthcare sector. They demand the security of physical distance and innovative ways to meet

with doctors. Depending on the expectations of the customers the Healthcare sectors tried to

make some arrangements like cashless payment by using payment tools as apps. They contact

the doctor through video calls and emails and calls. All these are necessary for the present

situation and also for the future to make the way of consulting with the doctors easier for the

patients.

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