Assignment Structures

 

Background

This module is a compulsory module in the MSc Health Care Management scheme .The aim of the course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing strategic and operational planning in health and social care. The module is concerned with the theory of strategic planning and the concepts that underpin resource allocation in health and social care. It is increasingly difficult to claim that strategic planning is a distinctively different process in the public sector compared with the private sector, and any differences in philosophy and process will be explored and examined

The module will emphasise how ideology, politics, value systems and resource constraints pose particularly challenging issues in the development, formation and implementation of strategic plans in health care. The module will also deal with resource allocation mechanisms in the public sector, in particular the relationship between allocation of resources to that of meeting objectives related to aIDressing inequalities in health status and service provision.

 

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate :

• Critical and analytical abilities so that students are better able to think and actstrategically in health and social care
• An understanding of planning processes within health and social care *
• An awareness of techniques and approaches relevant for appraising evidence relevant for planning and decision-making
• An ability to understand and evaluate the use of differing commissioning strategies toachieve strategic objectives in health and social care
• An ability to make strategic decisions relating to the values and objectives of health and social care organisations

 

 

 

Assignment

you are required to select and present an analysis of a strategy for improving the performance of some aspect of health and/or social care.

Choice of strategy for the assignment

• you may select a strategy with which you are familiar through your employment orprevious employment.

 

 

• Alternatively you may select a national or local strategy where sufficient publishedevidence is available, such as; PFI; use of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs); use of targets to improve performance (performance management); use of IT to improveefficiency or quality of care; or integration strategies such as the South WalesProgramme.

 

 

• It will help if you can select a strategy that can be evaluated with hindsight – whether ithas been realised, or to some extent failed! or has emerged piecemeal. However, youmay also choose to analyse a strategy in an earlier stage of planning, that can be evaluated in terms of its formation, context, resources, objectives, need, business case, and whether (independent) review and evaluation are incorporated within the strategy.Strategies may be explicit, but they are not always. They may be planned in great detail, but they may be more accurately described as a perspective, a pattern, or a ploy. In short, you may select any sort of activity that can be analysed as a strategy or has some apparent strategic intent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Examples of strategy used in previous years for this assignment

• Analysis of the Wales Cardiac Disease Strategic Framework
• Performance measurement in French healthcare
• Performance management in the NHS
• Examination of the NHS obesity strategy.
• Examination of the Saudi strategy for infection control and management.
• The adoption of ‘methods’ such as lean or six sigma into NHS management philosophy and methods of service delivery.

 

The topic that I prefer is this (Saudi Ministry of Health strategy for Infection Control ) . If you can write about that or you can just come up with a strategy that you prefer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis

You may wish to analyze the strategy you select in terms of:

1. Does the strategy have clear identifiable aims?
2. If there are no clear identified aims, can the strategy succeed? (and how will we know it has succeeded?)
3. Are the aims achievable?
4. Will the aims be considered desirable by a significant number of people affected?
5. Can you identify any sources of conflict or opposition?
6. Does the strategy include methods of aIDressing opposition, or reducing potential

conflict?

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Does the strategy include effective means of communication between key

stakeholders?

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What aIDitional resources might be required to ensure the success of the strategy?

What are the risks?

What are the risks of failure and have alternative courses of action been identified? (Is there a Plan B?)

Students should demonstrate

• Critical awareness, appraisal, and reasoning
• An ability to structure their arguments and communicate their ideas effectively, and an ability to apply concepts and ideas to work-based situations.
• An ability to manage their resources and time, and to learn independently and

effectively

• Above all – the assignment should demonstrate they have achieved the learning

objectives set out above.

Resources

The main learning resource for the module will be materials supplied by the lecturers, plus journals such as:

• Health Affairs
• Health Services Research
• Strategic Management Journal
• !Health Policy and Planning
• !Health Policy
• Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law
• International Journal of Health Planning and Management

Books

The following is an indicative selection of books that may prove useful:

Bruch, Heike and Sumantra Ghoshal. 2004. A bias for action: how effective managers harness their willpower, achieve results, and stop wasting time. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Dixit, A K and B Nalebuff. 1993. Thinking strategically: the competitive edge in business, politics, and everyday life. London: Norton.

Edwards, Brian, and Fall. M. (2005) The Executive years of the NHS: The England Account

1985-2003. London: Nuffield Trust.

Ginter, Peter M, Linda E Swayne, and Duncan W Jack (2002) Strategic management of health care organizations. Oxford: Blackwell.

Grote, Dick. 2005. Forced ranking. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.

Iles, V (1997) Really managing health care, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Mintzberg, Henry, Bruce Ahlstrand, and Joseph Lampel. 2005. Strategy safari: the complete guide through the wilds of strategic management. London: Pearson Education.

Mintzberg, Henry. 2000. The rise and fall of strategic planning. London: Pearson Education.

Palfrey Colin, Paul Thomas and Ceri J Phillips (2004) Effective health care management: an

evaluative approach. Oxford: Blackwells,

Piggot, Carolyn Semple (2000) Business Planning for Healthcare Management. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Singer. Ron (ed) GP commissioning: an inevitable evolution, Radcliffe Medical Press, 1997

Smith, Rod, Butler, Fran & Powell, Mike (eds) Total purchasing: a model for locality

commissioning Radcliffe Medical Press, 1996.

Smith, Courtney A, and Joe Flanagan. 2001. Making sense of public sector investments: the ‘five- case model’ in decision making. Abingdon, Oxon: Radcliffe Medical.

Webster, Charles, (2002) The NHS: a political history, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Internet sites

Health of Wales Information Service (Howis) at http://www.wales.nhs.uk/

Department of Health at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/Home/fs/en

NHS Confederation at: http://www.nhsconfed.org/

WE CAN DEFINITELY HELP YOU WITH THIS AND SIMILAR ASSIGNMENTS.