ASSESSMENT

Table of Contents
“Health Policies”.............................................................................................................3

“Categories of health care policies”................................................................................4

“Regulatory Health Policies”...........................................................................................4

“Allocative Health Policies”.............................................................................................4

“Need of the Health Policies”..........................................................................................5

“Essential functions of the public health services”.........................................................5

“Health care Policies in UK”...........................................................................................6

“Patient responsibilities and rights”................................................................................7

“Key priorities as per the health policies”.......................................................................8

“Overview of OECD health policies”...............................................................................9

“Health Care Policies in India”......................................................................................10

“Comparing today with the history”..............................................................................10

“Public and Private System of Health Care”................................................................10

“Government’s role”......................................................................................................11

“Health policies by the government”.............................................................................11

References.......................................................................................................................13

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“Health Policies” are equally important for all countries because these are the
necessities to maintain the wellbeing of the natives and all the citizens of the country.
As such the “Health Ministry” of each and every country has created certain policies of
health to ensure that they are maintained accordingly by the people as well as all the
health care organizations of the country to ensure healthy lifestyle of people, to control
and prevent diseases and to increase the life rate and expectancy of people. Healthy
population would also ensure fast development of the country as healthy human
resources of a country are the most valuable resources. Reduction of the death rate in a
country would also be possible by active maintenance of “health policies” and hence the
impact on the development of medical system of the state concerned. This report will be
a discussion on the “health policies and relevance of the health policies” for a country.
Two separate countries will be chosen to analyze the “health policy systems” and
determine the level of “health care” available in those countries. The analysis will be
specifically based on the health policies and the “health care systems of UK and India”.

“Health Policies”
As per the proposition of the “World Health Organization” policies, plans, actions or
decision that are specifically taken by a country to achieve certain determined goals of
“health care” for the society are known as the “health care policies” or “health policies”.
A “health policy” which is explicit tends to achieve many things which include defining a
future vision that help in the establishment of reference points and targets both for the
medium as well as the short terms. Thus “health policies” are capable of outlining the
roles and policies that are expected of several group thus informing people and building
consensus in them[ CITATION Wor202 \l 1033 ].

Therefore, “health policies” are created by every nation and referred to as “National
Health Policies” which are the outcome of political conflict for centuries over the
government’s actual role in health. However, the framing of the complex set of
guidelines of the institutions that provides health care and the finances the health care
system is done by the negotiation of both governmental as well as private institutions
involved in the system of health care. However, the preparation and framing of these
policies have been done by scholars who rely on several political and social theories

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that have influence the health and the lifestyle of the people in a society. Every nation
has different “health policies” which have understood according to the classifications in:
“leading political cultures and ideologies”, relations among the classes in the society,
traditions and structures of the state, representation of right and left in politics and the
institution of national politics. The issue of dominance by the profession has been a
specific focus of the study associated to “health politics”. This depends on whether the
profession of medicine or the experts who are qualified to provide deliver of the services
related to medicine can double up their expertise of profession into sufficient power of
politics to dominate the decisions of “health care policies” [ CITATION Sci12 \l 1033 ].

“Categories of health care policies”

There are many categories of the policies of health care except the national and the
global policies. There are policies regarding public health, vaccination, control of the
tobacco consumption, quality of the health care available, health finances and so on.
Moreover, these categories of “health care policies” are different for each different
country. However, all these categories are divided into two basic categories of “health
policies” which include “Regulatory Health Policies” and the “Allocative Health Policies”.

“Regulatory Health Policies”

These policies are in generally based on the regulations of the society and the way it
influences the framing of the policies related to health. The categories of these policies
include

 Restrictions in the entry of the market

 Controls on setting price or rates for the several providers of “health service”
 Control of quality of the delivery of the “health services”
 Controls on the preservation of the markets [ CITATION GUW20 \l 1033 ]

“Allocative Health Policies”

These policies on the other hand are framed to provide benefits of medical service to
some certain group or individuals or a certain organizations. These services are borne
by the expenses of others to ensure that the objectives of the public are met. Therefore,

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by essence these policies act as subsidies there is an alteration of demand or supply of
services or products by the makers of the policy or to promise an access to those
services and products for a certain group of people [ CITATION GUW201 \l 1033 ].

“Need of the Health Policies”

According the “World Health Organization” there are several challenges of health that
are faced by each and every country. Moreover, the challenges may either be different
or similar for every different country. Policies play a major role in promoting the health
and improving the quality of life people lead in one specific country or across the globe.
Therefore, the policies are needed as per the challenges faced by individual nations and
there are global policies to eradicate global health challenges. This does not mean that
“policies of health” will be able to eradicate diseases causing death. For example, some
of the chronic diseases although preventable have caused several deaths across the
world. However, the policies are needed to ensure that people have the ways of
prevention and control; of diseases and health care organization are bound to provide
the available services due to the implementation of this policies related top care of the
health across nations in the world. Policies are generally meant to improve the
conditions of the health for the majority and to ensure equity of health because this
would otherwise have economic implications as there will be loss of productivity and the
increase in the cost of treating and diagnosing a disease which is chronic in nature.
Therefore, in short the decisions related to implications of health need explicit
consideration not only for the prevention of harm but for the promotion of wellbeing and
health of the human lives. This can be achieved by framing up of the policies by
identification of the root causes of any of the ailments of a nation and the ways in which
the ailments can be prevented, cured or eradicated completely [ CITATION NCB202 \l 1033 ].

“Essential functions of the public health services”

It is the responsibility of the “public health services” to adhere to the “public health
policies” of the nation to ensure that the “health services” are delivered appropriately
and according to the needs of the individual or of the whole community. Therefore, all
the health activities related to the public health are undertaken by the public health
services according to the “health policies” that have been framed according to the law of

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the nation. The major functions that they provide as per the policies can be pointed as
follows:

 Monitoring the status of health in the community and identifying health problems
that are vulnerable
 Diagnosis and investigation of health issues in a community
 Informing, empowering and educating people about the several health problems
 Mobilizing partnerships in the community and taking action to solver after
identifying the various health issues
 Development of plans for supporting the efforts of health of individual as well as
the community
 Enforcing regulations and laws for health protection and ensuring safety of the
people
 Connecting people for the need of services of personal health and assuring the
availability of health care when it is unavailable otherwise
 Assuring the delivery of competent workforce of health care on both personal and
public level
 Evaluating quality, accessibility and effectiveness of “health services” based on
the need of an individual or the population
 Researching for further innovation and insights of solution for the eradication,
cure and prevention of health problems[ CITATION Cen18 \l 1033 ]

“Health care Policies in UK”

The “healthcare system of UK” came into emergence after the World War II and was
operated on and from 1948, July 5 th. The system was first put into proposition by
Aneurin Bevan who was initially a politician and later on became Health Minister in the
country. It was named as “National Health Service” (NHS)and the proposal was given to
the parliament in “Beveridge Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services” in the year
1942. Over and time the NHS in UK has evolved to be one of the largest systems of
healthcare across the world. The “system of health care” and the “policies of health” is
the responsibility of England’s central government whereas for “Wales, Scotland and
Northern Island” the responsibility befalls on the “devolved governments”. The NHS has
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its own mission of providing equal care of health for all and ensuring excellence and
equity in delivery of the health care services. The values have been developed for the
welfare of the public, patients, and also state the responsibilities and rights of the
patients and the public staff. To ensure proper delivery of “health services and health
care” and to ensure that the “health policies” are well maintained in UK the NHS has
employed many people for them to work smoothly and has more than 1.3 million people
working as employees and thus the NHS has become the largest employer of UK. The
following table will show the distribution of workforce in NHS who act as the guardian of
“health care policies” and their maintenance to provide the “health care services” to the
people[ CITATION NCB10 \l 16393 ].

“Patient responsibilities and rights”

As per the policies of health care in UK a patient will always have the following
responsibilities and rights:

 Every individual can get access to equal care and services that UK health care
provides irrespective of their color, origin, disability (mental / physical), creed,
race, service, age, sexual orientation, sex, social or economic status, religion,
identity, gender, veteran status or political belief.
 Getting knowledge of the sickness and how the service can help it get better or
cured and the measures to be followed to stay well after the medical treatment is
over.
 Having knowledge of the nurses or the doctors that have been serving them.

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  Each individual also has the right to get care and medical treatment in a safe
environment free of harassment, neglect or abuse.
 Free from being socially distanced until and unless it is medically necessary.
 An individual also has the right of saying “no” to any particular type of treatment
and suggest providing an alternative as a freedom of choice.
 Every individual also has the right to stay away from any form of research until
and unless the individual has an interest to get involved in it.
 One can get the treatment for pain and will always have the beliefs of religion
respected in the process.
 One also has the choice of informing the regular doctor or the members of the
family when one have been admitted in the hospital for a purpose.
 An individual also has the own choice of ending one’s life being respected.
 One will have an access to treatment with consideration and politeness.
 Every individual as a patient will have the privacy respected.
 One will also have the right to get informed of any rules that has the chance to
affect one’s life or the life of the family.
 Every person has the right of getting access to one’s medical records and
receives a copy of the same. One can also request the record to be amended
and the list of records to be disclosed.
 An individual can at any time ask the questions regarding the cost or bills of
treatment[ CITATION UKH18 \l 16393 ].

“Key priorities as per the health policies”

The “Department of Health” (DH) has the following responsibilities to perform:

 Looking after public health

 “National Health Service”
 Taking care of the society
 Emergencies and safety of the public

All the agencies of the DH along with have their priorities listed as under:

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  Improving care out of hospital
 Creation of the highest form of “safe services of healthcare”
 Improving the performance of “health services” than the core standards that have
been set up
 Developing the level of productivity and efficiency of the “system of health care”
 Ill health prevention and allowing people to lead a healthier life
 Supporting growth through innovation and research in this field
 Ensuring the people that they can take the decisions of their own “health and
healthcare”
 Workforce building and development and implementation of latest digital
technology to provide transparency of information

NHS Domains and objectives

 Prevention of premature dying (Domain 1)

 Enhancement of the people’s life quality with conditions of long term (Domain 2)
 Aiding people to recover from ill health or any kind of injury (Domain 3)
 Assurance of a positive experience while one gets the “health care services”
(Domain 4)
 Providing care and treatment in a safe environment that there is no harm further
(Domain 5)[ CITATION The16 \l 16393 ]

“Overview of OECD health policies”

 Access and enhancement of the services of primary care and this can be done
by engaging more patients into making their own decisions about their health and
progress options. Increased continuation of public awareness is done through
various advertisements and campaign.
 There should be the improvement of acute care as per OECD because the
fatality rate in UK after an ischemic stroke is not up to the mark as has been seen
by OECD.
 Among all the countries in OECD the prevention of Obesity is one of the highest
in UK and needs to be controlled.

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  According to the OECD survey the consumption of alcohol in UK is more than the
average and has to be controlled with proper care [ CITATION OEC20 \l 16393 ].

“Health Care Policies in India”

The “system of health care” that India provides is vast but the quality of services differs
in the urban and rural areas and between the “health care” provided by the “public
health care organizations” and the “private health care organizations”. There are several
policies of health care that provides rights and responsibilities to each citizen and
patient; however, there is a striking difference seen as has been stated above.
However, the country has become a medical tourist destination because of the care
provided by the private hospitals and the low prices of the treatment as and when
compared to westernized developed countries.

“Comparing today with the history”

The “Health Ministry” of the country got established in the year 1947 after the country
got its independence. Each of the “five-year-plans” of the country a priority is given to
the health of the citizens. The endorsement of the “National Health Policy” took place in
the year 1983. As per the policy it was aimed to provide a universal coverage of health
care by the end of 2000 which got updated in the year 2002.

Each of the state according to the “Indian Constitution” has the administration of
providing the primary health services to the people. However, there remains a lack of
coverage in the rural areas which shows lower delivery of medicines and slower
development of the medical facilities. To cope up with this challenge the launching of
“National Rural Health Mission” was done by the national government in the year 2005.

“Public and Private System of Health Care”

Although it is said that the “policies and services of health care” in the country is
universal, a large amount of discrepancy is seen in the coverage and the quality of
treatment provided in the urban and the rural areas. Shortages of doctors and
availability of medicine creates a disparity between the availability of treatment. Again
the poorer states lack the facilities as compared to the developed states.The health care
education and services are provided by the state governments whereas the central

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government is responsible to provide support with technical services and the services of
administration. The quality of health services being better at private hospitals and the
cost being comparatively lower than other countries, economically stable people turn to
these services and attracts medical tourists as well [ CITATION Int201 \l 1033 ].

“Government’s role”
The “Public Heath’s new agenda” in the country is transition of epidemiology, transition
of demography, changes of the environment and “social health determinants”. Thus it is
urgent for the government is to revitalize the primary care of health in the country. The
“public health practice” in the country is always dynamic and has always faced several
challenges of health problems that keep on affecting the lives of the people in the
country. Several “health policies” have been developed by the government to cope up
with the challenges. Some of the major challenges of health for the country are:

 The consumption of tobacco and alcohol in the country emerges as a silent

epidemic for India with loss of huge number of lives.
 The health system is also struggling with several “communicable and non-
communicable diseases” which has been reoccurring and re-emerging over and
over again.
 It is seen irrespective of the presence of the policies to provide equity the
problem lies with the inequalities political, economic and social mechanisms that
creates gap in education, income, gender, ethnicity, occupation and other such
factors.
 There is also the issue of lack of financial resources that the government faces to
cope up with the current system of health in the country [ CITATION NCB203 \l 1033 ].

“Health policies by the government”

The industry of health care in India has been recovering and growing fast and can reach
up to $280 billion by the end of 2020. It is moving towards providing high end services
of diagnostics. The government is aiming to provide access to the high quality of
“healthcare services” at a reduced rate. Some of the major policies introduced by the
current government are “Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana” in 2018, “Ayushman

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Bharat – National Health Protection Mission” aiming at opening 1.5 lakh primary centers
of health and “Mission Indradhanush” launched in 2014 to cover 90% of full
immunization[ CITATION Tim19 \l 1033 ] . Some of the other all time health policies of the
country are: “National Health Policy, National Mental Health Policy, India Newborn
Action Plan, Health research Policy ICMR” and others [ CITATION Nat20 \l 1033 ].

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