Health

The National Health Service (NHS) should be privatised

Introduction

Privation means the transfer of the organisation or business from the government body to the private ownership where the owner aims at achieving success through profit maximisation and resource utilisation (Pettinger, 2017). The organisations in the recent era of globalisation are looking for privatisation in order to operate in the market in a cost effective way through resource utilisation so that it is possible to maximise the organisational profitability. The strategy of privatisation in this regard is beneficial for improving efficiency, cost effectiveness, investment, innovation and creativity as well as profit and revenue maximisation and customer satisfaction. The aim of the study is to analyse the reasons of privatising the National Health Service (NHS) where the economic and social perspective will be discussed in order to evaluate the current situation of the organisation. The objective of the NHS is to maximise the welfare of the social communities by providing efficient treatment and quality care to all the individuals who needs health and mental support. This essay provides a scope to develop an argument whether the NHS should be privatised or not through evaluating the economic and social perspectives of the health and social care institution.

Economic perspective of NHS

The NHS faced the issue of rising cost which deteriorates the efficiency of the institution in serving better care and health care practice to the individuals. Day by day, the cost of treatment and medical care is increasing at a high rate and it is quiet difficult for the NHS to meet the cost structure and develop effective treatment and social care for the social communities (NHS, 2018). The demand for the customers for health and social care is also rising rapidly and it is also another issue as the NHS fails to provide efficient service and treatment without proper budgeting and cost structure. Moreover, in the recent technical era, without innovation and technological advancement, it is difficult; for the organisation to operate in the market. Due to lack of budget and high financial debt, the NHS cannot invest in technological instruments in the health and social care which further deteriorates the quality of their care and service.

In this regard, privatisation is helpful for the NHS to improve the proficiency of the staff members as well as provides a scope for successful funding in the health and social care. Through privatisation, it is possible to invest more on training program for the staff members and social workers as well as implement the latest updated technology for service better care to the social communities. Moreover, through privatisation, proper utilisation of resources and funding can be possible through which the NHS can maximise the welfare of the communities and help them to overcome their health and mental challenges. In addition to these, as per the economic perspective, the NHS can provide effective training and development program to the staff members that further helps to improve technical skill and knowledge of the social workers in acknowledging the health needs of the patients and provide better treatment and quality care to them (The Guardian, 2015). Hereby, proper funding, reduced debt and financial planning will be the advantages for the NHS of the organisation is going to privatise. Proper investment and innovation are other benefits that can be enjoyed by the NHS through privatisation. Efficiency and proper resource utilisation further help the NHS to serve the social communities in a better way and maximise their welfare in long run.

Social perspectives of NHS

As per the social aspect, the NHS aims at providing efficient treatment and quality social care to the patients. However, in the recent years, due to increasing rate of population, it is difficult for the NHS to provide better care and health treatment to them due to lack of efficient staff members and proper instruments (The medical porter, 2018). The perspective of the customers is also changing and they prefer private hospitals for better service and efficient treatment. Due to lack of hygienic factors in the NHS as well as poor knowledge of the staff members, the customers are not willing to admit in the government owned hospitals. In this regard, privatisation of the NHS is an effective strategy through which the efficiency of the staff members and quality of care can be improved. Privatisation can help the NHS to maintain hygienic factors and manage transparency and accountability so that it is possible to build trust and loyalty among the patients (Campbell, 2016). If the NHS choose to be privatised, it will be beneficial for the organisation to retain more patients for their quality care and efficient treatment. The social communities in the recent years prefer efficient treatment and proper medication process which can be implemented through privatisation of the NHS.

Conclusion

Privatisation of the NHS is a great controversial factor in the recent years as there are economic and social benefits of privatisation of the organisation, but some of the decision makers prefer not to privatise the NHS due to lower cost of treatment. However, there are serious issue that further deteriorates the quality of care in the NHS which are lack of investment for technological advancement, poor knowledge of the staff members, lack of capacity and capability, poor utilisation of the resources and budget issue. In order to resolve these issues, the NHS should be privatised to maximise profitability of the organisation and welfare of the customers by delivering high quality social care and efficient treatment.

Reference List

• Campbell, D., 2016. How much is the government really privatising the NHS?. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/15/creeping-privatisation-nhs-official-data-owen-smith-outsourcing
• NHS, 2018. Today’s NHS – Our current challenges. https://www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk/help/nhs-today
• Pettinger, T., 2017. Advantages and problems of privatisation. https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/501/economics/advantages-of-privatisation/
• The Guardian, 2015. The NHS is on a one-way road to privatisation. https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/oct/02/nhs-one-way-road-privatisation
• The medical porter, 2018. Challenges Facing The NHS and Current NHS Issues. https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/the-nhs/challenges-facing-the-nhs/