Overview
In an effort to bridge the gap between health and social care provision, practitioners are encouraged to work together, often in new ways, to ensure that patients receive a good quality, consistent level of care, whether it is funded and delivered by the NHS or local government. Responsibility for ensuring patients needs are met – in a safe way that respects them as individuals - lies with providers and commissioners of services, but day-to-day contact is primarily with individual practitioners and teams of health care professionals. Fostering leadership development and embracing change are central to making improvements in the experiences of service users and pivotal to the delivery of high quality patient centred services.
Health and social care practitioners are well placed to negotiate change improvements as their day-to-day work is based on problem analysis and resolution. However, negotiated service improvement is dependent on agents of change being comfortable with taking risks and making breaks with the norm. They should also be skilled at identifying personnel who possess knowledge and skills, which are not immediately available within the area for change, suggesting a potential for cross discipline working.
Content and Modules
Level 6 (Undergraduate)
Pre-requisites: Access to a relevant practice setting, Introduction to Research (or similar) at level 5.
This 20 credit module is only available to UCS pre-registration students who have already completed 40 credits at degree level (advanced diploma). If you have not completed the advance diploma you will need to apply for the 40 credit module.
If you are unsure please contact the module leader before applying for this module.
Excluded Combinations: A student who has studied this module at level 6, may not study the Delivery of Health and Social Care module at level 7.
This module is designed to enable practitioners from a wide range of practice areas to increase their understanding and knowledge of current issues in health care, and to critically explore care in their own field of practice. Over the past few years, major changes in health policy have impacted on how practitioners function in the workplace. The module will take a close look at the influence of government policies, the environment of care, collaborative working, the evidence base for practice, and ethical dilemmas facing those involved in the delivery of health care. Although participants will come from a wide range of backgrounds, they will have shared and experienced many dilemmas in practice and with this in mind different approaches to solving these dilemmas will be explored. Team building, empowerment of others, and leadership problems will be examined, and students will be encouraged to examine their own and fellow students practice with the aim of decreasing future isolation in the workplace.
Aims
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Encourage the student to strengthen their knowledge relating to health and social policy in their field of practice.
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Enable the student to review and plan for change, taking account of theories of change, management and leadership.
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Promote an atmosphere whereby new and improved strategies for the care and management of persons in the student’s field of practice are examined and justified.
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Enables practitioners completing the outgoing CPD degree programmes needing the mandatory 20 credit module (for a maximum of two years). The taught content and summative assessment are comparable to the Critical Approaches in Specific Settings 20 credit mandatory level 6 module in the outgoing CPD programme.
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Provides a ‘top up’ strategy for a small minority of students who will accrued 20 credits on UCS pre-registration degree modules which reflects some elements of the Delivery of Health and Social Care module. Therefore this module has been designed to enable prior learning to be moved forward and focused on the learner’s field of practice.
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The module team have ensured that the assessment for this module (a presentation) is different to the assessment for the 20 credit credits accrued during earlier studies (an essay).
Learning Outcomes
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Clearly identify and consider knowledge from diverse sources that contribute to enhanced practice.
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Critically discuss the challenge and ethics of changes to care delivery.
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Engage in professional dialogue with a range of professional colleagues and service partners to justify a potential service improvement in the student’s field of practice.
Summative Assessment
The summative assignment allows the student the opportunity to detail the implementation of a proposed change (50% weighting).
A student led presentation detailing the strategies and processes which will be used to facilitate an identified change.
The practitioner is required to make a presentation that incorporates an in-depth critical analysis of care in their field of practice and explores how the practitioner can enhance the delivery of care through a planned service improvement in the student’s field of practice. In addition to collecting and critically analysing data which will support the best possible outcome, there must be justification of the proposed change, a supporting action plan, and a 250-300 summary paper. This presentation will be to professional colleagues, invited service partners, and at least one of the module leaders (or equivalent). The student must engage in professional dialogue related to their presentation. Word count: equivalent to 3000 words.
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Negotiation should take account of constraints from the organisation. In the first instance, there should be negotiation between the student and the workplace manager to identify realistic and achievable change.
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Thereafter the student will discuss approaches and plans for the change with one of the module leaders, the student’s personal tutor or an expert in the selected change activity. While it is not envisaged that the change/service improvement will be implemented in the time frame of the module, it is anticipated the implementation is a possible outcome.
Further Information
Dates of attendance
20 credit module (Ipswich):
04/09/13
18/09/13
02/10/13
16/10/13
06/11/13
20/11/13
20 credit module (Bury & Gt Yarmouth):
06/09/13
20/09/13
04/10/13
18/10/13
08/11/13
22/11/13
For further details please contact the module leader:
Helen Hollinworth
E: h.hollinworthucs.ac.uk|
T: 01473 338525