Paper Is To Evaluate and Analyze Advocacyâ€Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Paper Is To Evaluate and Analyze Advocacy? Answer: Introduction The main objective of this paper is to evaluate and analyze advocacy policies in the health care sector. Advocacy policies are different from public policies since the advocacy policies are formulated and championed by nongovernmental organizations and other bodies that may be involved or concerned about a particular issue in the health sector(Rollins Hart,2013). Advocacy group identify issues in the health sector in a particular society and take action to bring about change that will solve the problem. This includes calling upon the government to intervene and make programs and policies that will help to resolve the problem. This paper discusses ways in which health issues organization has been able to advocate for policies in the health sector. The policy evaluates the issue of improving quality assurance and safety standards in Victoria. The paper also analyzes ways in which the policy will help in improving health sector among the people of Victoria. The analysis is carried out using the Ottawa charter framework. The Ottawa Charter for Health promotion is an international agreement which was signed at the first International Conference on Health Promotion. It was organized by the World Health Organization and held in Ottawa Canada in November 1986. The agreement launched a series of actions among many organizations in the health sector globally. The local communities and national governments were also involved in implementation of the agreement. The goal of the agreement was to achieve Health For All by the year 2000 and beyond by promoting better health services(Nass, LevitGostin,2009). Background and history of the organization Health issues Center is a nongovernmental organization that operates in Australia. Its membership is community based with most of its members being residents of Victoria. The organization aims at ensuring involvement of consumers in advocating for health issues in Victoria. The organization is involved in many policy advocacy programs as well as health promotion program through training program. WHO is an acronym to World Health Organization which works under the United Nations. The main objective of WHO is promoting and advocating for health issues and formulation of international policies to govern health care sector in order to improve health care services delivery. WHO is a specialized agency under the United Nations and it is concerned with promotion of health globally. It was established in Geneva in the year 1948. It was preceded by Health Organization which was an agency under the League of Nations. WHO has played a major role in eradication of diseases such as small pox. The current priorities of WHO is the fight against communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Tuberculosis. The agency is also concerned with nutritional issues, substance and drug abuse, reproductive health, food security and occupational health. In the 1986, UN member countries signed an agreement on promotion of Health. This agreement would later come to be known as the Ottawa charter. The c harter emphasized on the importance of a joint and coordinated effort to promote health across all the member countries. The main areas of focus in the charter include building of health care policies and strengthening community action and participation in Health care. The Ottawa charter therefore is under WHO and its implementation and evaluation has been done by WHO for all the years it has existed. Objectives of improving quality assurance and safety standards in Victorian hospitals The policy of ensuring customers is involved in assessing the quality assurance and safety standards in Victoria. It is important for the consumers of health services who include individuals and family members to be involved in formulation of policies and decision making concerning their health (Talbot Verrinder, 2010). The policy on strengthening quality assurance and safety standards in Victorian hospital aims at ensuring that the quality of services offered to patients is of the highest standards possible. This is because sometimes consumers of medical services are not able to get high quality medical services due to various reasons. Some of these reasons include negligence by hospital staff. By ensuring that the quality and safety standards are improved in Victoria, the number of deaths as a result of poor quality services and poor standards in Victorian hospitals will reduce. Another objective of this policy advocacy is to ensure that patients or consumers of health services are treated in a very clean and hygienic environment. Poor hygiene is one of the leading causes of diseases among many people in Victoria. It is therefore very important that hospitals are able to maintain high levels of hygiene so as to reduce infections in hospitals (McCormick In Blair, 2014). The policy on advocacy for improved quality assurance and standards in Victoria aims at ensuring that consumers of health service get value for their money. The hospitals in Victoria charge a lot of money for medical services. It is therefore important that customers get value for their money. This can only happen by improving quality standards as well as safety in Hospitals (Nay,Garratt Fetherstonhaugh, 2013). Quality medical services will help patients to recover quickly from the illnesses they suffer and after that, they are able to resume their normal lives. By improving safety standards in Victorian hospitals, there will be increased public confidence in the public health sector. This is because the patients will be assured of safety when undergoing operations and other medical procedures that are normally very risky. Achieving improved quality and safety assurance in Victorian hospitals will also help to contribute to positive social and economic change. This is because, good health is an important asset to all people and once the quality standards have been improved in hospitals, it means that Victorians will receive good medical care. Good medical care will ensure that Victorians remain healthy and contribute to development of the society and economy since good health is crucial for productivity. Analysis of contribution of the improvement of quality assurance and safety standards to improving health in Victoria based on Ottawa charter The policy on improving quality assurance and safety standards will help in promotion of improved health policies in Victoria. This is because once the policy issue has been implemented it will contribute to development of other policies in the health sector that will promote improved health standards. The Ottawa charter aimed at promoting advocacy of health policies throughout the world. Good health is a major resource for financial, economic, and personal development. This therefore means various factors that such as behavioral and environmental have either a positive or negative effect on the health of an individual (Healy Dugdale,2009). Through the Ottawa charter WHO aims at promoting and ensuring that these factors are favorable so that the health of all the people can be improved equally. The policy of improving quality assurance and safety standards in all Victorian hospitals will promote coordination between various sectors of the government and private sector which are required to achieve the objective. The Ottawa charter aimed at ensuring coordination of various sectors that contribute to improvement of health. Coordination is important because, there are many other factors that determine health. Ottawa charter promotes mediation and good understanding with governments, media, local community, families, and other social players who are fundamental in fulfilling the overall aim of the charter of Health for All. Professional groups are involved in the integration and coordination of all activities that are geared towards achieving health for all. Ottawa charter also indicates that health promotion programs and policies should be adapted to the needs of the individual countries and community needs (World Health Organization2007). This is because of the economic, soci al and environment differences between regions. Another objective of the charter is building healthy public policy. The charter puts health at the top of the agenda in all sectors and levels of in a community. Health promotion policy by Ottawa and the WHO combines diverse and complimentary approaches which includes legislation, organizational change, and fiscal policies. Taxation is also an important policy issue when it comes to promotion of health (Hughes United States, 2008). This is because if drugs and medicines are highly taxed, it may become difficult for most people to afford basic health services. WHO works with governments to ensure that legislation enacted in each countries promote health needs of the society. By improving quality and safety standards in Victoria, the people of Victoria will have a better say in health care matters by improving community action. Hospitals operate in society and therefore, it is important that the hospitals allow the community in having a say on the safety standards and quality that they desire in their hospitals. This will ensure the health needs of Victorians are fulfilled. Strengthening of community action is another major objective of the Ottawa Charter. In order for the organization to achieve its goal of health for all, it is vital to ensure there is effective community action in decision making and planning. Communities should be empowered to participate actively in promoting their own health needs through training and mentorship (Pairman,2015). The importance of community action in health promotion is that the people living in the community have deeper knowledge of the health issues that they face. In order to solve these problems, it is important t o involve the people in the community since change cannot be achieved without their cooperation. The policy advocacy for improved quality assurance and safety standards in Victorian hospitals will promote personal development. This is in line with the Ottawa charter objective of developing personal skills. Improved quality standards and safety will in improvement of social and personal development through provision of information in health issues affecting the people of Victoria. Improved quality standards will help the people to understand factors that trigger diseases in their life so that they can prevent these diseases(Talbot Verrinder,2010). Through this policy, Victorians will be informed chronic diseases and how they affect their lives as well as ways in which they can be managed. Through the policy of improved quality assurance and safety standards, Victorians will be able to enjoy professional counseling and guidance for patients with psychological issues. The current system focuses on physical injuries only and doers not factor in the psychological effects that some diseases and illnesses have on the patients (Aguirre, Borrell Vega, 2010). This policy will ensure all hospitals have highly trained and equipped psychologists who will offer services to patients in need of psychological support and counseling. This will help people suffering from diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer to accept their condition and move on with life while managing the disease to reduce its effects. This is in line with the Ottawa charter which calls for improved health in all sectors not only physical injuries and illnesses. The charter aimed at ensuring all people receive sufficient and necessary health care at all times and therefore, this policy will contribute towards achievem ent of that objective. The policy on advocacy for improved quality assurance and safety standards will help to ensure all the people living in Victoria receive quality medical services irrespective of their income levels and social status. This will be attained since all the hospitals will be required to adhere to the standards that will be set by the relevant authorities in collaboration with other stakeholders in the health sector (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). All the hospitals will be required to implement all measures outlined in the policy to improve quality standards and therefore irrespective of the reputation of a hospital, it will offer services that meet the required threshold. This policy is aligned perfectly with the Ottawa charter objective of ensuring equality in health promotion. The charter aimed at ensuring that people of all economic backgrounds, social backgrounds and all races get equal opportunities and services that will help to promote their heal th. Therefore even the people of Victoria who are not capable of paying for expensive medical services will be subjected to almost the same safety and quality standards as the rich receiving the same services in a reputable medical facility. This policy on improvement of quality assurance and safety standards in Victorian hospitals will contribute immensely to prevention of diseases among the Victorian population. This will be achieved since improved quality standards in Victorian hospitals will involve providing patients with important advice and information that will help them to prevent some diseases. Information dissemination is important in the health care alone and treatment is not the only role of hospitals in Australia (Hanlon, Carlisle Lyon, 2012). Therefore, hospitals should take all the necessary steps and actions to educate patients on ways in which they can prevent the occurrence of disease such as Cholera, typhoid and other common diseases which are preventable (Willis, Reynolds Keleher, 2009). This policy will therefore reduce the instances of sicknesses which will help to reduce congestion in hospital in Victoria as well as reducing death and suffering among Victorians. The Ottawa charter prioritizes sen sitization and equipping people with the right and sufficient information as one of the ways by which health for all can be achieved. Therefore the new policy will ensure patients are provided with all the right information and advice which will help to prevent diseases among Victorians. This will be a major step towards achieving the overall objective of Health for All. Recommendations The government should ensure that all hospitals in Victoria have very highly trained qualified and competent medical staff. This is because the competence and experience of medicals staff is very crucial in achieving improved quality and safety standards in Victoria. The life of patients is usually in the hands of doctors and other medical staff and therefore, it is important to ensure that all the people working in Victorian hospitals are highly trained and qualified (Cattaneo, 2010) The government should ensure fair distribution of resources so as to promote improved quality and safety standards. Not all hospitals in Victoria will afford the resources to meet all the quality assurance standards and therefore it is important for the government to intervene and offer support to smaller hospitals so that they dont find themselves in a disadvantaged position. Government should ensure that all the hospitals uses medical technology and machines which are up to date and well function. This will help to reduce cases of misdiagnosis and also improve general medical care in Victoria. The government should appoint a board to oversee the implementation of all the requirements in the new Quality assurance standards in Victorian hospitals. This will ensure that the does not remain a policy in paper but also ensure that its implemented and its objectives are met. Conclusion Quality assurance and safety standards are important policy issue not only in Victoria but also in the whole of Australia. It is important that the government keeps on reviewing quality assurance and safety standards in hospitals so as to make sure that all the arising issues are catered for in the new standards and safety requirements. This paper analyzes the policy issue of quality assurance and safety standards in Victoria and how the implementation of this policy could help achieve the goals outlined in the Ottawa charter. The paper also highlights the possible courses of action that the government can take to improve health care in relation to this advocacy issue. 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