Healthcare system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Healthcare system - Essay Example There are a number of health care systems within a nationality that may include the occupational safety and health, military medicine and school health services among many others. The health care systems have identified a number of goals to meet to ensure the health concerns of the population are met. Health systems seek to ensure good health among the people, to help the people to have a fair system of contributing their finances towards the system, and to increase the rate of responsiveness in order to meet the expectations of the beneficiaries of the system. To meet this goals therefore quality of service provided, the efficacy of the provision of these services, their acceptability among the people and their equity in dealing with the target population must be on the forefront of all the health systems. England has adopted a health system known as The National Health Service (NHS) which has the mandate to provide healthcare for English nationals. Serving under the department of health of the government of the United Kingdom, this body is publicly funded and it provides most of its health care services for free apart from some medical services that relate to the eye tests, prescriptions and the dental care as well. This body provides health services like in-patient care, dentistry, primary care, ophthalmology and long time health care to the patients in need. The body has a private clause as well where the patients can privately pay for their medical care. This system of private medical care has been used to expand the services of the National Health Services. Most of the funding used to cater for the services in the National Health Service comes from taxation among other sources. The largest portion of the expenditure of the department of health is taken up by the National Health S ervice. Main body The National Health Services (NHS) is driven by a number of goals in its service to the people of England. It has identified its core value as the provision of quality medical attention to the people regardless of their ability to pay for the services they require. It provides a great number of services to the people including the fore mentioned dentistry services, optical services and the overall medical care among others (Brodie 2003). It aims at providing medical services that are customized in relation to the needs of the people, their preferences and those of their families as well as those of their careers. Some of the aims of the NHS include to; utilize public funds to offer healthcare services to the patients in the NHS system; support and treat staff as valuables; be sensitive to the needs of the different sections of the population; to adopt a collaborative approach to ensure optimal provision of medical services to the patients; and to assist with ensuring the physical as well as emotional well being of the people in the process mitigate inequalities of health among many other aims. Structure The department of health of the government of the United Kingdom has been charged with the control of the NHS. It provides a political inclination to the NHS representing the will of the government in its jurisdiction. Under the department of health are a total of ten Strategic Health Authorities which directly take up the overseeing