Health and Social Care

1. Social determinants of health and its relation to health inequalities

Demographic information of Lambeth

Lambeth is situated in South London, England which is part of Inner London. About to one third of a million people have lived in this area which has the largest geographical area as compare to the other area of London (Anderson and et.al., 2016). Lambeth is a small area on the south bank of the Thames. As per the secondary research, it has been found that there have various ethnic groups lived in Lambeth where major groups are White, Asian British and Black British. The percentage of total White ethnic group is about to 57.09% where Asian British are 6.91% of total population. On the other hand, 25.61% people have Black British from the entire population. Beside this, there are diversified community living in London Borough of Lambeth where majority religion groups are Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh etc. From the statistics of Office for National Statistics (ONS), it has been found that Lambeth is one of the largest populations in inner London. The profile of the people in that place is relatively young working age. The evidence shows that midden age of the people is 31. On the other hand, 20% population of Lambeth is under the age of 20 from the entire population.

From the research, it has found that the many of the people have faced various diseases in which one of the is HIV. All age of people have passed from this and their care needs regarding this is different. For example, the pregnant lady who is suffering from HIV has needed more attention because it may be possible that this disease can be raised in the unborn child. So, it can be said that the HIV patients have required some special care and treatment.

Social determinants of health (SDH)

SDH is indicating those conditions in which people are born, grow, live and work. Along with this there are several forces and systems that shape the daily life of a person and these are development agendas, economic procedures and policies, social and political systems etc. Generally it has known as SDH are most responsible for health inequalities. Some SDH are neighbourhood and built environment, health and health care, social and community context, education and economic stability. Economic stability SDH includes poverty, employment, food security, housing stability etc. On the other hand, in education, the aspects cover are language and literacy, high school graduation and early childhood education. Similarly, in social and community context, the areas includes are Social Cohesion, discrimination. incarceration and civic participation. Beside this, in health and health care SDH, the criteria that covers are access to health and primary care.

For London Borough of Lambeth, the selected social determinant of health is health and health care. The reason behind the selection of this SDH for the selected geographical area is it has allowed the people to access the health care services equally. Along with this, it has delivered the facilities to the users about the access primary health care services at any time without any kind of barriers. It has also provided the basic health care services information to the community so that they can aware about the diseases and know to get the treatment of this.

2. Current health and social care policies and their application on London Borough of Lambeth

London Borough of Lambeth has more than 26,100 people who are living with HIV. The Public Health England has been working in creating awareness among the people. They have open up many STI clinics which are diagnosing this disease free of charge. The policies which are formed in London for HIV focuses mainly on improving sexual health and HIV in London. The policy has many guidelines including the modernisation of HIV related services. They have been providing education to the people about STIs, HIV and its services. NHS (National Health Service) has invested huge funds to reform and redesign the health care system in Lambeth. It has involved many families to plan their future and live with the person who has HIV. NHS has been working in a close relation with many social agencies, health care units, government, private and non profit organisations. It has allowed them to study the patients who are suffering from the disease. HIV patients have been experiencing discrimination and inequalities in Lambeth. So, the policy has been set-up in a new way so as to plan, provide funds and deliver services and to remove inequalities in the country. It has many models to properly coordinate with other social care units in Lambeth. This has been a major issue in the area because HIV services have been patchy, inadequate and poorly coordinated. So the policies have been introduced to meet the rising demands of the patients, local communities and development of services in many areas. They have formulate standards for HIV services and for all the agencies who are providing the services. It has many plans regarding training, professional education, information and R & D to support the improvement in quality of the services rendered. Some of the guidelines of the HIV policy are as follows:

• Reduction in discrimination and stigma related to HIV.
• Better support and help to the people who have to live with the disease for rest of their lives. They need vaccines and medicines so as to control the growth of the virus.
• Providing better facilities to the patients and their families.
• Creating awareness about the disease.
• Organising campaigns to diagnose symptoms of HIV in the people.
• Development of resources and methods to improve the services.
• Reduction in the rate of unintended pregnancies in London Borough of Lambeth.
• Reduction the number of undiagnosed HIV in the people.
• Reducing the number of newly infections.

The policies have ensured that discrimination is controlled. They have ensured that quality information is spread across the region so as to create awareness about HIV and its symptoms. It has been found that sexual health has been poorly targeted and coordinated. There has been lack of communication by the government in Lambeth. It is important for the them to use media and technology to spread the awareness. Many health organisation have been giving information about contraceptions, STIs and HIV services. NHS has found that one fifth of the HIV patients are not aware about the HIV clinics in Lambeth.

Implementation of these policies require lot of resources and support from the common people. It aims in coordinating the activities of all the medical practitioners towards this issue. All the health care units should work in a network and it is for the same reason that many partnerships have been done in this respect. It is essential to include the minority regions as well in Lambeth. A better network can be very beneficial for the people of the country. There should be more clinics with primary health care in Lambeth. They have to be given training and professional workshops so that they can deal with the situation. These policies of HIV needs support from local clinics and medical practitioners. The health authorities of London Borough of Lambeth, BMA foundations and National Health Services has helped in the implementation of these policies across the city. All the health and social care units have to follow the guidelines on National HIV standards (2002) and BMA foundation for AIDS (1999). It includes all the medical practitioners, commissioners and medical organisations. NHS has also developed many frameworks to measure the efficiency and performance of the HIV policies in Lambeth. The vaccines like GUM (Genito Urinary Medicines) have been developed and many researches are been conducted in this respect. The policies have been successful in raising the standard of HIV and its services in London Borough of Lambeth. Furthermore minority groups, HIV patients and poor people are given free treatment under the policy (Yip and et.al., 2012). The new methods, medicines and therapies which have been developed under these policies have increased the life span of people in Lambeth. It has been working on all the majors issues in the area.

3. Contemporary public health provision in the London Borough of Lambeth

Contemporary public health provisions are modern styles that have used to deliver the health care services to the users in the more appropriate manner. In the case of London Borough of Lambeth, the various kinds of public health interventions have delivered to address health inequalities . The major health inequalities that has seen at that area is about the HIV. From the observation, it has found that people have not aware about the diseases because of lack of knowledge. Along with this, the community has not properly aware about the treatments and the reasons of this disease. There are some current public health interventions have worked in London Borough of Lambeth that address the specific needs of the people have been already determined.

Individual level

Health and social care organizations have delivered the health education to individual one. There are various plans preparing for the people which will bring the changes in the behaviour of them and make them more aware about the diseases. This intervention has created a link between the health care services of the hospital and community of London Borough of Lambeth. It supports the practices for prevention from the transmission of HIV and able the people to get the treatments on the right time.

Group level

This is one of another intervention that is currently running in London Borough of Lambeth to address health inequalities i.e. HIV. There are various groups creating that are working in the direction of minimizing the transmission and spreading of HIV in the community. These are delivering the health care services to the patients and other people to create the awareness in them about the disease.

Outreach

It is another public health intervention which is presently running in London Borough of Lambeth that address health inequalities HIV. Under this, the various peer and paraprofessional educators are meet with the people face to face. They are delivering the different information about the transmission of HIV in the human being and how to control its spreading in community. Along with this, they are preparing guidance that can help the different age of people to deal with HIV and reduce the risk of it.

Counselling, Testing and referrals

There are two sessions in individualized interventions which consists of pre and post tests. It main of this test is to analyses the current status, improving the understanding of the infection, assessing the risk in transmission and acquisition of HIV. It also focusses on negotiating on the change of behaviour in order to reduce the risk. It provides referrals for preventive, medical and psychosocial needs of the patients. The counselling and testing of HIV is just an information session and not a therapy. It works in close relation with PCRS (Partner Counselling and Referral Services).

Health communication and public information

The awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention has to be transmitted to the local community. There are many channels which can be used to create information like radio, newspapers, television, news broadcast, public announcements etc which can reach large audience. These channels can be used to inform people, gain support from public, risk reduction and other services related to HIV services. Many events and campaigns are carried out in order to support this issue. Many social media campaigns are organised in London Borough of Lambeth. Initially techniques are adapted from the commercial marketing strategies. After that the audiences are divided into target groups so as to ensure the widespread of information. Then programs are conducted according to the needs of the target audience.

Comprehensive Risk Counselling & Services

For improving the healthcare conditions of all the individuals suffering from HIV the London Borough of Lambeth have adopted the comprehensive risk counselling and services so that they can reduce sown the risk of HIV in them. This will help in adopting individualistic centred approach so that risk behaviours are managed. This comprehensive service is usually designed to provide protection to all the HIV negative and positive people who are at higher risk of encountering AIDS and other diseases which are communicable at early or later stages of life. They also provide counselling so that the use of alcohol and substance abuse is reduced. It is one of the main reason which is responsible for acquiring AIDS and other types of fatal diseases.

Partner Services

Partners services is also a type of service that helps in imparting knowledge to all the individuals so that awareness is created. They provide counselling sessions so that the awareness about causes, signs and symptoms and other issues can be known to all the people. They follow a systematic approach to notify that use of infected needles, sex with multiple partners and blood transfusion without any medical supervision increases the chances of chances of developing AIDS in all the human .London Borough of Lambeth have mainly adopted this method so that they can significantly lower down the risk factors of encountering various stages of diseases in early or later stages of life . They also conduct various HIV and AIDS testing, improvisation in mental and physical health and implementation of different types of clinical and surgical interventions so that they are able to improve the mental and physical health of all the people who are suffering from this disease. They also organise various campaigns to increase the awareness and benefits of using condoms so that it reduces the risk of developing HIV to minimal. They also provide counselling so that they are able to increase physical activity in their day to day life.

Other important interventions

It includes all the community level interventions (CLI). These interventions helps to improve the behaviour and risk conditions in an London Borough of Lambeth. It does not focus on individual or groups but it takes into consideration the entire community. It consists of policies, characteristics social norms in London. There are many campaigns, community mobilizations, social events, policies and structural interventions. The local authorities have to spend huge funds to accomplish this objective in the area. They also monitors all the activities which are important for creating awareness and carrying out campaigns in London.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the report that HIV patients have been increasing in London Borough of Lambeth. The HIV patients face discrimination and inequality in the area. They have been deprived of the basic health care facilities. The existing policies are not enough to support them. It is for the same reason that UK government and NHS has formulated many health and social care policies for the development of HIV services in the country. The local authorities of London Borough of Lambeth needs constant support from the local practitioners and health units. There are also many interventions in the public health policy which is related to HIV and its services. It is important for the agencies and health care units in London Borough of Lambeth to make sure that these policies are implemented and monitored so as to reduce the effects of HIV in the area. This will help them to reduce the number of HIV patients.

References

• Alhatmi, Y., 2011. Safety as a hospital organizational priority: a case study. Clinical Governance: An International Journal.
• Anderson, E.S. and et.al., 2016. Social Emergency Medicine: Embracing the Dual Role of the Emergency Department in Acute Care and Population Health.Annals of emergency medicine.
• Atrash, K. and Carpentier, R., 2012. The evolving role of public health in the delivery of health care.Revista brasileira de crescimento e desenvolvimento humano.
• Bernard, C., 2013. Achieving age equality in health and social care. Working with Older People.
• Brand, D., 2012. Social and health care integration: (1) The individual dimension. Journal of Integrated Care.

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