Health and Social Care Services

Health and Social Care Services are available to suport individuals with their needs. Access to services can be difficult as availability can vary etween different geographical areas. 

Problems:

• Individuals (priority)
• Ignorance/ lack of need
• Disability/ condition
• Transport
• Lack of help (Dr)/ resources
• Times- opening hours
• Busy periods 

Health Services

• Urgent/ emergency care
• Sexual health
• Mental health
• Pharmacy
• Dental 
• Eye care 
• Walk-in-centres
• Home nursing
• Chronic health
• Community health 
• Maternity services
• Paediatric care 

Both:

• Advisory servives
• Discharge planning
• Transport
• Nursing home
• End-of-life care
• Safeguarding 

Adults and Children's Social Care:

• Day centres/ lunch clubs
• Supported living
• Residential care 
• Benefits: financial care, home care, housing, children's services

Service Availability 

• Specialist services or drugs are not available in sime geographical areas
• There may be restrictions on delivery or service opening times
• Pressures on services because of increased demand e.g. winter flu which may limit availability 
• Waiting times are affected by a lack of availability of specialists and hospital beds
• Lack of public transport to take individuals to and from services

Individual Circumstances:

• Mobility difficulties restrict physical access 
• Learning and/or communication difficulties can impact on a person's understanding of and contat with available services 
• Sensory difficulties impact on a person's ability to find out about and access services
• Personal circumstances, such as caring for others or working long hours can make attending services difficult

• Health and Social Care Services aim to promote an early intervention policy to tackle disadvantage and ppoor access to services
• They intend to improve the health and wellbeing of young children and their families 
• Improving health and reducing poverty is important for preventing long term health problems and reducing the risk of premature death 
• They emphasise the importance of focusing on the health and wellbeing of people who would not usually access services

• Homeless people and vulnerbale immigrants who may be at risk of infectious diseases such as, tuberculosis are particular groups who find it difficult to access services 
• Some families are difficult to reach, for example, travelling families and families for whom English isn't their first language. It is important to ensure that children in these families receive regular health checks and are fully immunised against childhood infections, such as, meningitis C and measles to prevent health and development problems 
• According to a department of health report ' Healthy Lives Healthy People'  (2011), many people may be reluctant to register with a GP or to not be registered. 
• According to the Office for National Statistics, cardiovascular disease mortality is high in deprived communities- this may be due to people not registering with a GP surgery, being reluctant to attend surgeries or having difficulty attending an appointment.