Stakeholder influence on the National Health Service organization

Communication Styles

Stakeholders' Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis of the National Health Service

The National Health Service (NHS) is the world's largest publicly funded health service (NHS, 2011). It provides high quality medical care free of charge to patients across England. NHS uses government funding to run operations and pay employees. Being a national public sector organization, the NHS influences and is influenced by several stakeholders including the government, patients, suppliers, the media and community members. Ethical behavior can help gain approval and cooperation from these stakeholders for the growth of the NHS.

Influence of Different Stakeholders on the NHS

The government is the largest source of funding for the Royal Blackburn Hospital and the National Health Service. The annual budget of the NHS for 2010-2011 was £105 billion (The King's Fund, 2012). The performance of the NHS determines the government's chances for re-election so it influences the NHS through policies for managing funds and expanding the services and facilities for a larger number of patients.

The employees of the NHS are also an important stakeholder. They are public sector employees and are interested in the size of their salaries and other benefits. They are also concerned about any attempt to privatize the service because it would result in a loss of jobs. They would try to frustrate any such attempt by the government. Unison, the public labor union, has expressed criticism of recent government plans to introduce regional wage plans (The Star, 2012).

The suppliers also have an important stake in the business of the NHS. Many suppliers may have NHS as their sole or biggest customer because of the scale of its services. They would be wary of competition from other suppliers or any change in supplier policies. Their influence on the NHS is relatively weak because of lower switching costs for the NHS.

The media is interested in providing news about changes in NHS policies because these are of great concern to the constituents of the NHS who are the biggest users of NHS services. The media may influence the actions of the NHS by shaping public perception through its criticisms of any policy to curtail the level of services.

The competitors of the NHS are the private hospitals and clinics that provide the same services at a higher price. They are affected by any changes in the NHS policies that might affect costs paid by patients, waiting lines and areas served. An important policy of the NHS is that of allowing NHS patients to seek treatment at private hospitals after waiting longer than 18 weeks at NHS hospitals (Martin, 2011). This affects the profitability of private hospitals since they cannot charge more than the NHS costs. The competitors would try to influence the NHS by improving the quality of services and having smaller waiting lines.

The patients of the NHS are attracted to the NHS because of its uniformity in services and its affordability. Most services are provided free to patients but waiting lines are long because of large number of patients and limited infrastructure. The patients would try to influence the NHS through their voting power to expand their services and reducing waiting times.

The broader community is interested in the practices of the NHS. They provide the taxes used to fund the NHS services so they would try to influence the efficiency in the use of their tax money by voting pressure and public protest. They would also be interested in the effects of the NHS on the environment in how it disposes of its waste.

Impact of Ethical Behavior by the NHS

Ethical behavior can be defined as behavior that is based on principles of integrity, honesty, responsibility as well an economic efficiency and legal compliance. Firms that incorporate ethical standards into decision-making and behavior are easily accepted and supported by stakeholders to continue services in the community and use its resources.

The NHS can demonstrate ethical behavior by using the funds provided by the government honestly and efficiently. This requires sound financial management and control systems. The results of annual audit compliance reports can influence the government to reward the NHS by increasing government spending since the public would also be supportive of such a move to expand an ethical public organization. In this way, ethical behavior would enable the NHS to provide its services to a greater number of patients.

The NHS can also demonstrate ethical behavior by being fair in the selection of suppliers and negotiation of terms with them. The suppliers may offer rewards to decision makers in return for favorable profit margins or poor product quality. This could have a negative effect on the health of the patients and the reputation of the NHS. The NHS can avoid such conflict of interest by using fair and objective criteria to evaluate suppliers and to establish terms of service with them. This will be reflected in the quality of service and safety standards provided to the patients and increase their approval of the NHS and its continued existence.

Ethical behavior towards patients involves making accurate diagnoses, being honest in communicating the benefits and risks of any proposed treatment, taking care of confidentiality and privacy, respecting patient autonomy and assigning priority on waiting lists using fair criteria. By engaging in such ethical behavior, the NHS can win the support and trust of the patients. Employees will also work with a satisfied conscience. Such improved employee performance and satisfaction will also attract good talent from the workforce and increase the service standards of the NHS.

The NHS can behave ethically with the media and analysts by providing them with accurate and complete information, especially during a crisis. This will encourage fair coverage of any issue involving the NHS and avoid negative publicity based on unreliable data available from other sources.

Conclusion

The National Health Service is a public sector organization and bears a responsible to the government, patients, employees, suppliers, media and community members for behaving ethically. Behaving ethically towards these stakeholders can help the NHS to avoid the powerful influence of the government, media and patients that could curtail the scale of its operations and services. In fact, it would promote a positive public image and cooperation from stakeholders in future.