Portfolio Task

Week 1: Where are you now?

Skill

This is new for me

I need to develop this skill

I can improve this skill

I can do this well

Looking for information

Identify which book / journals/ websites to use

Select relevant parts of a text

Using sources

Acknowledge sources of information

Write a reference list correctly

Avoid plagiarism

Planning/Writing

Brainstorm ideas

Plan written work

Link ideas effectively

Paraphrase & summarise ideas

Write an introduction

Write a conclusion

Personal Study

Work independently

Manage my time

Oral Presentation

Brainstorm ideas with peers

Discuss written work in a tutorial

IT

Access the internet

Use search engines

Create word documents

Use PowerPoint

Portfolio Task

Week 1: Personal Development Plan (PDP): Specific – Measurable – Achievable – Realistic – Timescale [SMART]

Strengths

The strengths that lies in me include the ability to do the work in an eligible manner and independently. The biggest strength that lies in me is to do the work independently. I have the ability to use the internet and apply it accordingly. I can work well in my team and can manage working in any condition. This is the biggest strength that I have. Apart from this the biggest strength that I carry is to create some innovative and brainstorming ideas with my peers. To survive in any working field in the present world it is important to have the knowledge of PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. I have the knowledge of that and I know the ways of using all the options that are there in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. It is important to have the knowledge of formatting in the academic field. I can improve on that but I have the knowledge of that.. The other strength that lies in me is the process of using the reference list correctly. There are different styles of references. I have the ability to use the correct form of reference. These are my biggest strengths.

Weaknesses

In spite of the strengths I have certain weaknesses. My biggest weakness is the use of plagiarism. Sometimes while using some external sources I land up in plagiarism. I have to improve in this skill. This leads to my inefficient use of internet. The efficient use of internet would reduce the amount of plagiarism in my work. The other weakness that lies in me is to make a note of things diligently. I should know the ways of making a note of things intelligently and put them to use in an effective manner. There are however ways to overcome these weaknesses.

Target

Goal

Action

Success Criteria

Completed by?

e.g.

To have clear paragraphs

To produce an outline before writing

The reader can identify the topic/ideas of those paragraphs

October 2017

1

To clearly mention the aim and purpose of the work

To mention the aim and objective in the introductory paragraph.

The aim of the report would give a clear idea about the issues and the subject matter of the essay. The objective would include the ways of resolving the issue.

October 2017

2

To clearly conclude the write up clearly by having a clear concluding paragraph and having any recommendation if required.

To have a distinct paragraph of conclusion and a distinct points of recommendations.

It would give the tutor an idea of the summary of the essay or report and the recommendations would help to find ways to resolve the issues.

October 2017

3

To provide a proper reference list towards the end of the write up

To cite the appropriate reference style and provide in texting in between the write up.

It would help the readers to understand the source from where the reference has been taken.

October 2017

Portfolio Task

Week 3: Organising your ideas: Are my sources reliable?

Source 1

Source 2

Who wrote/said it?

Allen et al. 2017.

Frederick 2015

Are they qualified to speak on this topic?

yes

yes

Do they have a personal interest in that issue?

yes

yes

What type of source is it?

Harvard

Harvard

Has it been verified in any way? Can it be proved?

Yes it has been verified and it can be proved

Yes it can be verified and it can be proved

Is there evidence to support this claim?

yes

yes

Was the source created to persuade, sell, entertain, inform or for another purpose?

It was for creating awareness

It was to inform others about the system

Is the content relevant to your research?

yes

yes

When was it published/last updated?

2017

2015

Does this impact its relevance or objectivity?

yes

yes

Allen, P., Osipovi?, D., Shepherd, E., Coleman, A., Perkins, N., Garnett, E. and Williams, L., 2017. Commissioning through competition and cooperation in the English NHS under the Health and Social

Frederick, D., 2015

Portfolio Task

Week 4-9: Organising your ideas: Noting down the main points

Essay Question:

Should the NHS be privatised?

Arguments in Favour (Yes)

Arguments against (No)

Economic

It would ensure advanced and safe medical treatment to the ones who would have a medical insurance. This would help the health insurance company to develop their business and it would help to increase their economy. This is the economic benefit of making the NHS private (Krachler and Greer 2015).

Many people cannot afford the private health care; therefore this is the biggest economic backdrop of the system (Lethbridge 2016).

Social

The private health care would impart advanced and better health facilities. This would make the society healthier (Hughes 2016).

This cannot be regulated on somebody`s will and it therefore it is not accepted and is not popular in society (Oliver 2014).

Portfolio Task

Developing your arguments: Paraphrasing/Summarising

Arguments in favour (Yes):

Social

The private health care would impart advanced and better health facilities. This would make the society healthier (Hughes 2016).

Arguments against (No):

This cannot be regulated on somebody`s will and it therefore it is not accepted and is not popular in society (Oliver 2014).

Body paragraph 1

Say why this is a key issue (e.g. Economic/Social)

(this is your topic sentence)

What is the counter-argument of this issue?

(this is the opinion you do not agree with)

What is the main argument if this issue?

(this is your opinion)

Why is your argument stronger than the counter-argument?

What evidence/examples do you have to support this?

What can you conclude from this? What are the implications?

You should use at least 2 sources in this paragraph.

The privatisation of the NHS is a major social as well as economic problem. It is not possible for all to afford the private system. It is a costly system and therefore only a certain class of people can afford it. The remaining class of people who cannot afford the system has to rely on a comparatively poor system. The other social consequence of the system is it initiates a class distinction. This is the social backdrop of the system. Therefore this is a social issue (Lethbridge, J., 2016).

This can however be argued. The privatisation would offer better treatment and it would help the people to avail advanced treatment (Allan et al. 2016).

It has been observed in many cases that the public health care sectors were not efficient enough in offering better service. They were careless to some extent. For example, the Florence health care in England was found careless as the doctor once prescribed wrong medicine to one of the patient. This was the lack of responsibility and it was highlighted by the media. This was because it was not possible for the doctors to impart personal care and attention to all the patients. Therefore this was the biggest pitfall of the system and adversely it affected the society.

From the above analysis this can however be mentioned that the privatization is not a favorable process and the public ownership is much more popular. Keeping the loopholes aside there are certain advantages of the same. The system of privatization makes the system easier and faster. It provides luxurious system to the ones who wants to have and who can afford it. There is some amount of people in the society who wants to have a costly treatment and they want to have it in an aloof manner. Privatization is good for them. However that is few in number. For a larger amount of people this system is not a feasible one. Even the public systems are successful in many areas. Therefore, while concluding this can be mentioned that the privatization is not a preferable system and it is not a suitable for all (Majeed 2017).

Portfolio Task

Week 7-9: Writing your argumentative essay

The NHS should be privatised. Discuss

The healthcare sectors have become private in many cases. Various arguments regarding the advantages and the disadvantages of the privatization of the health care system has been offered. Many people opined for the privatization of the private health care sector and many opined against this. Many researches argued that the public health care sector was better and efficient on the other hand many researchers argued that the private health care sectors offered better health facilities. The essay however analyses both the positive as well as the negative sides of this. Towards the end the essay reaches to a conclusion stating any one sector as a favorable one.

While approaching the topic the disadvantages of this can be analyzed in the initial stage. The first and foremost pitfall of the system is that the private health care sectors will be costly enough. This would not be feasible for many middle class people to afford the private health care systems.  It was found that the people of England were happy and satisfied with the government-controlled systems. The system of public health was a prevailing all around England (Krachler and Greer 2015).

The other factor that serves against the privatization of the health care system is the lack of continuity of care. The private firms would not provide an unprofitable service for a longer period of time. This would lead to a lack of continuity where the patients might find a change in their health providers during the treatment of their illness. In order to maintain the continuity of the treatment of the healthcare sectors must not enter into the system of privatization of the health care systems. The continuity of the treatment is essential for all the patients. The elder people needs better treatment and a continued treatment (Martin, Carter and Dent 2017).

On the other hand many argue that the privatization would improve the quality of medical treatment. The private health care sectors would have better facilities and they would have a good faculty of doctors. The systems in the private sectors would be advanced which would attract more people. This is however limited to a certain class of people. The people of the rural areas would prefer to visit their nearest hospitals and they would prefer the hospitals that would be easy for them to afford. The biggest loophole of the system is that it gives choice only to well-off people.

The other disadvantage of this system is that the maximum amount of people does not hold any medical health insurance. They will not be able to afford the costly medical facilities that the private health care sectors has. The public health care sectors would offer proper medical treatment to all irrespective of the fact whether they can afford the medical treatment or not (Petsoulas et al. 2014).

Apart from this there are other factors that serve as a negative point. The public services include caring for people. On the other hand the private companies make a profit from the public services by cutting corners. It has found in many instances that there were conflicts between the making a profit and taking the time to care the patients. The privatization also intends the job cuts and more casual workers. The workers are paid less and they have worse conditions. The knowledge of the staffs and the skills and the experience are not concrete and they have an adverse effect on the quality of services. The services in the public are better compared to the private sectors. The privatization will have a heavy impact on the cost. The privatization would cost the patients more. In a privatized system the profits must be paid to the shareholders therefore the rate of interests are higher for the private companies compared to the governments (Powell and Miller 2014).

 However it can be argued that the private companies cannot be held accountable. The private companies run a service and they are not democratically accountable to anybody. The private sometimes fail to deliver the services. In such cases the public holds no power to intervene and the government that is local and national does not always have the time or expertise to force them to keep their commitments. The privatization would create a divided society. The public services are essential to meet the basic needs of every individual so that everybody can be a part of the community. The public services are universal in nature. It is same for all. The privatization often encourages the richer people to pay more and opt out of services that all the other people uses. This leads to the division of the division of the society. The division creates a hindrance in the path of providing excellent public services for everyone (Sturgeon 2014).

While many critics argued that the privatisation was a reliable process in order to contradict this it can be mentioned that the private companies are less flexible. The councils and the government departments are seen as meeting the needs of the public. This is absolutely the opposite in case of the private sectors. The private sectors are not flexible for the changing the circumstances. In case of any outsourcing contract with the private company needs changing. The governments in such case have to pay more in order to take changes or improvements. Moreover, the privatization intends fragmentation. The innumerable number of private companies can involve a complicated and fragmented system. The private companies does not much intention to work together with the public sectors they opt for not sharing information and this makes it difficult to provide an integrated service.

From the above analysis this can however be mentioned that the privatization is not a favourable process and the public ownership is much more popular. On the contrary keeping the loopholes aside there are certain advantages of the same. The system of privatization makes the system easier and faster. It provides luxurious system to the ones who wants to have and who can afford it. There is some amount of people in the society who wants to have a costly treatment and they want to have it in an aloof manner. Privatization is good for them. However that is few in number. For a larger amount of people this system is not a feasible one. Even the public systems are successful in many areas. Therefore, while concluding this can be mentioned that the privatization is not a preferable system and it is not a suitable for all.

Therefore it has both social and economic consequences. While ending the essay this can be concluded that the privatisation has both advantages and disadvantages. Both have the benefits as well as pitfalls related to it. 

Reference List

Allan, H.T., Dixon, R., Lee, G., O’driscoll, M., Savage, J. and Tapson, C., 2016. Are senior nurses on Clinical Commissioning Groups in England inadvertently supporting the devaluation of their profession?: A critical integrative review of the literature. Nursing inquiry, 23(2), pp.178-187.

Allen, P., Osipovi?, D., Shepherd, E., Coleman, A., Perkins, N., Garnett, E. and Williams, L., 2017. Commissioning through competition and cooperation in the English NHS under the Health and Social Care Act 2012: evidence from a qualitative study of four clinical commissioning groups. BMJ open, 7(2), p.e011745.

Benjamin, C., Boudioni, M., Ward, H., Marston, E., Lindenmeyer, A., Bangee, M., Cook Lucas, J., Leavey, R., Caulfield, M., Fowler, T. and Lucassen, A., 2016. Project Report-NHS Genomic Medicine Centres: Process and Participant Materials used in the 100,000 Genomes Project.

Frederick, D., 2015. Why the UK National Health Service Should be Privatised.

Healy, G. and Oikelome, F., 2017. Racial Inequality and Managing Diversity in the United Kingdom and United States. In Management and Diversity: Perspectives from Different National Contexts (pp. 33-62). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Hughes, D., 2016. UK-wide health policy under the Coalition. Dismantling the NHS?: Evaluating the Impact of Health Reforms, p.125.

Krachler, N. and Greer, I., 2015. When does marketisation lead to privatisation? Profit-making in English health services after the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Social Science & Medicine, 124, pp.215-223.

Lethbridge, J., 2016. Unhealthy Development: the UK Department for International Development and the promotion of health care privatisation.

Majeed, A., 2017. Tag: NHS. Health.

Martin, G.P., Carter, P. and Dent, M., 2017. Major health service transformation and the public voice: conflict, challenge or complicity?. Journal of health services research & policy, p.1355819617728530.

Oliver, M., 2014. Evaluation of the Planning and Implementation of NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) in East London (Doctoral dissertation, University of East London).

Papoutsi, C., Reed, J.E., Marston, C., Lewis, R., Majeed, A. and Bell, D., 2015. Patient and public views about the security and privacy of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the UK: results from a mixed methods study. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 15(1), p.86.

Petsoulas, C., Allen, P., Checkland, K., Coleman, A., Segar, J., Peckham, S. and Mcdermott, I., 2014. Views of NHS commissioners on commissioning support provision. Evidence from a qualitative study examining the early development of clinical commissioning groups in England. BMJ open, 4(10), p.e005970.

Powell, M. and Miller, R., 2014. Framing Privatisation in the English National Health Service. Journal of Social Policy, 43(3), pp.575-594.

Sturgeon, D., 2014. The business of the NHS: The rise and rise of consumer culture and commodification in the provision of healthcare services. Critical Social Policy, 34(3), pp.405-416.

Williams, S. and Scott, P., 2016. 1 The UK Coalition Government 2010–15. Employment relations under coalition government: The UK experience, 2010-2015, 37, p.1.

Portfolio Task

Week 10: Getting a First!

Good evidence

Some evidence

Insufficient evidence

Knowledge and understanding

Have you worked through the tasks in this portfolio?

Have you paraphrased/summarised ideas effectively?

Do your portfolio tasks show understanding of the essay writing process?

Have you researched and supported your ideas with evidence and examples?

Cognitive/Intellectual Skills

Does your essay include an introduction and conclusion?

Do your body paragraphs contain a counter-argument, argument & evidence/examples, using appropriate linking words?

Have you used at least 4 sources (2 of them can be from class or reading list) & combined your sources effectively?

Have you made your opinions clear?

Graduate: Transferable Employability & Practical Skills

Are you within the word count?

Have you checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes?

Have you used appropriate academic style and appropriate vocabulary?

Have you included in-text citations and a reference list that follow Harvard Style?

Do you show good awareness of your strengths and weaknesses (skills audit and PDP target)?

Portfolio Task

Week 10: Getting a First!

Good evidence

Some evidence

Insufficient evidence

Knowledge and understanding

Have you worked through the tasks in this portfolio?

Have you paraphrased/summarised ideas effectively?

Do your portfolio tasks show understanding of the essay writing process?

Have you researched and supported your ideas with evidence and examples?

Cognitive/Intellectual Skills

Does your essay include an introduction and conclusion?

Do your body paragraphs contain a counter-argument, argument & evidence/examples, using appropriate linking words?

Have you used at least 4 sources (2 of them can be from class or reading list) & combined your sources effectively?

Have you made your opinions clear?

Graduate: Transferable Employability & Practical Skills

Are you within the word count?

Have you checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes?

Have you used appropriate academic style and appropriate vocabulary?

Have you included in-text citations and a reference list that follow Harvard Style?

Do you show good awareness of your strengths and weaknesses (skills audit and PDP target)?