Management and administration of welfare: Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay

MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF WELFARE
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Introduction
Though before the publication of the Beveridge Report the UK was relatively a welfare state. The report became the blueprint for the legislation that cemented the country as a welfare state. It was published in 1942, and it sought to provide a roadmap for the government to eliminate want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. Immediately after the war, the Labour Party passed many legislations that created the welfare state, and most of them remained largely unchanged until Margaret Thatcher came along. Though she did not completely destroy the social services, she largely reduced it by eliminating many programs such as milk for school children and embarking on the privatization of many public organizations. She also sought to create separation between individual and state as social services had largely allowed government interference in the economy. During Thatcher’s reign, many social welfare programs came to their knees. Eventually, when she was ousted, the incoming government sought to strike a balance between state interference and the market. When David Cameron assumed power, he sought to reduce the State's reach over the third sector. His approach to social welfare is theorized to lead to better pay while also pushing welfare dependents to find work. The UK government has also created a framework to measure the efficacy of social services performance. Measuring social services performance has been a reference point for forming the legislation. For service users, the expectation derived from performance management is that service delivery will be enhanced. UK welfare system has undergone several iterations of development and has changed though it remains largely pinned on Beveridge report. Newer ways of improving the system have been suggested, including performance measurement, and it seems it is at least likely to remain at least in the foreseeable future.
Development of the UK Welfare State
In the years following the Great Depression, the standards of living of most people in the UK were poor. Millions were unemployed, and the Conservative Party, which had the reins of power, seems incapable of solving the problems. The economy was adversely affected by the depression and recovery was taking time; hence finding work was hard. Many factories had been shut down, and while unemployment remained very high, many people were languishing in poverty. The war exacerbated things as more resources were channelled to win the war. The bombing also destroyed homes and other European facilities costing many lives, fear and increased homelessness. The government had to come up with new innovative ways to set safety nets for the people as it fought the war. As the war started, things had not significantly improved, and talks for government intervention to improve the lives of its citizens prompted the commissioning of the Beveridge Report.
The main aim of the Beveridge Report was to come up with a blueprint to tidy the existing welfare system. Beveridge’s report was centered on how to fight five ‘giant evils’: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. Alongside these financial security provisions for all, ther...