HEALTH POLICIES

Health Policies

Health Policies

Introduction

It is a reality of life that everyone wants to live for long but getting old is the only thing that no one desires (Thomas, 2004). There is no doubt about the fact that people cannot avoid old age from their lives as getting older is unavoidable as well as an integral part of the human life cycle. However, it has been seen that getting older for UK veterans is tougher as most of the veterans in the country are experiencing with difficulties in prosthetic care. This not only brings physical health problems but is also increases one's mental and emotional problems.

Health policies are important in regulating the healthcare system in the country. Health policies in relation to prosthetic care represent a subset of national health care policy. However, it is significant to identify non-regulatory drivers of health care reform (Miller, 2012a). It is also important to know that Health care policies can lead to alterations in the way the government controls and organises access of the veterans to health care, and the way health care is financed. Despite the huge investment in the health care system, the concerns regarding the quality of healthcare are still found (Danilova, 2010). Recently British government has announced to increase funds for prosthetic care for veterans that present health coverage to more veterans in the United Kingdom (DH, 2013). Hence, alterations in existing healthcare system principles constitute an important constituent of health care reform. This paper analyse the health care policy of the country in relation to prosthetic care of veterans.

Discussion

Health has long been associated with the system of care and treatment of disease. We know that today's health is not just to have access to medical services and the health care system is the only one determinant for the health of populations (Cohen, 2001). In fact, there are many other determinants of health such as socio-economic status of an individual. Research has shown that the state of health of an individual depends on its position in the social hierarchy. This means, any difference in the lifestyle of an individual within the social system also impacts their health (Danilova, 2010). However, it is also essential to know that there are significant number of veterans who lost their body parts in World Wars and now receiving limited or poor prosthetic care, which is essential for their normal lifestyle.

Prostheses

Prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a missing body part by providing a supplement to the body. In fact, prostheses are typically used to replace lost parts of the body caused by injury or missing at birth. The primary purpose of prosthesis is to provide technical solutions in case of loss or limitation of physical features through the devices with high performance that aesthetically please the patients (Miller, 2012b). It can be seen that when a person has a physical impairment due to certain circumstances, they often resort to the use of prosthetics by amputation or by some genetic ...