PEST Analysis For St Mungo's Charity Housing In Lewisham Borough Essay.

Assignment Task

St Mungo’s is a charity and housing association working with people who sleep rough, people who live in hostels and people who are at risk of homelessness. St Mungo’s would like to open a new centre in a London borough.

As an External Consultant, you have been asked to provide your opinion on the viability of this project.

Perform a PEST analysis on your chosen inner London borough to explore the viability of opening a new St Mungo’s in the area.

It is your role to make recommendations about the possible opening of a new St Mungo’s centre (should it open or not) you need to recommend what the centre should be like, if it were to open.

Additional Marks are awarded for the academic quality of the assignment

Ensure you reference appropriately, ensure that you demonstrate that you have looked at a wide variety of research and that you have used an appropriate structure for the report, it is important that you write about the keys issues, that you present your ideas formally and use appropriate language.

This assignment requires research in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions; being able to carry out research is a vital skill for you as a student and for you as a future employee/manager in Health and Social Care.

The research for this task involves reading the JSNA and the CCG documents that have been created by your chosen London Borough e.g. Hackney, these documents outline who lives in the borough, they contain information about age and employment status. These documents also explain what the priorities are for the borough, for instance if they will be funding mental health projects or housing projects or dementia care for the next 5 year period, if they decide the focus is on Dementia care (in the JSNA document) then perhaps your recommendation will be not to set up a new centre in Hackney for homeless people because homelessness is not a priority politically.

The PEST analysis is considered to be one of the most important tools to understand the political, economic, social and technological scenario of the target area. It has a considerable impact on the decision-making process of the organisation PEST analysis will be analysed in this study to explore St Mungo’s upcoming venture of developing charity housing. St Mungo is a charitable organisation of the UK who works for the homeless people. It also provides advocacy that has a significant impact on the policy makers to formulate suitable policies for the homeless people. Moreover, they tend to organise community awareness program to support the homeless people around the UK. The study will explore the initiative of the St Mungo’s organisation to develop the condition of the homeless people of Lewisham borough. Homeless crisis is one of the foremost issues for Lewisham borough which ranked 12^th in the worst twenty boroughs in the UK. Thus, St Mungo has taken initiative to support the homeless people of Lewisham borough. Thus, this study will consider all the relevant factors through PEST analysis that may affect the charity housing project of St Mungo.  Recommendations for each identified issues will be conveyed to the management committee of St Mungo to erase the decision-making process. The concluding part of the study will summarise the whole study and will refer to the key uses of using PEST analysis to promote the decision-making process of the managerial of St Mungo.

The PEST analysis has consisted with the political, economic, social and technological factors that are impactful on expanding the business area of St Mungo’s charity. The charity housing project of St Mungo is about to be initiated in the Lewisham borough of the UK (GOV.UK, 2018). The below table is a suggestive outlook to understand the types of political, social, economic and technological factors that are impactful on St Mungo’s charitable housing project in the Lewisham borough.

 Table: PEST analysis

Source: Created by the researcher

Political factors

The political factors imply the existing rules and regulation of the local administration. The future visions of the local administration to develop the existing infrastructure of the homeless people are also the formidable political criterion to be analysed (Loudermilk, 2017). The Lewisham borough is presently facing problems in developing effective policies for the homeless people. The constant change in the administrative policies has been creating a large problem over the last few years.  The JSNA initiative of the local administration has also failed to address the homeless issue properly (Theburyjsna.co.uk, 2018). Thus, St Mungro needs to analyse these issues to formulate their future policies for the charitable housing.

The demographical policies

The demographical policies for the development of the homeless people in Lewisham borough are one of the biggest issues. It is largely notable that the previous policies have completely failed to execute and resolve the homeless situation (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). The demographical policies of St Mungo should be executed in an appropriate manner. Additionally, they must develop policies to assure homes for all the 27% of the child population among them homeless people. 20% of the population of Lewisham borough live under the poverty level (Theburyjsna.co.uk, 2018). The root problem lays on the existing demographic policies of Lewisham borough. St Mungro needs to develop more updated demographical policies that can address the root issues of homelessness and resolve that immediate concern (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014).  The development of healthy demographical policies for the homeless people of Lewisham can resolve the homeless issues.

Discussion of the political, social, economic and technological factors

The issues associated with the JSNA process

The JSNA implies the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). This assessment uses to identify the health and wellbeing any particular location. However, the performance of JSNA is not formidable at Lewisham borough as the number of homeless people is growing over the years (Theburyjsna.co.uk, 2018). The latest published data of JSNA has signified that the health and wellbeing status of the homeless people of Lewisham borough has not witnessed any formidable growth. Thus, St Mungo needs to assess the data of JSNA properly to locate the health and wellbeing situation of the people of Lewisham borough (Theburyjsna.co.uk, 2018). They should analyse the existing inequalities of the healthcare development policies of the people of Lewisham and evaluate the evidence gathered from the JSNA data (Ahoya, 2016). The development policies of St Mungo must assure public health adult and social care needs of the homeless population of Lewisham borough.  

Picture: JSNA

Source: https://www.bedford.gov.uk/health_and_social_care/bedford_borough_jsna/jsna_introduction.aspx

The incapability of the local administrative board to mitigate the homeless issues in Lewisham borough has raised the authentication to change the existing governing body. The current administrative body has failed to prioritize the homeless issues in Lewisham borough (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). The healthcare wellbeing factors are getting less prioritized. The unaddressed root problems of the homeless population of Lewisham borough are getting fatal over the years and now over 2000 people live under the sky every year in Lewisham borough (GOV.UK, 2018). Thus, St Mungo needs to develop their strategies prioritizing the basic healthcare requirements of the homeless people of Lewisham borough. Moreover, the strategies must assure to nullify the prioritizing problems existing in the previous policies (Frueh, 2015).

Undeveloped political system

The lack of communication in the political system of Lewisham borough is considered to be the ultimate political issues. There is no specific or strategic outlook for the governing bodies of the Lewisham borough to mitigate the homeless issues (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). Moreover, they are incapable to handle the healthcare problems of the Lewisham borough. The political system of Lewisham borough has no proper framework to implement proper healthcare policies for the homeless people (Wigzell, 2017). Thus, St Mungo must develop a strategic framework for the healthcare policies for the homeless people of Lewisham borough. Additionally, they need to evaluate the political barriers related to the strategic implementation of the strategy (Wigzell, 2017). This would enable them to eradicate the strategic barriers of the policy implementation.  

Picture: Political barrier to healthcare in Lewisham borough

Source:https://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/documents/s53232/Appendix%20A%20Draft%20Lewisham%20Barriers%20to%20Politics%20Working%20Group%20Report.pdf

The economic factors play a pivotal role in the policy makings of the organisations. St Mungo needs to develop their economic policies by evaluating the present economic situation of the Lewisham borough (Wigzell, 2017). The number of homeless people is growing in Lewisham borough over the years and the economic reasons play a vital factor in this social deterioration (Reeve, 2017). Thus, the formulation of the economic policies of St Mungo to develop their charitable housing project in the Lewisham borough must focus on the proper resources, fund allocation and the proper budgetary decision to promote the effectiveness of the economic policies (Fasina, 2016).  

Deprived economic structure

The economic gap between the Lewisham borough and the central London borough is 10% that signifies the level of economic deprive. Around 25.7% of the youth population of Lewisham borough belongs to the deprived economic structure (GOV.UK, 2018). The deprived economic structure can also be considered as one of the key reasons for the homelessness of the Lewisham borough (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). The declining economy in the Lewisham borough has led to the population to a certain economic defaulter. Thus, St Mungo needs to develop their economic strategy focusing on the deprived economic structure of the Lewisham borough (Taylor, 2018). They must assure the homeless population to provide free healthcare and free home to raise their standard of economic living.

The ineffective financial vision of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

The CCG moistly involves in the hospital and community services for the local areas. They participate in the decision making for the healthcare and community development of a diversified population group (Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, 2018). The present financial performance of CCG is not getting effective for the healthcare development of the homeless population of the Lewisham borough. The basic financial requirement of the homeless people has remained unsatisfied due to the improper policy framework (Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, 2018). However, St Mungo needs to clarify the financial requirement of the homeless population of the Lewisham borough. They must assure the healthcare development of the homeless people (Taylor, 2018). Policies must be developed to mitigate the existing problems of the healthcare needs of the homeless population.

Picture: Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

Source: https://ammf.org.uk/the-nhs-in-the-uk/

The economic strategy development lies in the effective utilisation of financial resources. St Mungo needs to utilise their financial resources properly for the development of financial plans (Taylor, 2018). The effective utilisation of the financial resources has mitigated the healthcare gap between Lewisham borough and other boroughs of central London by 10% (Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group, 2018).  Thus, St Mungo must show their craftsmanship in developing their financial policies and utilising the resources for the betterment of the homeless population of Lewisham borough.

The authenticity of the financial distribution

The improper financial distribution of the in the Lewisham borough is the ultimate reason for the homelessness of the Lewisham borough. However, the Lewisham commission took initiative to develop the existing financial policies to mitigate the issues on financial distribution (Blank, 2017). The policies for financial distribution must mitigate the homeless issues. Thus, St Mungo needs to develop their economic strategies by maintaining balance in the financial distribution (Blank, 2017). This could enable them to manage their economic policies and implement a strategic financial outlook for the betterment for the homeless people.

Social factors

Homelessness is indeed a considerable social problem for Lewisham borough. Around 2000 people every year use to suffer from homelessness (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). This promotes socials problems like poverty, stealing nature and single parents. Thus, St Mungo needs to put concern on the factors that evaluates the social issues of homelessness. Hence, the homeless is promoting diseases like cognitive impairment, malnutrition and diabetes (Frueh, 2015). Additionally, the charges of the available houses are way beyond their financial capability (Wells and Root, 2015). Thus, the analysis of the social demographical factor, social healthcare factor, social deprivation factor and the visionary factor of the local administrations would help St Mungo’s charity to evaluate their existing capability to continue their charitable housing project (Aithal, 2016).

The social demographical factors suggest the fact that around 47% of the overall population of Lewisham borough belongs to black and minority population (GOV.UK, 2018).  It is significant that the black and minority population are derived from the healthcare facilities and are homeless (Helena, 2016). Thus, racial demographic factors must be analysed by the St Mungo organisation before the policymaking. It is also notable that discrimination also plays a pivotal role in the homelessness of the Lewisham borough population (Demski, 2014). St Mungo must analyse the basic healthcare demands of the black and the minority population of Lewisham borough. Furthermore, the demand must be evaluated with the availability of the resources to formulate the demographical policies effectively (R, 2017).

Social healthcare factor

One of the greatest barriers to the development of the social healthcare policy is the social interest. The rent of the houses does not qualify the average income of most of the population of Lewisham borough (Whelan and Maître, 2013). Thus, most of the population remains homeless. Moreover, the economic decline of the locality results in the lack of effective healthcare policies. Thus, St Mungo needs to concern about the rent of the houses (Taylor, 2018). Strategies must be developed to raise the living standard of the homeless people. The rent of the houses must be either free or low in order to meet the capability of most of the population of the Lewisham borough.  

Picture: Social healthcare in the UK

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-profile-for-england/chapter-6-social-determinants-of-health

The people of Lewisham borough are considered to be the most deprived population among the boroughs of the London. Most of the people belong to minority community having no proper resource of healthcare facilities and living homes (Aithal, 2016). Thus, as per the deprival index of the UK, Lewisham borough has scored 31^st rank among the 354 local authorities (GOV.UK, 2018). Thus, St Mungo needs to reshape their social policies focusing on the current deprived situation of the Lewisham borough. The must develop proper healthcare and developmental policies that can mitigate the healthcare and homelessness of the people of Lewisham borough (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014).

The visionary factor of the local administrations

The administrative council of Lewisham borough has taken a serious note for the development of the existing healthcare situation of the homeless people. They conduct a survey to authenticate the reach of the healthcare facilities to the homeless people of Lewisham borough (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). St Mungo needs to assess the healthcare services of the local administrative members and analyse their future vision. This would enable them to portray a new social strategy (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014).

Technological factors

The technological factors define the utilisation of updated technology to develop the existing situation. It is essential to use updated technology in order to develop the existing situation of the Lewisham borough (Lee, 2018). Technology can be used to develop the infrastructure in order to create a proper land bank for the St Mungo charitable organisation. The land bank can be used for the charitable organisations and the homeless people of Lewisham borough (Lee, 2018).

The development of the local healthcare infrastructure

The technology can be used to develop the existing healthcare infrastructure. St Mungo needs to assess the utilisation of the required technology that can be suitable for the betterment of the healthcare infrastructure of Lewisham borough (Lee, 2018).

The utilization of updated technology to mitigate the homeless population

The use of land bank technology is the most effective available technique to retain lands for the homeless population (Lee, 2018). Thus, St Mungo charitable organisation must analyse the use of this technology to develop their land bank policies.

Development of disease screening technology

 The use of updated technology is essentially required for the healthcare betterment of the people of Lewisham borough (Lee, 2018). St Mungo needs to analyse the availability of the medical equipment with updated technology to screen the disease of the homeless population of Lewisham borough.

Infrastructural development of the technology

Technology must be used for the infrastructural development of  homeless people. St Mungo needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the updated technology to develop the healthcare setting in Lewisham borough (Lee, 2018). This may include the use of updated medical equipment, risk screening tools and emergency services.

Homelessness is one of the biggest problems for the Lewisham borough. It affects the standard of living and the healthcare scenario. The initiative must be taken to mitigate the issues regarding the homelessness (Pessoa and Van Reenen, 2014). Thus, the recommended steps that the St Mungo charity house may take to develop the existing scenario are:

• The charitable house must assure home to almost all of the homeless population of the Lewisham borough
• Effective service housing project must be implemented to connect the local government. This can promote the communication between the local government and St Mungo charitable house that can boost up the development of homeless people
• St Mungo charitable organisation must seek liaison from the local government in order to continue their task smoothly. This can mitigate any further chances of the legal issues.
• The lack of shelter and deprivation has led the people of Lewisham borough to severe cognitive impairment. Thus, St Mungo must ensure rehabilitation and counselling system for the mental health development of the local people.

Conclusion

The study has described the effectiveness of the PEST analysis to implement the charitable housing project of St Mungo in the Lewisham borough.  Lewisham borough is a poverty-stricken area of London mostly consisted of the black and minority population. This study has unfolded the effectiveness of the social, political, economic and technological factors. The analysis of these factors has become beneficial for the policy-making process of the St Mungo charitable organisation. Moreover, this has helped their strategy formulation for the development of charitable housing project in the Lewisham borough. The recommendations are provided based on the necessity. Thus, effective implementation of the PEST analysis can mitigate the strategic barriers.

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