Person Centred Care

Person-centred care refers to an approach to care which is underpinned by a focus on the needs of individual. The focus, therefore, is ensuring that people’s preferences, needs, and values guide clinical decisions, and providing care that is respectful of and responsive to them.
Other terms to describe a person-centred care include.
– personalisation,
– relationship-centred care,
– Mutuality
Person-centred care recognises the needs, circumstances, and preferences of the individual. In addition, it recognizes that individual needs are different and may change over time, as the individual’s needs changes. The person-centred values are:
Individuality:
being recognised and valued for who we are and treated as a unique person with individual needs, hopes and aspirations
Rights: Being entitled, as human beings, to certain basic rights such as respect, freedom, equality and privacy
Choice: Having access to a range of options and information, and the freedom to make decisions about our own life
Privacy: Having the freedom to have time to ourselves, to be alone if we wish, to have our own personal space and to have information about us kept confidential
Independence: Being in control of our own lives, able to make our own choices and decisions and having the opportunity and support when necessary to
do this
Dignity: Being valued and respected, and treated in ways that uphold our rights and uniqueness as individuals
Respect: Being treated considerately, having our dignity acknowledged, and our opinions and feelings valued and responded to
Partnership: Professionals working together to help us achieve our individual goals, using their skills and expertise to enable the best possible outcomes.
Equal Opportunities: Having access to the same life chances as other people and the support required to achieve what we want to achieve. It’s about valuing our differences in a positive, inclusive and non-judgemental way.
Challenges to person centred care
– Lack of understanding of what is needed to achieve patient and family-centred care.
– Inability to make choices – as such an understanding that everyone has the right to make choices and have their preferences respected, even if others make decisions on their behalf.
– Families might not agree with the services -Your job must be to support the individual service user and take a lead from them about how they want their family involved, or not, in their service.
– Developing and implementing person-cantered care and culture change take a lot of planning, work, and time.