Person-centred care is about placing the person being cared for at the heart of care and doing everything you can to put their needs first. A person-centred approach involves the individual in their own care instead of relying solely on health and care professionals to make decisions for them - it emphasises shared decision-making, where the individual is regarded as an equal partner in their care.
Furthermore, it's about having the individual's best interests at heart and doing what you can to maintain or improve their wellbeing while using their preferences, needs and values to guide clinical decisions. Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to them, considering their desires, individual circumstances, interests, and lifestyles, helps to place the person being cared for at the centre of the care process.
Getting to know the person being cared for on a personal level and recognising their unique qualities is essential - finding out their experiences, interests, opinions, and goals and truly understanding all aspects of their identity all help to make the care they receive more person-centred.
When health and social care services prioritise person-centred coordinated care, it results in improved outcomes for individuals and increased efficiency for the services themselves.
Providing person-centred care should involve the person receiving care every step of the way, and at Person Centred Software, we make that achievable with our Digital Care Planning System.
