Keeping a person at the centre of everything we do is called Person-Centred Care.
It means that care is focused on meeting their individual needs and wishes. Each person is different, which is why we call them individuals. Each person has a different set of beliefs and desires.
If you use a ‘one size fits all’ approach, it is impossible to make everybody happy. In some cases it provides the wrong type of care for an individual, which is discriminatory and therefore abuse.
For example; Two different men, both have advanced multiple sclerosis which is a progressive disease of the nervous system. Both men use wheelchairs and have complex care needs. However, they have differing views, choices and risks about their lives and how their care is provided.
Individualised, person-centred care will acknowledge and take into account each person’s unique perspectives. This might include their:
| Needs | Qualities | Abilities | Interests |
| Preferences | Values | Desires | Choices |
Individualised, person-centred care can enable an individual to feel:
| Respected | Important | Supported | Cared for |
| Worthy | Individual | Valued | Independent |
Active participation describes a way of working that makes sure an individual can take part in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible.
An individual is an active partner in their own care and support.
Ensuring someone has the right equipment they need to get around or to eat and drink without help are good examples of resources that support active participation.
Person-centred care should help the individual to make their own choices, assess and take risks. It is important they understand the consequences of the decisions they could make. This reduces the risk of negative, unfair or harmful treatment and neglect.
The Care Act 2014 guidance talks about an initiative called “Making Safeguarding Personal”. It introduced the phrase “no decision about me, without me”. This is about promoting a person-centred approach.
In deciding how to meet an adult’s needs for care and support, an authority must involve:
- The adult,
- Any carer that the adult has,
- Any person whom the adult asks the authority to involve or, where the adult lacks capacity to ask the authority to do that, any person who appears to the authority to be interested in the adult’s welfare.
.svg)
