“Person-centred care” is an umbrella term that describes various approaches to health and well-being, which place the person at the centre of their own choices and decisions. This means two things: firstly, all people should be treated with “dignity, compassion, and respect”, and secondly, the care we extend towards a person with a disability, for example, should be “personalised, coordinated, and enabling”.[1] In the workplace, however, it is challenging to initiate the conversations needed to ensure that working environments are accessible to and inclusive of their employees in a way that is meaningful to them. This can be done by communicating in ways that emphasise key principles, which ensure that people can work in ways that reflect their needs.[2]

Respect for the person

• Am I able to communicate in ways that recognise and value a person’s individual beliefs, needs, wants, and values?
• Can I communicate in ways that treat people with compassion, dignity, and respect?
• Do I communicate in ways that are respectful and inclusive?

Shared decision-making

• Am I able to ensure that I can work together with people and trust their capacity to make informed choices?
• Can I treat people as equal partners in decisions that affect them?
• Do I actively involve people in all aspects of shared decision-making processes?

Care that is coordinated, enabling, and personalised

• Am I able to personalise and tailor how I communicate with people in ways that reflect their goals, needs, and wants?
• Can I coordinate a person’s care with compassion, dignity and respect?
• Do I enable people to live and work in ways that are meaningful to them?

Consider the whole person

• Am I able to see the whole person, and consider their health condition as just a small part of who they are?
• Can I communicate with people in ways that are mindful of their behavioural, emotional, sensory, social, and physical needs?
• Do I communicate in ways that enable people to achieve their goals and explore their interests independently and in ways that are meaningful to them?

Empowerment

• Am I able to support people to work on their personal growth and professional development in ways that reflect their individual needs and ways of working?
• Can I empower people to live and work in ways that are fulfilling and meaningful?
• Do I empower people in ways that treat them with compassion, dignity, and respect, and in ways that promote and preserve a person’s independence?

Person-centred care is important because it allows people to live and work in ways that reflect their needs and wants, and their desire to live in ways that are meaningful to them. This means that person-centred care is not a one-size-fits-all framework: it cannot be applied uniformly to all people because people see and know the lived environment and the workplace in different ways for a variety of reasons. Person-centred care is an approach that emphasises a person’s individual needs and wants in ways that empower them to live in ways that are meaningful and reflective of how different people find happiness by living in different ways.

[1] The Health Foundation, “Introduction” in Person-centred care made simple: What everyone should know about person-centred care? (2016: The Health Foundation), pp.1-25 (p.7).

[2] Due to the emerging nature of “person-centred care” as a philosophy and working practice, this list of ‘core principles’ is non-exhaustive and will expand over time.