Defining person-centred care
Earlier this month, the Royal Commission announced that next month’s hearings in Perth (24 – 28 June) will focus on ‘person-centred’ care, as well as palliative care.
But what exactly is it, and why is it important to the Commission? This week, we wanted to take a closer look at this idea.
At its core, person-centred care is about treating a person receiving aged care (or general health services) with dignity and respect – and involving them in all decisions about their care.
In this model, an aged care resident and their family should work together closely with health professionals to develop a care plan that’s based on their specific values, social circumstance, lifestyle and wishes.
For health or aged care staff, it’s about being flexible – because no two residents or aged care service consumers are the same. They need to think about a person’s care from their perspective and be compassionate and respectful.
It’s also vital that the person receiving the care services is communicated with openly and clearly – and know the details of their care at all times.
The bottom line: ‘person-based’ care is about doing things with people, not to them.
So, why is this a topic for the Royal Commission?
The sad fact is, we’ve seen some of ‘horror stories’ come out of the Commission process – with many residents, staff and families pointing to cases of poor treatment or neglect, particularly in residential care.
In many instances, these cases happen because residents and families had no say in care.
While these are isolated and rare, the Commissioners want to investigate our current system to see how we can ensure they don’t happen again – and change our system for the better.
Many aged care providers have already moved towards a person-centred care model, and this is good news for everyone involved in the sector. But we need to do more.
The Perth hearings will investigate:
- How Australia’s aged care services can be provided in a person-centred way, including care that values the identity and experience of the person, and promote choice and control;
- Factors influencing whether aged care services are delivered in a person-centred manner, including relationships between residents, families, staff and service providers;
- Broader societal attitudes towards older Australians;
- The perspective and experience of people who access aged care; and
- Good practice care models for providing person-centred care
If you have any ideas, thoughts or experiences you’d like to share around person-centred care, it’s not too late to make a submission to the Royal Commission. You can do so here.
