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In health and social care, it is vital that individuals have the right care to meet their needs, wishes and preferences. It is important that procedures are followed to ensure that needs are met. Individuals should be at the centre of this process, so they feel that they are actively involved in their own care. Good, effective care planning can ensure the criteria is met. Care and support packages should never be made for the ease or convenience of care workers. This is where person-centred approaches apply placing the individual at the centre of every activity and decision made.
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Being person-centred is about listening to and learning about what individuals want from their lives and helping individuals to think about what they want now and in the future. Family, friends, professionals and services work together with the individual to make this happen.
Individual-centred approaches ensure that the individual is at the centre of all that happens. They involve doing things that sees the individuals using health and social care services as equal partners in planning, developing and monitoring care to make sure it meets their needs.
It is about considering people’s desires, values, family situations, social circumstances and lifestyles, seeing the individual as an individual, and working together to develop appropriate solutions.
Beliefs, values and preferences have to be taken into account when using individual-centred approaches when planning to meet an individual’s needs.
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When assessing and planning, it is vital that the individual leads the process. Care professionals must remember that the individual is at the foundation of care planning; it is their body, their discomfort, their life and their care. Care planning which is not individual-centred is meaningless and not acceptable. Providing care that health and social care workers think individuals need is not appropriate. Health and social care workers must value an individual’s role in this process - this is the best practice. It is essential to empower the individual in their own care.
When establishing the preferences and backgrounds of individuals, it is vital to ask the child or young person what they want and what they consider their needs to be. Leading questions should be avoided, for example: ‘Your after school arrangements are fully meeting all your needs, aren’t they?’ This may lead to agreement when it may not actually be the case. Open questions are preferred to closed questions, so instead of asking ‘Are you happy?’ the question could be rephrased as ‘Tell me about how you feel at the moment.’
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What could be the impact on individuals if person-centred approaches are not implemented?
The individual does not:
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Health and social care workers should meet with individuals face to face. They should make clear that anything discussed will be confidential. This will reassure the individual that it is okay to divulge any necessary information.
Discussions should be in a simple format. Confusing individuals with acronyms, jargon and technical terminology will not help them to lead the assessment. However, workers should avoid patronising individuals by using language that is too simplistic. A balance of clear, detailed information is important.
If anything needs repeating, it should be done patiently and clearly. Care workers should clarify and summarise to ensure that everything is understood as well as to minimise mistakes.
Where possible documents should be in a format the individual understands e.g. pictures, video, written. Workers need to ensure the individual understands these and is given the opportunity to ask any questions that they may have.
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In relation to the provision of health and social care services, it is important to remember that:
Consent can be given in a number of ways - this can be through verbal communication, in writing or through actions. The individual might also allow another individual to do something with or to them, perhaps by raising an arm to be supported when dressing, therefore indicating consent. Informed consent is given when the individual understands what they are consenting to.
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An individual’s well-being includes their sense of hope, confidence and self-esteem, their ability to communicate wants and needs, to socialise and to experience and show pleasure or enjoyment. This can involve the activities and experiences an individual chooses to take part in. To promote an individual’s well-being they need to be happy with as many aspects of their life as possible. If the individual thinks that something would help them to feel better, health and social care workers need to be positive, understanding, empathic and non-judgemental. They should listen to what the individual considers to be important in their lives and help them to make the changes they want, such as being able to join in particular activities or groups for example.
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Why is it important to know what an individual’s history, preferences, wishes and needs are in order to support them in an individual-centred way?