Person Centred Care Essay

Words: 678
Pages: 3

As mentioned above citizens have not always been central to their health and social care services, however due to the amount of people who use these services now the support systems have increased and therefore person centred approaches have too and is at the heart of the Governments strategy for people who use health and social care services. In order for there to be change the services had to be reviewed as in the past citizens were ‘fitted in’ where services were concerned and services were focused on quantity for example number of beds or day centred places rather than the individual need. People who needed the services were grouped and it was assumed that their needs were universal, even though person centred approach was acknowledged …show more content…
The way in which policy and legislation has changed has had a big positive impact on person centred care. In the past supported accommodation and care homes were extremely institutionalised as the focus was on what is best for the care home or what works well for the staff, rather than what the individual needs. In 2001 person centred planning was at the forefront of the National Care Standards, although it did not off a specific tool as a benchmark and mainly focused on physical health aspects; on the other hand, emphasis on mental health problems is in the National Service Framework for mental health (1999).
Further legislation which plays a part in the implementation of person centred approaches is as follows:
Legislation / Policy Timeline Link to Person Centred
NHS and community care Act 1990 Introduction of ‘needs –led assessments’ to be person centred and take into considerations an individual’s personal preferences
Disability discrimination Act 1995 Makes it illegal for people to be treated differently in services because of a disability, aims to stop discrimination and give people equal rights
Human Rights Act 1998 Underlines that everyone has the right to receive quality care/support