OPENING PLENARY: From Person-Centred Moments to Person-Centred Care: Creating Flourishing Healthcare Cultures

Description/Overview: It has become commonplace for person-centredness to be an underpinning philosophy of healthcare delivery systems. Person-centred care (also called person-centred practice) is seen as a mode of practice that respects the fundamental qualities of persons (such as dignity, autonomy, choice, rights) and uses these qualities in the planning and delivery of care services. However, whilst there is a large literature (philosophy, theory and empirical) suporting person-centred practices, how it is operationalised is a major challenge - particularly in westernised healthcare climates that are driven by economic effeciency, patient safety and risk avoidance. On one hand these characteristics of healthcare systems can be seen to contradict the essential underpinnings of person-centredness, but on the other, they provide the canvas upon which the artistry of person-centred healthcare delivery needs to be created. We cannot avoid this macro healthcare context, but yet we need to enable all persons to flourish within it. Person-centredness is different to patient/client centredness as it is inclusive of all persons and so it is not enough to evaluate the effectiveness of person-centredness on the basis of a narrow patient-outcome framework. Instead we need to be able to determine the extent to which the context of practice/service delivery enables a person-centred culture to exist. A person-centred culture goes beyond the identification of 'moments of person-centred care', but instead reflects a commitment to the well-being of all persons and their human flourishing. So, in this presentation I will explore different concepts relating to person-centredness, person-centred moments and person-centred cultures. A critical perspective will be adopted in order to ensure that person-centrednes is not seen as a lofty ideal inconsistent with the characteristics of contemporary healthcare. The impostance of collaborative practices and participatory approaches to knowledge use will be emphasised and examples of collaborations towards the development of person-centred cultures will be offered.