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Person-centred care

Person-centred care and effective and responsive care planning are key features of good and outstanding services. The involvement of people who need the care and support or their family/advocates is central to shaping the care they need. Staff see people as individuals, knowing their backgrounds, likes and preferences.

Care plans should be clear, up-to-date and person-centred. Most important of all is that the staff providing care and support follow the care plan. It should be easy to follow and contain all the information someone new will need to absorb quickly.

The following film provides a summary of this area of inspection. It can help you and your teams learn about what will be inspected and what is important to demonstrate to deliver good or outstanding care.

Introducing Person-centred care

Duration 02 min 10 sec

This area of inspection will look at how people - or those with authority to act on their behalf - are actively engaged in the planning of the care and support that they – or their loved ones - receive.

This is about how successful your service is in engaging people in planning their care, taking into account their personal goals and ambitions. It will look at your initial assessments of care needs and how this continues to evolve.

Person-centred care plans means that staff understand the people they support, including their personal history, interests, and aspirations.

The CQC interviews with people, friends and relatives are likely to explore views around the care planning process and how their views are included. Meanwhile, the inspector’s discussions with managers and staff will check understanding and examples of person-centred care in practice.

If they visit the service, inspectors will observe how person-centred is being delivered … and how closely this aligns with the care plans.

Documented evidence in the form of the following may be reviewed:

  • Care assessments
  • Care plans and reviews
  • Complaints and compliments
  • …and staff training records.

Outstanding rated services often excel in how they involve people, including using innovative approaches to ensure that the person feel consulted, empowered, listened to and valued. Outstanding services are often externally recognised for their high standards of person-centred care by visiting professionals.

Services falling below CQC expectations may not put people at the heart of the care they receive. They may have little or no involvement in the shaping of their care plan, whilst reviews might be irregular.

Take a look at GO Online for resources, practical examples and recommendations to help you to strengthen your person-centred care.

CQC Focus

The CQC inspection will focus on the following key line of enquiry when looking at this topic. The additional prompt questions below may be explored as part of their inspection focus.

  • R1 -

    How do people receive personalised care that is responsive to their needs?

    Please note: R1 is also covered in the GO Online sections: “Relationships, activities and a fulfilling life” and covering the prompts R1.3 and R1.4, and “Information, communication and technology” covering the prompts R1.5 and R1.6

  • R1.1 -

    How do people, or those with authority to act on their behalf, contribute to planning their care and support, and how are their strengths, levels of independence and quality of life taken into account?

  • R1.2 -

    How does the service make sure that a person’s care plan fully reflects their physical, mental, emotional and social needs, including on the grounds of protected characteristics under the Equality Act? These should include their personal history, individual preferences, interests and aspirations, and should be understood by staff so people have as much choice and control as possible.

  • R1.M -

    The following questions are specific to CQC monitoring process.  Some prompts will only be asked where relevant to a service type:

    • How do you ensure that you can meet the range of individual needs for people using the service, for example cultural or religious needs?
    • How have you changed the way people’s care has been planned since the start of the pandemic?
    • How has people’s involvement, or those who are involved in their decision making, been affected by coronavirus?

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