It seems to me that the true meaning of person centred care (PCC) has been lost amongst all the beaurocratic nonsense that now dominates care of the older person.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that policy and procedure and the safeguards in place are not necessary. What I am saying is that local, in-house policy based on personal bias and misconceptions of the professionals must stop. Not an inquiry. Not an observation and recommendation exercise. Let’s simply just stop.
John Major once famously uttered that the UK needs to go back to basics. What I am arguing here is that we need to go back to basics. The basics of true person centred care. What better way to start than removing the barriers we really don’t need? The barriers that separate those with the power and those that are regularly disempowered by those with the power!
We all use the phrase ‘person centred.’ It has become a buzzword. It is written in documents and care plans. I am using it here. Sadly, the meaning has been diluted somewhat. We can all make it stronger by implementing it fully.
Barriers in care homes! Why do we need them? Does it make the nurses, carers and doctors feel safe? Feel protected? Are we using our own inherent coping strategies through the building of barriers? For example, I’m in uniform so I will never get dementia. That will never be me?
The uniform; this must be one of the biggest barriers ever to grace those care home corridors of power – why on earth are we so hung up about wearing a damned uniform?
Dr Dan Nightingale
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