Person-Centred Care - Allied Health
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Person-Centred Palliative Care

End-of-life and palliative care focuses on improving quality of life – helping to manage symptoms and providing emotional, spiritual and practical support as its needed. Some people may have a condition causing them to be very ill and may need palliative care for only a few weeks. Others may need end-of-life and palliative care at intervals over a period of months or years.

The person-centred approach treats each person respectfully as an individual, and not as a condition to be treated. It involves seeking out and understanding what is important to the patient, their families, carers and support people, fostering trust and establishing mutual respect. ‘Person-centred care’ means that:

  • you place the individual at the centre of planning and decision-making around end-of-life and palliative care
  • individual, cultural and religious needs are considered when care is planned
  • individual preferences and values are recognised and respected
  • the individual is treated with respect and dignity whatever their age, cultural background, religion or sexual orientation.

Person-centred care is embedded throughout all of the Standards developed by the Commission, including the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards, reflecting its importance to the safety and quality of health care.

  • Further Learning
  • Publications
  • Evidence
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Webinars

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare has a series of webinars on person-centred care in practice:

  • creating a personalised model of care
  • patient experience and consumer partnerships

Patient-centred Care - Improving quality and safety through partnerships with patients and consumers

This report provides system and service recommentations to support patient-centred care.

van Dulmen SA, Lukersmith S, Muxlow J, Santa Mina E, Nijhuis-van der Sanden MW, van der Wees PJ; G-I-N Allied Health Steering Group. Supporting a person-centred approach in clinical guidelines. A position paper of the Allied Health Community - Guidelines International Network (G-I-N). Health Expect. 2015 Oct;18(5):1543-58. doi: 10.1111/hex.12144. Epub 2013 Oct 14. PMID: 24118821; PMCID: PMC5060835..