What Does ‘Person-Centred’ Really Mean in Daily Practice?
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🧠 Blog 1 of 7 in our Person-Centred Care series: Recording & Evidencing Person-Centred Care
What does ‘person-centred’ really mean in day-to-day practice? It’s a phrase everyone uses — but it’s often misunderstood, overclaimed, or recorded in a way that tells commissioners very little.
🧍♂️ ‘Person-centred’ isn’t about paperwork — it’s about mindset.
It means:
- Understanding what matters most to the individual, not just their needs
- Enabling choice, control, and participation in care
- Seeing the person beyond their condition or diagnosis
- Responding flexibly to what works for them — not just what fits the rota
📋 Why Good Intentions Aren’t Enough
Lots of services genuinely aim to be person-centred. But when you read the documentation, it often fails to reflect that. Daily notes describe tasks completed, not experiences lived. Care plans focus on risk, not aspirations. Reviews capture progress against service goals, not personal goals.
To commissioners and regulators, person-centred care is only as real as what they can see in your:
- Care plans
- Daily notes
- Staff training
- Supervision records
- Internal audits
- Service user feedback
If it’s not being recorded, it’s not being evidenced — and if it’s not being evidenced, it might as well not be happening.
🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Series
Over this 7-part series, we’ll explore how to record and evidence person-centred approaches in a way that:
- Improves care quality
- Builds commissioner and CQC confidence
- Strengthens your tender responses
From daily notes to audits, language choices to supervision — you’ll get practical insight into what good looks like and how to show it.
📚 Explore the Full Person-Centred Recording Blog Series:
- 1. What Does ‘Person-Centred’ Really Mean in Daily Practice?
- 2. How to Record Person-Centred Approaches in Daily Notes
- 3. How to Evidence Choice and Control in Social Care Records
- 4. How to Record Meaningful Goals in Person-Centred Care Plans
- 5. How to Evidence Communication Needs in Care Records
- 6. How to Capture Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health in Care Records
- 7. How to Evidence Person-Centred Support in Shared Living Environments