The Most Important Aspect of Person-Centred Planning - Essay Example

?Person-centred Planning Person-centred planning is the current most sought after strategic mode by the health service providers. Studies suggest that person-centred planning works more effectively than the general care-giving service. As person-centred planning is developed to cater a specific client requirement, it has greater chance of meeting client’s needs as well as expectation. In fact the entire planning and implementation of the plan is case-specific or relating to a specific client. It takes into consideration every aspect of the needs of the individual who is depending on the service. Unlike the traditional system of extending general and non-specific care services without really focusing on the needs of the individual, facilitators of person-centred planning aim to win the client’s complete trust and reliance on them. But in order to successfully organize a person-centred mode of planning it is incumbent that all the factors and elements are in place. This form of service delivery relies heavily on a professional approach combined with the human touch. The chief players are the facilitators in the different care providing roles. The group that forms the care givers include both professionals as well as family members. So it is obvious that coordination and cooperation among all the team members is the primary criterion in successful implementation of the planning. Task/role assignment According to Molly (2006) the most important aspect of person-centred planning is the roles of the care providers for they are the ones who are in direct charge of the care receiver. It is important that the individual service providers have a clear cut picture of what they have to do and the task they have to perform. They should be aware of their specific role in the care facilitating service. Molly (2006) stresses upon the importance of the ‘circle of support’ which consists of both the professional care givers and the family members. In this context it is important that each one of the care providers have a distinctive task to perform so that the care receiver gets proper service. It has been found that in cases where there is no proper task or role assignment the care receiver suffers. The care giving system takes over the needs of the individual being and the whole focus shifts from catering to the person to meeting the needs of the system (Molly, 2006). Molly refers to two distinct cases of Frances and Crystal to show how well a service facilitating system can work if roles and tasks are definitively allotted so that every member of the team contributes as per his/her responsibility. The defined role in fact helps to build a distinctive relationship between the care receiver and the care provider, for one of the most important criterion of a care provider is to care for the dependent. In fact it is the care receiver who gets to make a choice of his/her care givers. This explains the significance of the role that the care giver has to play. Coordination & collaboration in the team When building a person-centred planning team it is important that all the team members are assigned uniform responsibility in their respective roles. It would not only prevent grudges among team members but optimise the full potential and strength of the team. In their study of client-centric approach Sumsion and Lencucha (2009) have pointed out the challenges and difficulties faced by the teams when working in an interprofessional, person-centric module. They throw light on the common areas of discontent like time management, interpersonal and professional differences and hierarchies. These issues could be effectively sorted out by addressing appropriate team goals, properly distributing roles and responsibilities and through a continuous process of sharing information relating to the background and management of the client (Sumsion & Lencucha, 2009). Moreover through information dissemination at all levels members could coordinate better and know the functioning methods of each other. In their research Sumsion and Lencucha (2009) probe into the different professional aspects of working within an interprofessional with a client centric approach. It raises the questions relating to the team member’s experience of working within the set up, personal opinion about the efficacy of the system and preferences. The findings suggest that the factors that have direct connection with improved team work in providing quality service to clients are team cohesion, autonomy and consultation. Team cohesion is explained as building up a supportive environment with valuable and relevant information sharing. Giving a certain degree of autonomy to specialised service providers so that they can come out with their best ensures greater client satisfaction as well as maintains a good rapport within the team. The other aspect that has come up from the research outcome is that there is specific need of consultation within the team. The consultation should be done through collective planning and extensive discussion on client needs and service improvement (Sumsion & Lencucha, 2009). Consultation is an effective way of maintaining coordination and collaboration among the team. It also includes providing constructive feedback with the purpose of rectifying and encouragement. Development of professionalism McCormack et al (2009) emphasise about the importance of inculcating professionalism in the person-centric service systems. In their studies on the key factors that help in promoting professionalism within the team, they determined the importance of practice development. According to them practice development has direct relation with developing professionalism in the care and health facilitators. This approach helps the health practitioners and health care team to concentrate and critically look into their areas of practice so that they can improve it (McCormack et al, 2009). McCormack et al (2009) point out the necessity to bring in corporate culture in the working mode of the person-centric service system. But having a corporate culture in a care giving system is challenging. Primarily the person-centric planning strategy prioritises the choice and decisions of the care receiver and aims at involving family members in the care providing team. So it is important that the professional facilitators are thorough with their duties and limitations and are thorough with client handling. The point is that the professionals need to adhere to the corporate culture so that they can better manage the team that also includes non-professionals. McCormack et al (2009) hold that practice development strategy promotes the corporate cultural approach in the work procedure. They stress on the fact that the individual care facilitator must know his area of work and at the same time focus only on improving upon his functional area with the aim to provide quality service to the client. Therefore practice development facilitators look into issues like team behaviour and the procedures the team is undertaking to meet the client needs as well as expectation. The purpose to have a professional outlook is to make constant up gradation of the present quality of service. In this respect McCormack et al (2009) suggested that the main aim of the service delivery team would be to encourage individual staff to bring in their knowledge and expertise in the work process. They should be allowed freedom to contribute from their learning and experience. There must be scope of integrating ‘work based active learning’. The team should keep on working out new initiatives as well as new and improved version of the facilitating service. Conclusion In conclusion it could be said that person-centred planning requires a comprehensive mode of working. It involves full commitment of the professionals who form the backbone of the service system. Therefore the most important criterion of the service system is the team of members who are representing the service delivery. But at present the care providing service has undergone radical change. Unlike in the earlier times the focus was on the service system itself where the clients had very little say. It could be said that with very few options the client had no choice but be at the mercy of the service providers. Things have changed and with the new mode of person-centric planning approach the care providing machinery is developed accordingly. The focus of the service system is to incorporate a complete professional culture in the functioning of the team. Therefore it stresses on building a team which will produce high standard work. So it is incumbent that there is proper coordination and cooperation among the team members. It involves smooth and scientific working of the team. It indicates that the team works in a planned way with assigning specific task to each of the members and defining their roles properly so that there is no confusion and the work is done a structured manner. The studies have thrown light on the different challenges and difficulties that usually crop up in care providing service methods. As the entire functional machinery is based on proper and healthy cooperation of the team members, it is important that there is understanding and respect among the team members. Each factor is related to the other. When there is uniform task and role assignments among the team members there would be no point of contention and each can work with accountability. So with a professional approach on one hand and concern for the dependent on the other, a team would sure to excel in its performance. Reference McCormack, Brendan; Dewing, et al. 2009. Practice development: Realising active learning for sustainable change. Contemporary Nurse : a Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession. Highbeam Research Molly, Mattingly. 2006. What's up with person-centred planning? Five years on. Living Well. Highbeam Research Sumsion, Thelma; Lencucha, Raphael. 2009. Therapists' perceptions of how teamwork influences client-centred practice. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. Highbeam Research Read More