At Tiggo Care, we’re passionate about providing person-centred care.
It’s a term you might hear from various care organisations when you’re first looking for home care. Whether you need care for yourself or for a loved one, it’s important to understand what it means, and how it affects you or your loved one.
In this article, we’ll explain what person-centred care is, as well as the values and principles associated with it. We’ll also explain the benefits of person-centred care, and how it can help you and your loved one thrive.
Person-centred care puts the client at the heart of the service.
Whether it’s live-in care, one-off visits or regular care calls, person-centred care means that we make a care plan based on the individual and their needs and wants. We don’t see your loved one as “just another client”.
At Tiggo Care, the people we support have a variety of needs. Some of our clients just need support for a short time after surgery, whereas others may need long-term care. We help people with lots of different conditions, such as cerebral palsy, dementia, Parkinson’s, and more.
It’s important that we listen to our clients and their families. They know their needs better than we do.
Person-centred care follows eight key values.
Every client we support is an individual. They have their own needs, wants, and goals. It’s important to provide care that reflects that. At Tiggo Care, there’s no such thing as a one size fits all approach.
Many of our clients have needs that fluctuate, depending on their condition. We provide care that is responsive to their needs, scaling back when necessary and offering more support if a client needs it.
The people we support have the right to make their own informed decisions about their lives, including their care and treatment.
Clients are involved in decision making about their care. They have the right to choose who provides their care – or if they receive care at all.
They may want to receive more or less care at certain times.
Even if they aren’t able to do certain activities by themselves, our clients are still encouraged to make choices – for example, about which clothes to wear or what to have for their meals.
We recognise that some of the people we support aren’t easily able to communicate their choices with us. In these situations, we try and follow their non-verbal cues, as well as talking with family members and other healthcare professionals about their wants and needs.
One of the biggest benefits of home care is the independence it can offer. Many of our clients have chosen to stay in their own home, rather than move to residential care, because they want to stay independent.
Person-centred care gives the people we support the chance to be as independent as they want.
We value our clients, and trust them to know how they want to be treated.
At Tiggo Care, we know that receiving support, particularly intimate care, can be daunting for some people. Our trained staff team take the time to ensure that the people we support feel as comfortable as possible.
We respect the people we support, and we treat them in a way that reflects that.
Our clients have their own opinions, preferences, and feelings. Even if we don’t share or understand these, we support their right to have them.
Our clients have the same rights as anyone who doesn’t receive care. Under the Human Rights Act 1998, this includes:
Everyone we support deserves privacy. We won’t talk about our clients’ personal information unless they give us permission.
This also applies to when, where, and how we provide care. We ensure that any personal care, especially washing, toileting, or dressing, is done in a private place. Our clients deserve that dignity.
At Tiggo Care, we work in partnership with our clients, their families, and other healthcare professionals. This allows us to provide personalised and coordinated care.
Some of the people we support are not able to communicate easily with us – for example, if they are living with dementia. In these cases, working closely with their other support systems allows us to get to know them as an individual. Our clients’ family members can explain their likes, dislikes, and personal histories.
There are four principles of person-centred care. Everyone who provides person-centred care should follow these.
Everyone deserves to be treated well. We know that, unfortunately, vulnerable adults are more at risk of abuse than the general population. Some people who receive care may be unable to communicate their needs or concerns.
As care professionals, our team all receive training in a variety of areas to ensure that our clients have the best experience possible. This includes training in:
We listen to feedback from clients and their families to ensure that we are providing a compassionate and respectful service.
Our clients are involved in the creation of their care plans. Where necessary, we’ll include families and other professionals in this too. This allows us to provide personalised care, taking any other treatment or health needs into account.
We work with district nurses, GPs and other doctors, pharmacists, social workers, and other professionals. Our goal is to ensure that the people we support get the best care for them.
When we first begin working with a client, we talk with them about their needs and wants. We also involve family members, social workers, or other healthcare professionals in these discussions, if appropriate.
These discussions, along with our needs and risk assessments, are the basis for each client’s personalised care plan.
Personalised support can include providing the right personal care. It can also include ensuring that clients have the right activities and staff members available, amending care plans when needed, and listening to our clients’ suggestions, complaints, and requests.
We recognise that many of our clients are very capable of doing some of their daily activities themselves. We want to ensure that we help them remain independent – it’s good for their physical and mental health. Therefore, we work with our clients to make sure that we provide only the care that they need, and don’t take over where they can manage.
However, providing effective care isn’t just about hygiene and meal preparation. Our clients deserve to enjoy life. Person-centred care also involves taking a service user’s wants and goals into account, so that we can make sure they are thriving, enjoying hobbies and activities, with our support.
Person-centred care has a number of benefits – both for the client and the care professional.
Person-centred care offers valuable flexibility to our clients. We should plan around their needs and wants, rather than the other way around.
For example, if someone has always enjoyed getting up very early in the morning, the care we provide should reflect that. We should work with them to provide an early morning care call, helping them to get up and enjoy their favourite part of the day.
The flexibility of person-centred care is also important for people with fluctuating needs. Some of our clients have complex health conditions that may go through periods of remission, as well as times when they need more support. Flexible person-centred care can accommodate these changes.
People who receive person-centred care benefit from carers who take their needs into account when supporting them.
Rather than being offered a one size fits all option, person-centred care gives clients the care they need. Not all people with Parkinson’s, or everyone with a dementia diagnosis, need the same support, for example. Some of our clients need full live-in support, whereas others just need a few pop-in visits a week.
Everyone we support has a personalised care plan that explains how we will help them, based on conversations and assessments with the client, their family, and other professionals.
Adjusting to receiving care can be difficult. However, person-centred care gives clients increased independence. They don’t lose critical skills that they currently have, and our care workers support them to gain new ones, where possible and appropriate.
Having a little extra support can help our clients continue to live at home, rather than needing to move to residential care or be hospitalised regularly.
People who have input into their own care are also more likely to make positive choices about their own lives, such as eating healthily, taking necessary medication, and staying active.
People who receive person-centred care are more likely to be satisfied with the support they receive.
We encourage our clients and their families to give us feedback. If they have suggestions, compliments, or complaints, we want to listen.
And it’s not just our clients who benefit. Delivering person-centred care can provide a huge amount of job satisfaction for our carers.
Knowing that the people we support are getting the care they need is a wonderful thing. If our clients are happy, our carers are happy.
At Tiggo Care, we believe in the value of person-centred care. We provide our clients with care that supports their needs and wants.
The support we offer our clients might look a little different each day. We pride ourselves on being responsive care providers and listening to the people we support.
Person-centred care is personalised care that puts the individual at the centre. They should be involved in care planning, and everything that is done should support their needs, wants, and goals.
Person-centred care sees the client as an individual. It allows them to feel independent, receive the appropriate support, and increases their satisfaction with the support they receive.
The values of person-centred care are individuality, choice, independence, dignity, respect, rights, privacy, and partnership. When we follow these, we can provide the best possible experience for the people we support.
The principles of person-centred care are treating people with dignity, compassion, and respect; providing coordinated care, support, and treatment; offering personalised care, support, and treatment; and enabling people to recognise and develop their strengths and abilities for an independent and fulfilling life.
Get in touch with Tiggo Care today to see how we can help you or your loved one.
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