We have a National Health Service and like all service industries, success is all about people.
For years, we have been talking about involvement, engagement, participation, co-design, co-development, patient experience, feedback, staff experience, staff engagement, patient-centred, self-management, shared decision making … but, what it is really all about?
I think it’s about Human Centred Health.
Human Centred Health is about focussing on people – both the people who receive services and the people who work in them.
It is about the relational, emotional side of health, the lived experience of services and the involvement of people and their families both in their own health, and as funders/tax payers, influencing how services are designed, delivered and improve over time.
It is about the lives of the people who work in the system, all 1.3 million of them, who have to, like actors performing on stage every night, be supported to “get into role”, day after day, in order to deliver the best possible service.
Human centred health is about People, Processes and Plans. It’s about recruiting, developing and supporting people to have, amongst other things, the right priorities, attitudes, behaviours, approach and understanding. It’s about knowing that you are making a difference and being clear about where you need to improve.
People
- Do we work in genuine partnership with our local population and the people who use our services?
- Are we doing the right things, for the right people, in the right way?
- What’s it like to work here?
- How does our behaviour impact on the people we work with and for?
- Is there strong, visible support for human centred health?
Processes
- Do we have efficient systems for collecting information about what it’s like to experience and deliver our service?
- Do we share this information effectively?
- Do things improve things as a result?
Plans
- Where is our organisation now in terms of planning to improve the experience of care?
- What do we want to do this year to improve?
- How will we make human centred decisions?
Human Centred Health
I am in the process of developing a way for organisations to check whether you, and those you work in partnership with, have the right People, Processes and Plans in place to deliver human centred health. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved: sam@uberology.co.uk