Person-centred organisations

Jo Ellins
 Scene setting
 A shift in focus in recent years –
from the interactional and
behavioural, to the organisational
and cultural dimensions of
person-centredness
 Growing recognition of
organisational barriers and
enablers (e.g. Hower et al 2019 –
diagram on right)
 Increasing focus on organisational
strategies for implementing
person-centred care
 Staff engagement and quality of care
Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between staff
engagement and other aspects of staff experience, and:
 Higher quality of care (e.g. higher Care Quality Commission ratings)
 Safer care (e.g. lower C.diff rates)
 Better use of organisational resources
 Lower staff turnover and rates of sickness absences (therefore more stable
workforce, reduced use of agency staff etc)
 Lower patient mortality rates
 Better patient experience and larger proportion of patients reporting that
they were treated with dignity and respect

Key sources: Kings Fund 2014; NHS England 2018; West and Dawson 2012;
Work Foundation 2018
HR practices underpin staff
engagement
Well-structured appraisals

Well-structured team environment

Supportive line management

Training, learning and development

opportunities

Meaningful approaches to promoting employee

health and wellbeing
Emotional labour
 Some jobs involve high levels of
‘emotion work’, especially those
involving intensive contact with
people and where certain emotional
responses are expected/required in
order to perform the role effectively
 Emotional labour refers to the effort
involved in managing, regulating
and/or suppressing feelings
 This work is often invisible and
unrewarded
A smile
doesn’t cost
anything….
Impact of emotional labour on
healthcare workers
 Emotional dissonance: conflict between emotions felt and
those required to conform to role expectations

 In recent years, ‘defence mechanisms’ against emotional

burnout have been eroded (e.g. nurse handovers are shorter,
often at the patient bedside) (Sawbridge and Hewison, 2013)

 Studies have found associations between higher levels of

emotional labour and emotional exhaustion, general fatigue,
job dissatisfaction and burnout (e.g. Pandey and Singh 2016)
“A person-centred
organisation has people
at its heart – both the
people it serves and the
people it employs.”
Sanderson and Lepkowsky (2012)
 Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

1. Visionary leadership:
clear vision and
mission, with leaders
who motivate, inspire
and ensure everything
is aligned to them

Sanderson and Stirk ‘Creating Person-Centred Organisations’ (2012)

Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

2. Shared values and

beliefs: everyone
shares, can articulate
and demonstrate the
person-centred values
of the organisation
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

3. Outcomes for
individuals:
everything is oriented
to achieving the
outcomes that people
being supported want
in their lives
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

4. Community focus:
both the people
supported and the
organisation contribute
to and feel part of their
local community
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

5. Empowered and
valued staff: staff are
appreciated, valued
and listened to; people
are respected, trusted
and accountable
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

6. Individual and
organisational
learning: learning takes
place at all levels and
learning from people
supported directly
influences staff, team
and organisational
development
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

7. Working together:
people supported co-
design what they want
their services to look
like, and decision
making is as close to
them as possible
Eight characteristics of person-
centred organisations

8. Person-centred
practices embedded
throughout the
organisation: person-
centred practices are
the way things get
done, they are part of
the DNA of the
organisation
In pairs…
Thinking either about your current organisation or one
you have worked at before, which of the eight
characteristics does the organisation most strongly
possess, and which are most in need of improvement?