title: Person-centred care: rhetoric and reality in a public healthcare system.
abstract: Recent scandals in the NHS have undermined confidence in this institution. A key factor in substandard care is the competing demands on practitioners. Individualised care may be hindered by paternalism and collective organisation, while practitioners are expected to pursue evidence-based practice and person-centred care without acknowledging their differing goals. Drawing on a common theme from major philosophical conflicts in health services, this paper argues that instead of increasing managerial control, organisations should be empowering nurses to provide compassionate, person-centred care.
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Programme Leader for Postgraduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing at Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, Kings College London.
authors.forename: Niall
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: McCrae
mesh_terms: D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D026706:Paternalism; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D017150:Public Sector; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom