Question: How important is the job you do.

Amber Cronin answered on 9 Nov 2019: last edited 9 Nov 2019 10:22 pm

So important! We are moving into a new era of healthcare, where care is now “person-focused”.
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Person-focused care makes sure the patient has control and choice in any health decisions that are made, so their treatments are personalised for them. Doctors will listen to their patients and suggest treatments that the patient will most likely follow.
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Before now, we had care that was called “doctor-led”- this meant doctors would tell a patient what was wrong with them and how to treat it, without taking into consideration what the patient thought or how it might affect their lifestyle. People would struggle to follow the advice of doctor-led care, because it wasn’t always suitable for them as an individual.
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Here’s a great example of why person-focused care is so much better than doctor-led:
Jerry is 38 years old, and he’s smoked since he was 18. Jerry’s noticed he doesn’t feel as healthy as he used to, so he goes to the doctor. Doctor Pepper tells Jerry:
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“No wonder you’re feeling unhealthy, you smoke 5 packs of cigarettes a day! You really need to stop that. You know smoking is bad for you. If you stop smoking, you’ll feel much better.”
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Jerry agrees. He really should stop. But when Jerry gets back home, his craving to smoke comes back. He tries to distract himself all day. By 8pm, he smells a waft of cigarette smoke coming from his brother in the garden, and can’t cope any more. He goes and smokes.
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Determined to stop smoking, Jerry goes to a different doctor, Doctor Tom. Doctor Tom is different to Doctor Pepper, because he uses a person-focused approach. When Jerry says he wants to stop smoking, Doctor Tom asks him:
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“What are the challenges you face when trying to stop smoking? What times of the day do you smoke? Do your family smoke? Why do you like smoking?”
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By asking Jerry all these questions, he can figure out what treatment plan would work best for him. Jerry’s brother smokes which encourages him to smoke too, so Jerry decides to join a stop smoking group so he can make new friends who will support him to stop. Doctor Tom found out Jerry smokes when he’s stressed during the day, so he instructed him to go for a walk every time he feels stressed to help him cope with it healthily instead of relying on cigarettes. Thanks to Doctor Tom creating a treatment plan that revolves around Jerry’s lifestyle and barriers, he managed to help Jerry stop smoking.
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My work supports having “person-focused care” in the NHS and other health services by listening to what people want and pushing this information out to the public and politicians to make sure we can improve how things are for the public. It’s important that people are treated as an individual. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to healthcare – we’re all different!

(P.S. Shout out to anyone who got the Tom & Jerry reference!!)