Nearly  all services would claim to be ‘client-centred’ but what does the term mean?

A major review of older people and how they are assessed by social workers stated that:

"Findings indicate that assessment is affected by the pressure on assessors to make quick decisions, sometimes resulting in inappropriate care plans. Assessors need to ensure that the older person's views remain central to assessment. By marginalizing older people's insights, risk of inappropriate intervention may increase.

A user-centred approach requires information gathering and service provision meaningful to the individual older person. Efforts to manage their situation and insights are often revealed in narrative form by older people and this information is often ignored during an agency-centred assessment. Staff supervision and listening skills training can address some of the current assessment difficulties.

Older people need intelligible information on the assessment process and care options to help them make decisions. Assessors need to clarify their role and identity. Attention should be paid to the older person's 'narrative' and 'understanding', rather than on standard information gathering alone. Assessment needs to be envisaged as an intervention in itself."

Part of the process of involving service-users in their care is informing them of what they can expect to receive. QuADS is very clear on this and includes a Charter on Service User Rights and  Responsibilities originally produced by SCODA (the predecessor of DrugScope. Click here to read it.

allowing clients to be individuals - not having to wear one face.