Person-centred services? Rhetoric versus reality
Catherine Joycecohealth, 365 Hoddle Street, Collingwood, Vic. 3066, Australia and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Level 6, Alfred Centre, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia. Email: catherine.joyce@cohealth.org.au
Australian Journal of Primary Health 23(1) 10-14 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY15035
Submitted: 26 February 2015 Accepted: 27 July 2015 Published: 9 September 2015
Abstract
National and jurisdictional governments are increasingly using commissioning in health and community services. This includes the devolution of functions such as service planning, resource allocation, and regionalised approaches to intake and service delivery, to non-government organisations. The aims of this paper are to reflect on the experiences of commissioning as a not-for-profit health provider, and to identify some important early lessons. This analysis highlights the importance of a rights-based approach in which consumers, carers and communities actively participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of service systems, not just individual service needs; and that pays special attention to the most disadvantaged and the most vulnerable. The mechanisms and approaches used by cohealth to implement these principles are described. Service users need to be supported to develop advocacy capacity individually and collectively, in order to make informed choices about their own service needs and about the system more broadly, to ensure accessible and appropriate services.
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