Fiducia TogetherPerson-centred care
Care organised around the individual's own needs, wishes and choices.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
Person-centred care puts the person, not the condition or the service, at the centre of decisions — their preferences, routines, culture, relationships and goals.
Where it applies
GCSE and BTEC health and social care, and it is the standard the Care Quality Commission inspects against.
How it works
In practice it means asking rather than assuming, offering genuine choice, and building the plan around what a good day looks like for that person.
It is contrasted with task-centred care, where the service's routine comes first.
How to use it in your work
Use specific examples from a scenario rather than defining the term.
For evaluation questions, note the tension: person-centred care takes time, and staffing levels constrain it. Naming that constraint is a mature point.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification — these qualifications vary more between boards than the traditional GCSEs do, and much of the grade is coursework marked against stated criteria.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Health and Social Care Song The health and social care topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.