Person-Centred Values
What Are Person-Centred Values?
Person-centred values are the nine principles that underpin high-quality care across all health and social care settings. They shift the focus from what is convenient for the service or the practitioner to what is best for the individual service user. Every practitioner — whether a dental nurse, a domiciliary carer or a youth worker at a community centre — is expected to apply these values consistently in their day-to-day practice.
It is important to distinguish person-centred values from the five rights covered in Topic Area 1. Rights are entitlements that service users have by virtue of being in a care setting. Person-centred values are principles that practitioners apply when delivering care. A service user’s right to choice is an entitlement; the practitioner’s application of the value of “encouraging decision making” is how that right is honoured in practice.
The Nine Person-Centred Values
1. Individuality
Individuality means treating each service user as a unique person rather than “a patient” or “a resident”. At Hillcroft Residential Home, a new resident, 79-year-old Mrs Chambers, is a retired music teacher who has always started her day with classical music. A practitioner applying the value of individuality ensures Mrs Chambers’ preferences are recorded and respected from her first day — she is not expected to conform to a generic routine.
2. Choice
The value of choice requires practitioners to actively provide options and ensure service users are able to select what suits them. A dentist applying this value explains treatment options clearly — including the risks and benefits of each — and invites the patient to decide. Choice is not only about major medical decisions; it extends to everyday matters such as meal preferences, appointment times and preferred forms of address.
3. Rights
The value of rights in Topic Area 2 means practitioners actively uphold all five of the rights covered in Topic Area 1 — choice, confidentiality, consultation, equal and fair treatment, and protection from abuse and harm. Applying this value means not just being aware of rights in the abstract but taking practical steps to ensure they are met in every interaction with every service user.
4. Independence
Independence as a value means practitioners resist the temptation to “take over” and instead support service users to do as much for themselves as they are able. In a day centre for adults with physical disabilities, a support worker applying independence might encourage a service user to make their own cup of tea using adapted equipment, rather than making it for them. This maintains both physical capability and self-esteem.
5. Privacy
The value of privacy goes beyond keeping medical records secure. It includes physical privacy during examinations and personal care, not discussing a service user’s condition within earshot of others and ensuring that doors are closed and curtains are drawn during intimate care. A community nurse visiting an elderly man at home closes the living room door before discussing his medication, even if he lives alone — the habit of privacy protects dignity.
6. Dignity
Dignity means treating every service user as a person of worth, in a way that does not humiliate, shame or patronise. This is particularly important during personal care — a carer assisting an 80-year-old man with bathing must use a calm, professional manner and ensure the service user feels respected throughout. Speaking to an older adult in a babyish tone (sometimes called “elderspeak”) is a failure to apply the value of dignity.
7. Respect
Respect involves recognising and honouring each service user’s background, beliefs, culture and preferences without judgement. A GP surgery receptionist applies respect by using the patient’s preferred name and pronoun, not making comments about lifestyle choices and ensuring communication materials are available in formats that are accessible to all. Respect is closely linked to dignity but is broader — it encompasses the service user’s full identity, not just their experience of direct care.
The nine person-centred values are: individuality, choice, rights, independence, privacy, dignity, respect, partnership, and encouraging decision making. Remember them using the phrase I C R I P D R P E (Individuals Choose Rights, Inspiring Personal Dignity, Respecting Partnerships Equally).
8. Partnership
Partnership means care is not done to a service user but with them. A social worker applying the value of partnership convenes a multi-professional review meeting that includes the service user, their family carer and representatives from health, housing and social care — ensuring that planning draws on all perspectives. Partnership also extends to working with colleagues and other agencies: a GP who communicates effectively with a hospital consultant and a physiotherapist is practising partnership across professional boundaries.
9. Encouraging Decision Making
The value of encouraging decision making goes beyond simply offering choices — it means actively building a service user’s confidence and capacity to make their own decisions. This is particularly relevant for service users who may have had little control in their lives: a young person in a residential children’s home, an adult with a learning disability or an older person with early dementia. A key worker applying this value provides clear information, asks open questions (“What would you like to happen?”), and celebrates the service user’s decisions rather than second-guessing them.
The values of independence, choice and encouraging decision making form a cluster: independence means supporting the service user to do things themselves; choice means providing options; and encouraging decision making means building the confidence to use those options. Together they produce empowerment — the key wellbeing benefit from Topic Area 1.
Students regularly mix up person-centred values and the 6Cs. They are listed as separate bullets in the specification under section 2.1. The nine person-centred values (individuality, choice, rights, independence, privacy, dignity, respect, partnership, encouraging decision making) are the principles of what good care looks like from the service user’s point of view. The 6Cs (Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage, Commitment) are the qualities of the practitioner that enable them to deliver those values. A practitioner’s quality of compassion is what enables them to uphold the value of dignity; a practitioner’s quality of courage is what enables them to uphold the value of rights when it is difficult. They are related but they are not synonyms — and an exam answer that treats them as the same thing will not access the higher marks.
Nadia is a domiciliary carer visiting Mr Collins, a 74-year-old man with type 2 diabetes who lives alone. During a 45-minute visit, Nadia applies multiple person-centred values simultaneously. She knocks before entering and asks how he would like to be addressed (respect, individuality). She explains his medication options and asks which he prefers to take first (choice, encouraging decision making). She closes the door before assisting with his personal care (privacy, dignity). She encourages him to prepare his own breakfast while she watches in case support is needed (independence). She reviews his care plan with him and notes his preference for morning visits (partnership). Values are not applied in isolation — they weave through every interaction.