Enabling innovation and sustainable improvement in person-centred healthcare during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic – a reflective account

Abstract

Background: Covid -19 placed new limitations and challenges on how healthcare could be provided. To pursue person-centred care during the initial and subsequent waves of the virus, organisations needed to find quick solutions to ethically challenging clinical scenarios. Aim: This critical reflection aims to describe how practice developers, quality improvement advisors and practitioners worked together in a large healthcare provider in the North-East of Scotland. We combined the theoretical principles of person-centredness, service design, complexity and organisational learning to develop, enable and implement innovative solutions to providing person-centred care. Conclusion: Working collaboratively with colleagues, we co-designed changes to treatment escalation planning, end-of-life care and hospital visiting. We found that improvement approaches need to focus not only on processes but also on the experience of patients and staff. This balanced approach had a synergistic effect on improving effectiveness and moderating moral distress. Implications for practice: It is only possible for healthcare organisations to truly act on the needs of those using services when person-centred approaches are built into operational planning and performance management, alongside learning networks that foster innovation