1.1 Care plans

Another vitally important part of working in a person-centred way is having an individualised care plan. Care plans are usually written by the qualified nurse with the patient, and tell you what daily care should be provided. Whether handwritten or electronic, they are live documents and should be updated by the nurse whenever anything changes. A care plan is likely to include:

• the patient’s relevant medical history
• how they want to be cared for
• the type of care they want
• their specific daily care needs
• what works well and doesn’t work well for their care
• improvements that can be made to their care.