Three Signs Your Organisation Is Not as Person-Centred as You Think

In health and social care, we often talk about being person-centred but how often do we stop and ask if our organisational culture truly lives up to that value?

Many organisations I have worked with genuinely care about people but still find themselves operating in systems that unintentionally silence lived experience, prioritise efficiency over empathy, or leave staff feeling unseen. These are not moral failings, they are structural signals and unless they are recognised, this could risk building services for people rather than with them.

Here are three subtle signs your organisation may not be as person-centred as it believes and what to do about it.

1. When Staff Feel Overworked and Undervalued

Person-centred care starts with a workforce that feels valued, supported, and heard. If your staff are exhausted, turnover is high, or professional development feels out of reach, it’s a warning sign. When people are running on empty, empathy is the first thing to go. This is not because they don’t care, but because they are surviving, not thriving.

🟢 Ask yourself: Do we regularly check in on our staff’s wellbeing beyond supervision? Do they feel safe to speak up?

🟢Small shift, but big impact: Make wellbeing conversations part of your organisational DNA and not a one-off initiative.

Remember: "A person-centred organisation values its workforce as much as its service users".

2. When Service Users Have Little or No Voice

True person-centred care means recognising people as experts by their lived experience. “If lived experience isn’t shaping decisions, then we are not co-producing care; we are simply delivering it.”

This is not saying that delivering care is bad. It is drawing a distinction between two levels of practice:

Delivering care: implies providing a service to someone (a one-way process)

Co-producing care: implies creating or shaping the service with someone (a two-way partnership).

Care delivery without co-production risks being transactional rather than transformational. It does not devalue care delivery, it’s a reminder that true person-centredness comes from partnership, not just provision.

So, feedback forms alone aren’t enough, what matters is how organisations act on what they hear.

🟢 Ask yourself: Are care plans co-produced or simply signed off? How visibly do we show that user feedback drives change?

🟢Action step: Establish lived experience advisory groups that have real influence over policy, teaching, and service design.

When service users can see their fingerprints on the changes you make, trust and impact grow.

3. When Efficiency Trumps Empathy

Metrics, targets, and audits matter. But when “how fast” eclipses “how well,” compassion gets crowded out. Policies designed for consistency can sometimes become barriers to care. When staff are racing against time, the human connection that defines quality care begins to fade.

🟢 Ask yourself: Do our performance measures reflect compassion, or only numbers?

🟢 Action step: Review Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and embed measures of empathy, listening, and user experience.

Sustainable excellence in care is not about doing more; it is about doing what matters most.

Re-centering What Matters

Creating a truly person-centred organisation is a culture commitment. It means listening deeply, learning openly, and leading with humanity. It means making room for reflection, conversation, and growth  - for both staff and the people they serve.

If you recognise even one of these signs in your team, start the conversation. Use this as a mirror, not a microscope. Every step toward empathy, inclusion, and lived experience leadership strengthens not just services but the core of care itself.

“Person-centred care begins with person-centred leadership.”

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Creating a person-centred culture starts with awareness and that’s exactly what my upcoming free toolkit – “Three Signs Your Organisation Is Not Person-Centred,” is built to support.

This is a free toolkit, filled with reflection prompts and practical action steps for leaders and teams. It’s coming soon – end of this month!

If you would like a copy, stay tuned!