Person-centred rhetoric in chronic care: a review of health policies

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to explore how the national, state and organisational health policies in Australia support the implementation of person-centred care in managing chronic care conditions. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative content analysis was performed regarding the national, state and organisational Queensland Health policies using Elo and Kyngas' (2008) framework. Findings Although the person-centred care as an approach is well articulated in health policies, there is still no definitive measure or approach to embedding it into operational services. Complex funding structures and competing priorities of the governments and the health organisations carry the risk that person-centred care as an approach gets lost in translation. Three themes emerged: the patient versus the government; health care delivery versus the political agenda; and health care organisational processes versus the patient. Originality/value Given the introduction of the nurse navigator program to take up a person-centred care approach, the review of the recent policies was undertaken to understand how they support this initiative.