DEFINING PEOPLE-CENTEREDNESS - MAKING THE IMPLICIT EXPLICIT

This payer examines the emerging concept of 'people-centredness' in re lation to health, care. It raises issues resulting from debates about consumerism within health care to set the parameters for the ensuing a nalysis. The particular context for the analysis is Welsh health care policy which proclaimed 'health gain', 'resource effectiveness' and 'p eople-centredness' as the three core objectives of the health service re-foe-us. Illustrations about the range of meanings of 'people-centre dness' are drawn from one of the author's (BW) studies in the field of community mental health. The analysis posits different relationships between 'health gain' and 'people-centredness' and considers the impli cations for a re-definition and re-working of ideas about people-centr edness in health services.