Progress in the conceptual understanding of person-centered health and social care. ‘Person Centered Care: Advanced Philosophical Perspectives’. Loughlin, M. & Miles, A. (Eds). 2020. London: Aesculapius Medical Press.

Abstract

In this issue of the Journal, we begin the serialisation of a seminal new text which has significantly advanced current understandings of the conceptual basis of person-centered care (PCC) [1]. The volume, edited by Michael Loughlin and Andrew Miles, brings together 42 distinguished scholars, writing over the course of 28 chapters, divided into 6 definitive sections, spanning some 420 pages of text. Each of the chapters has distinct merit and, when studied collectively, the scale of their contribution to current thinking in the field becomes quickly apparent. The volume is scheduled for production towards the end of the current year and will be published by Aesculapius Medical Press (AMP), the publishing Imprint of the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare (ESPCH). A detailed overview of the volume has been provided by Loughlin, the lead co-editor of the book [2]. Loughlin’s paper [2] is a model of clarity, providing admirable insight into the content of the individual chapters, placing each of them within the context of the ongoing debate. As Loughlin [2] rightly notes, “the ideas and terminology of person-centred care ... have been part of health discourse for a very long time ... (and) ... arguments that in healthcare one treats the whole person, not her/his component parts, date back at least to antiquity” (italicisation mine). He emphasises that “... it is only in recent years that we have seen a growing consensus in health policy and practice literature that PCC, and associated ideas including patient expertise, co-production and shared decision-making, are not simply fine ideals or ethical add-ons to sound scientific clinical practice, but rather they represent indispensable components of any genuinely integrated, realistic and conceptually sound account of healthcare practice” (italicisations mine). These observations, indeed truisms, explain the rationale which underpinned the creation of the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare, and which continue to direct its mission.