Demands on healthcare systems are increasingly complex and diverse. Consumerism, multiculturalism and regulation challenge practitioners and policymakers. This has led to urgent debate about the value and purpose of healthcare as people seek to make serious, well-thought through decisions. This book helps readers to make rational decisions about healthcare provision in the context of complex and diverse values. It offers no easy solutions, instead presenting a range of perspectives and arguments on values-based practice, an increasingly influential approach to managing...

This book sets out a philosophical basis for person-centred healthcare, primarily using work by Heidegger and Gadamer, but drawing on ideas derived from Aristotle and process philosophy, in order to show how practice can be improved and how examples of person-centred practice can be transferred between individuals and institutions involved in the commissioning and provision of healthcare. By providing an underlying architectonic, this work will help to enable practitioners to understand the benefits of person-centred healthcare practice in promoting autonomy in those who are suffering from...