1.Problem / Background

Failure to understand the differences and relationship between person-centredness, person-centred care and person-centred cultures can result in improvement initiatives that rely exclusively on measurement, hard evidence and tangible outcomes, and fail to take account of authentic patient and staff experiences of care. Developing this understanding therefore has

implications for improvement theory, research, education, policy, and practice.

2.Goals/Objective

To research, develop, pilot and deploy a user friendly model of Person-centred Lean Six Sigma (PCLSS), to guide practitioners in carrying out improvement initiatives, and facilitate positive patient and staff experiences of care, and improved patient outcomes.

3. Methodology

• A full systematic review of the relevant literature
• A realist review of the relevant literature
• A realist evaluation with a purposive sample of qualified Lean Six Sigma healthcare practitioners
• Testing of the developed model within acute hospital study sites
• Model refinement and wider deployment

4.Findings

Since development, the model  has been used and has been shown to be effective in designing and redesigning care pathways in single-study sites in public hospitals (Connolly et al., 2020; Teeling et al., 2020; 2021), private hospitals (Daly et al., 2021, 2022; Ward et al., 2022) and community health (Donegan et al., 2021) settings in Ireland, and more recently in a multi-site (n=10) hospital and community health context (Teeling, Keown et al., 2023) .

5.Key Learnings

The study has demonstrated that use of a PCCLSS model to guide improvement work facilitates better health for all, by promoting a deep understanding of the values, beliefs, habits and routines of staff supporting them in their improvement work, acknowledging the work they do, showing respect for them and their work, and not approaching improvement as a decontextualised toolkit.  This facilitates the delivery of excellent, quality patient care. Better health for all.