Achieving Person-Centred Health Systems: Evidence, Strategies and Challenges (2020)

Edited by Ellen Nolte, Sherry Merkur and Anders Anell
Published by Cambridge University Press
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
2020 xxiv + 398 pages
ISBN 978 1 108 79006 2
£34.99

The idea of person-centred health systems is widely advocated in political and policy declarations to better address health system challenges. A person-centred approach is advocated on political, ethical and instrumental grounds and believed to benefit service users, health professionals and the health system more broadly. However, there is continuing debate about the strategies that are available and effective to promote and implement ‘person-centred’ approaches.

This book brings together the world’s leading experts in the field to present the evidence base and analyse current challenges and issues. It examines ‘person-centredness’ from the different roles people take in health systems, as individual service users, care managers, taxpayers or active citizens. The evidence presented will not only provide invaluable policy advice to practitioners and policy-makers working on the design and implementation of person-centred health systems but will also be an excellent resource for academics and graduate students researching health systems in Europe.

Ellen Nolte is Professor of Health Services and Systems Research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Sherry Merkur is a Research Fellow and Health Policy Analyst at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, based at the LSE. Anders Anell is Professor at Lund University School of Economics and Management, chairman of the board at the Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis (Vårdanalys) and former general director of the Swedish Institute for Health Economics (IHE).