2.3 Outline how government and non-government organisations collaborate to provide person-centred healthcare
About the dot point
Person-centred healthcare is an approach that places the individual at the centre of planning and delivering care. It recognises that health outcomes are shaped by a person’s needs, values, preferences, and life context, not only by a diagnosis. In practice, person-centred care relies on respect and dignity, clear communication, and coordinated support that responds to what matters most to the person.
How to approach it
The directive verb in this dot point is outline. This means you need to give the big picture and identify the main features of how government and non-government organisations work together to support person-centred healthcare, without going into too much detail. Focus on the key ways collaboration is organised and how these partnerships improve access, continuity, and coordination for the person.
1. Person Centred healthcare
1.1 What does person centred mean?
Person-centred healthcare means the person is treated as a whole individual and an active partner in their care. Services are planned and delivered around their needs, values, preferences, and life context, not just their diagnosis.
Person-centred care is guided by several consistent principles:
- Respect and dignity means care is culturally safe, non-judgemental, and recognises the person as an individual first.
- Partnership and shared decision-making mean the person is supported to understand options and participate meaningfully in decisions about their care.
- Individualised and flexible care means services adapt to what is realistic and meaningful for the person, including preferences for setting, timing, and support people.
- Holistic care means care considers physical health alongside mental health, relationships, culture, education, work, and other influences on wellbeing.
- Clear communication and coordination mean relevant information is shared with consent, duplication is reduced, and continuity is prioritised as the person moves between services.
Person-centred care can also involve carers, families, and other support people where this reflects the person’s wishes. This helps care planning better match the person’s circumstances and support needs.
1.2 Holistic and inclusive care
Person-centred healthcare is strongest when it is both holistic and inclusive.
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Holistic |
A holistic approach recognises that health outcomes are shaped by more than symptoms and treatments alone. It considers physical, mental, social, and emotional needs, and takes into account the realities of daily life, especially for people living with chronic illness, disability, or complex needs. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander understandings of health are strongly holistic and commonly emphasise social and emotional wellbeing, connection to family and community, and connection to Country. This helps explain why community-controlled models of care can be central to effective person-centred practice. |
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Inclusive |
An inclusive approach makes sure services are easy to access and work well for everyone. This means changing how services communicate and are set up. For example, services may use interpreters and translated materials, provide Auslan support when needed, use simple and clear language for people with lower health literacy, and make adjustments for people with disability, such as accessible rooms, calm spaces, or allowing a support person to attend with consent. Inclusivity also requires cultural safety, where care builds trust and reduces harm caused by discrimination, stereotyping, or earlier negative experiences with health services. |
2. Collaboration between government and non-government organisations
2.1 What each partner contributes
Collaboration is essential to person-centred care because no single organisation can meet every need across prevention, treatment, recovery, and ongoing support.
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Government organisations |
Government organisations provide the main structure of the health system through funding, policy, regulation, and direct service delivery. This includes national funding programs such as Medicare and the PBS, state and territory public hospital systems, Local Health Districts, and public community health services. Government also sets standards for safe, high-quality care through frameworks that support person-centred practice and require services to work in partnership with consumers. |
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Local Health District (LHD) |
A Local Health District (LHD) is a state-based public health organisation responsible for planning and delivering public hospital and community health services across a defined geographic area. This supports more locally responsive, person-centred service planning. |
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Non-government organisations (NGOs) |
Non-government organisations (NGOs) strengthen person-centred care by offering community-based, specialised, and more flexible support. NGOs include charities, community services, consumer organisations, and community-controlled services. They often provide support alongside clinical care, such as counselling, peer support, education, advocacy, outreach, and practical assistance like transport, family programs, or links to housing and community services. NGOs often reach people who are less likely to use mainstream services because of stigma, location, cost, or distrust, which makes them important for equitable access. |
Collaboration also helps fill gaps in care, especially when a person needs practical, emotional, or social support alongside medical treatment. NGOs can also help governments identify service gaps and emerging community needs through advocacy, community knowledge, and feedback from the people they support.
2.2 How collaboration is organised
Government and NGOs collaborate through both formal agreements and day-to-day coordination. These arrangements aim to create clear pathways, reduce duplication, and improve continuity across settings such as hospital, community care, and home.
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Collaboration mechanism |
What it looks like in practice |
How it supports person-centred care |
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Commissioning and contracting |
Governments fund NGOs to run services such as counselling, outreach, carer support, or chronic disease programmes. |
Extends support beyond clinical treatment and helps meet a wider range of individual needs. |
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Partnership agreements |
Services agree on roles, responsibilities, referral processes, and communication procedures. |
Reduces confusion between providers and improves coordination for the person. |
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Regional planning and joint commissioning |
PHNs and state health services identify local needs, service gaps, and priority groups, then plan services together. |
Makes services more responsive to the needs of local communities and individuals within them. |
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Coordinated referral systems |
A person is referred directly from one service to another through warm handovers and clear pathways. |
Makes transitions smoother and reduces the burden on the person to navigate the system alone. |
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Multidisciplinary teams and co-located services |
Doctors, nurses, allied health workers, and NGO staff work together in one team or location. |
Supports more holistic care by addressing medical, social, and emotional needs together. |
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Information sharing systems |
With consent, providers share relevant notes, updates, or care plans across services. |
Improves continuity of care and reduces duplication or conflicting advice. |
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Consumer participation structures |
Consumers contribute through advisory groups, committees, or service feedback processes. |
Helps services reflect what people actually need, value, and experience. |
Together, these mechanisms combine government capacity and system coordination with NGO community connection and responsiveness. This reduces fragmentation and supports care that aligns more closely with what matters to the person.
2.3 How collaboration stays person-centred in practice
Collaboration is person-centred when it protects the person’s voice and reduces the burden of navigating the system.
A common approach is a shared care plan, where key providers agree on one set of goals, roles, and follow-up steps. Person-centred shared care plans include the person’s own priorities, not only clinical targets. They also identify who coordinates care, who the main contact person is, and how updates will be communicated.
For instance, a government health service may provide diagnosis, treatment, or ongoing clinical care, while a non-government organisation supports the same person with counselling, family support, transport, housing referrals, or health education. This helps care address both medical needs and the broader factors affecting the person’s wellbeing.
Person-centred collaboration also depends on:
- consent and privacy, so information sharing supports care without undermining trust
- cultural safety and inclusion, so services adapt to identity, language, disability, and family context
- continuity, so transitions between hospital, community services, and home are planned and supported
- practical access, such as flexible appointment times, telehealth options, transport support, and clear, usable health information.
When these features are present, collaboration feels like one coordinated team around the person rather than separate services the person must manage alone. By reducing fragmentation and improving continuity, collaboration can strengthen safety, quality, and the person’s experience of care.
Brief Summary
About the dot point and how to approach it
- Person-centred healthcare places the individual at the centre of planning and delivering care, supported through coordinated partnerships.
- Directive verb is outline: Give the big picture and identify the main features of how government and non-government organisations work together to support person-centred healthcare, without going into too much detail.
- Focus on the key ways collaboration is organised and how partnerships improve access, continuity, and coordination for the person.
1. Person Centred healthcare
- Person-centred healthcare treats the person as a whole and an active partner, guided by respect and dignity, partnership and shared decision-making, individualised and flexible care, holistic care, and clear communication and coordination.
- Person-centred care is strongest when it is holistic and inclusive, including cultural safety and access supports such as interpreters, adjustments for disability, and clear communication.
2. Collaboration between government and non-government organisations
- Government organisations provide funding, policy, regulation, and public service delivery, while non-government organisations (NGOs) provide flexible community-based support and improve equitable access.
- Collaboration is organised through commissioning and contracting, partnership agreements, regional planning and joint commissioning, coordinated referral systems, multidisciplinary teams and co-located services, information sharing systems, and consumer participation structures.
- Person-centred collaboration uses shared care plans, with consent and privacy, cultural safety and inclusion, continuity, and practical access to reduce fragmentation.