Observations and monitoring are vital in
health and social care. An individual’s needs and preferences are not constant.
It fluctuates due to their health, wellbeing, interest and mood. Something they
liked entire their life, may not continue to like it. Even something they never liked
before, may show an interest to it. An individual may start life journey with
two legs but they may not have two legs or can use both legs at any point of
time of their life. For this reason, it is very important to monitor an
individual’s physical and mental health changes, as well as needs and
preferences, so that we can adapt with these changes and deliver care according
to their current needs.
An individual in our service provision may
develop other medical conditions which may interrupt their ability and
preferences. Due to constant unexpected changes to an individual’s life, level
of support fluctuates. An individual may need more or less support as part of
their care, because of these changes, which affect their ability and
preferences. We should also be vigilant that all of our practices are meeting
their changing needs and preferences. Therefore, we must have to monitor an
individual’s changing needs and preferences to determine level of support, and to
provide support maintaining person centred values and their current needs. If we do not monitor an individual's needs or preferences then we will be unaware of individual's current needs and can cause harm.
