Client-Centred Care & Consumer Expectations

Client-centred care has moved from aspiration to expectation. People increasingly judge health services not only by clinical outcomes, but by how well systems respect individual needs, preferences and lived realities across the care journey.

Meeting those expectations demands more than better bedside interactions. It depends on how organisations design pathways, govern digital change, purchase servicesand technology, learn from harm and build the trust needed for patients, families and communities to participate as partners.

This issue examines how leadership, policy, quality systems and data rights can translate person-centred intent into consistent practice. The contributions span procurement and value-based decisions, responsible digital transformation and AI, person-centred service delivery, barriers to timely care, accreditation, privacy-by-design support tools, new health data rights and high-reliability patient and family involvement.

Susana Álvarez Gómez argues that professionalising public health procurement strengthens capability, improves tender clarity and supports more strategic, value-based purchasing underpinned by political leadership.

Maurício Alves highlights how health managers can lead responsible digital transformation with AI governance, safety and measurable value.

Alexander Amatus reviews how AI is being applied across drug discovery and development, from target identification and molecular design to trial optimisation, while stressing the need for high-quality data, rigorous validation and governance.

Logan Coccimiglio and Nikki Shaw report that person-centred care at Community Living Algoma improved autonomy, stability and staff wellbeing.

Célimène Galiger and Katy Stricia Nkolo present findings from an 2025 questionnaire survey of 515 participants in Gabon and the diaspora, examining barriers to early hospital consultation for cancer and suggested solutions.

Gilvane Lolato and Fábio Leite Gastal argue accreditation and QMS, strengthened by AI, can drive continuous learning and safer digital care. Miroslav Mađarić proposes brAIn, a privacy-by-design AI mental prosthesis using AR glasses for context-aware cognitive replacement.

Luc Nicolas explains how the European Health Data Space grants new digital health data rights and how xShare’s yellow button enables EEHRxF access, download and secure sharing.

Donna M. Prosser outlines how high-reliability principles can operationalise patient-centredness through structured patient and family involvement in safety signals, shared decisions and learning after harm.

I hope you find the perspectives practical, thought-provoking and useful for strengthening trust, quality and value in everyday care.

Happy reading!