Good planning is a complicated business. But no matter how many tools health professionals have at their disposal all planning activity should place the person at the centre. Anne Kingdon continues our series on person centred planning by discussing its guiding principles

The Valuing People White Paper (DoH 2001) emphasised that people with learning disabilities should have more power and control over what happens in their lives. Person centred planning (PCP) is recommended as the main means of planning with people with learning disabilities and all services should adopt a person centred approach.