Recovery has become the main focus point within Mental Health Nursing. For someone to recover is not the same as someone rehabilitating themselves. Having a mental health problem means that there is no way of going back to the way things were before the difficulties started, but it is important to remember that a mental health illness is not the end of someone’s life (Norman & Ryrie, 2004). According to Anthony (1993) recovery is personal to the service user and is a process that is unique and different to them which changes attitudes and values. Recovery principles underpin all forms of care that professionals working in mental health care provide. They are as follows; individual uniqueness; real choices; attitudes and rights; dignity and respect; and respectful partnerships.

The main part of this assignment is to critique a care plan by focusing on the interventions it contains and whether they relate to and match the service user’s current situation and needs. It will also be decided as to whether the care plan promotes recovery. Care plans are part of the nursing process and are formed after assessment. After assessment, goals are created for the service user and with these goals nursing interventions are included in order for the goals to be achieved. Care plans maintain continuity of care for the service user and provide information for all members of the multi-disciplinary team (Varcarolis, 2004).

For placement, I was located in an Inpatient Unit. It was a 17 bedded unit with a mixture of male and female service users. Both nurses and health care assistants work in the unit to provide high standards of care for the service users. Many of the service users are continuing care and a few are currently under assessment. The service user whose care plan I am critiquing is an 89 year old female. I have changed the name of the service user to abide by confidentiality and to maintain their dignity and respect. Every nurse has a duty of confidentiality to service users which requires that no information which can identify them is disclosed. This gives the service user professional confidence in nurses (Norman & Ryrie, 2004). For the purposes of the assignment I am going to give the service user a —pseudonym of Sandra. Sandra has a diagnosis of Dementia in Alzheimer’s disease late onset and she is currently residing in the inpatient unit which specialises in mental health for older people.

Currently there is a limited amount of empirical studies examining the use of the recovery approach within dementia care. However, many believe that the recovery approach can be beneficial and can relate to dementia reference?. Most nurses and health care professionals who care for dementia patients use a person-centred approach. Person-centred care helps a person diagnosed with dementia to uphold and reinforce their sense of self as much as possible (Miller, 2012). Adams (2010) argue that an increase in the adoption of the recovery approach to service users who have a diagnosis of dementia would establish up-to-date interventions that encourage well-being and perhaps maintain people with a diagnosis of dementia in community settings.

The care plan was formulated by Sandra’s named nurse using her professional judgement. Many would feel that service users should be involved in creating their care plan, no matter what their circumstances are. In order for care plans to be holistic and relate completely to the service user they themselves should have an input. According to Anthony & Crawford (2000) service user involvement means that the care provided is collaborative which therefore incorporates itself within the recovery concept. With the named nurse failing to involve Sandra in creating the care plan she is not following the recovery principle of empowerment. However, involving a service user who has a diagnosis of dementia may prove difficult . The impairment in mental capacity that can be caused by dementia can make people