In light of knowledge that the overall wellbeing of older people is often adversely affected by experiencing the hospital environment, we argue there is a need to increasingly apply person‑centred perspectives in acute hospitals. Person‑centred care has emerged as a contemporary gold‑standard model receiving much attention within sub‑acute and residential aged care for older people (McCormack 2004; Kitwood 1997). Person‑centred care was developed as a response to the bio‑medical view of disease which was said to downgrade the person to being merely a carrier of disease or a malfunctioning organ (McCormack 2004). Even though the concept person‑centred care lacks a clear consensus definition, it is generally described as collecting and using personal information in care, taking a bio‑psychosocial perspective and seeing the patient as a person . Furthermore, offering and respecting patient choices, using the person’s past life and history in care, and focusing on what the person can do rather than the abilities that have been lost due to the disease is central to a person‑centred care approach . However, the concept has been criticised for being a political slogan or evangelical ideal (Packer 2000), often quoted but ill‑defined and used synonymously with good quality care even though this remains to be supported by evidence.