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Personal Health Budgets and Personal Budgets

For information about social care Personal Budgets please scroll down.

Personal Health Budgets

The Background:

Personal health budgets were introduced in 2009, with 76 Primary Care Trusts throughout England undertaking pilots for three years, to establish which areas of healthcare would benefit from people being able to access and use personal health budgets.

Each Primary Care Trust chose an area of healthcare to pilot personal health budgets with, including but not limited to:

  • NHS funded Continuing Healthcare
  • Mental Health services
  • Long term conditions, such as Diabetes and MS
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Maternity Services
  • End of life care

A new way of working in the NHS

Personal health budgets give you the opportunity to have greater choice and control over the care and support that you need.

It is about sharing power and responsibility and ultimately involves you more in the decision-making process.

You are the expert in how your health condition or impairment affects you and the impact this has on your life.

Clinicians, such as doctors, nurses or therapists undertake years of training and work experience to develop their medical knowledge and understanding of health conditions and impairments.

Sharing your own experience of living with a health condition or impairment and the impact it has on you with a clinician who has medical knowledge about your health condition or impairment is the best way to develop support that works for you.

Personal health budgets enable you to explain what care or support you feel would be best for you and involves you in the decision making process.

The Principles of Personal Health Budgets

In 2009, the Department of Health issued the following principles that must underlie personal health budgets:

  • Uphold the values of the NHS
  • Be free at the point of delivery and not depend on ability to pay
  • Support safeguarding and quality
  • Be voluntary
  • Decisions should be made as close to the person as possible
  • Support partnership working

The future for Personal Health Budgets

The right to have a personal health budget applies to people who are:

  • adults receiving NHS continuing healthcare (NHS-funded long-term health and personal care provided outside hospital)
  • children receiving NHS continuing healthcare
  • people who are referred and meet the eligibility criteria of their local wheelchair service and people who are already registered with the wheelchair service when they need a new wheelchair or specialist buggy, either because of a change in clinical needs or the condition of the current chair. These people will be eligible for a personal wheelchair budget.
  • people with mental health problems who are eligible for section 117 after-care as a result of being detained under certain sections of the Mental Health Act (this does not include detention under section 2 of the Act).

Is a personal health budget right for you?

You can read more about personal health budgets in our Personal Health Budgets Frequently Asked Questions section.

You can also contact us if you would like to get in touch with us.

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