Discussions start for the rolling out of Personal Health Care budgets

Care and Support minister Norman Lamb has announced plans surrounding personal health budgets which could benefit more people than ever.

Personal Health budgets help people to have more control over the treatment they receive, allowing them to work with clinicians to decide how money for their care is best spent to most benefit their own health.

An eight week consultation will gather views on how personal health budgets should be rolled out throughout the country. At the moment only people approved as part of the pilot scheme are able to benefit, but the consultation will consider exactly who could be entitled to apply for direct payments for health needs.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said: “Personal health budgets give people the freedom to plan their own care in a way that works best for them. They cover many complex conditions. A person with rheumatoid arthritis for example, could employ a carer on a flexible basis, allowing them to call on them for immediate care if they have a severe flare up. The help would keep them out of hospital, giving them a better quality of life.

“We made a commitment to personal health budgets in the Coalition Agreement, and this is the next step to making them a reality for thousands of patients.”

Other issues surrounding the budgets will be explored such as the services that should be excluded and whether family and friends can be paid for managing large or complex payments.

Norman Lamb said: “We want patients to be fully involved in their care, allowing them to make decisions with their clinicians to improve the quality of their life. Personal health budgets help people to think outside the box in terms of treatment and how their health can be improved.

The NHS Mandate, which sets out what the Government expects the NHS to deliver, included the ambitious objective for the Commissioning Board to make sure that personal health budgets are offered to anyone that could benefit from them.

The success of personal health budgets were described in an independent evaluation of the pilot last year which found that they were cost effective, improved the person’s quality of life and decreased the amount of times a person was admitted into hospital.

Mr Lamb continued: “This is the next step in our programme to roll out these budgets to eligible people. I would encourage everyone to have their say on how this will work.”