Personal health budgets (PHBs) aim to personalize public services by allowing individuals to have more control over their health care, helping them to meet their specific health goals. The pilot program, involving over 2,700 participants, demonstrated various benefits and provided insights into effective implementation, while challenges regarding public perception and communication remain. The UK government plans a national rollout of PHBs and has allocated funding to support this initiative, focusing on collaborative care planning between healthcare professionals and individuals.

1. What do you need to know
about personal health
budgets?
Jaimee Lewis with Martin Routledge
November 2012

2. Personal health budgets
• Where do they come from?
• How do they work?
• What happens next?
• Communicating PHBs

3. Personalisation - context
Personal health budgets are part of the broader drive to
personalise public services
Right to
Personalised Control
pilots Self-
care
directed
planning
support
Social
Personal
care
health
personal
budgets
budgets
Special Choice: of
Educational provider, GP,
Needs & treatment and
Disabilities Choose &
(SEND) pilots Book

4. Context

5. PHB pilot programme
• Pilot programme ran until October 2012
• Over 2,700 people in the pilot
• A key group was people in receipt of NHS Continuing
Healthcare but other groups were also included
• Independent evaluation results - imminent.
• In-depth study with twenty of the pilot sites explored how
best to implement personal health budgets, and who will
benefit most
• Five interim evaluation reports - by University of Kent
focused on early experiences of pilot project managers,
practitioners and budget holders and set-up costs

6. How does it work?
• Clinical staff and people planning together
• People and their PHBs
• The process

7. When might personal health budgets be useful
and how might people find out about them?

8. Care planning together

9. Thinking about personal solutions

10. Pete’s PHB
Pete has autism and type 1 diabetes. The move from
children’s to adult services was made easier for him
because of an integrated personal budget for health,
social care and education. Pete and his mum
Michelle chose carers that he has known since
childhood. His blood sugar levels need frequent
testing so his carer attends college with him to do
this, enabling him to continue his education. Pete has
also been able to stay living at home rather than
entering residential care, has more opportunities for
social interaction and is a happier young man.

11. Roger’s PHB
Then there’s Roger who has chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease. His breathing problems required
him to be admitted to hospital regularly, he is on
steroid medication and needs oxygen support
indoors. His personal health budget helps him
manage his condition better. He has purchased a
portable nebuliser so he can lead a normal life and
manage any attack as it happens. He is rehabilitating
through exercise, attending a local gym, using a Wii
Fit at home and gardening as he breathes better
outdoors. His health has greatly improved and he is
able to take less medication.

12. A bit of detail

13. Steps of the personal health
budgets process

14. Planning and managing the money

15. Spending the budget
• An individual with a personal health budget will be able
to spend it on a range of things to help them meet their
goals
• For example therapies, personal care and equipment
• People will not be able to pay for emergency care and
care they normally get from a family doctor
• Not allowed to spend the money on gambling, debt
repayment, alcohol or tobacco, or anything unlawful

16. Governance and risk
• The PHB partnership combines the professional’s vital
clinical expertise and knowledge, with the person’s
expertise in their condition and needs
• Clinical governance should support flexibility and
innovation where possible, so people can try new
approaches to achieving their health goals
• Health care professionals will continue to be focused on
securing the best health outcomes for people. Personal
health budgets can provide alternative ways of achieving
these, with people able to explore a wider range of
options in their care plan

17. Government is committed to
national rollout
2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 […] longer-term aim
Pilot
National rollout from
evaluation A wider right
2013-14 (an objective for the
(October to ask for a
NHSCB)
2012) personal
health
budget, for
Right to ask for a those who
personal health budget would
in NHS Continuing benefit
Healthcare
(from April 2014)

18. Next steps
• Department of Health has identified £1.5 million
to support the first stage of rollout
• The funding will be used to support personal
health budgets until April 2013.
• DH delivery team will support areas willing to “go
further, faster”, along with wider implementation
– active learning network
– regional events and networks: some hosted
by SHAs, others by former pilot sites
• After this date, responsibility will transfer to the
NHS Commissioning Board

19. PHB – the Communications
Challenge
• It’s the end of the NHS as we know it
• People will waste the money on treatments with no evidence
• It’s a foot in the door for vouchers and top-ups
• People don’t want to choose or control their health care –
they just want good local services and clinicians
• There is no market of different things for people to buy
• Its irresponsible placing extra burdens on people when they
are sick
• Doctors and nurses train for years for a reason

20. Exercise
• In pairs
• A challenge
• A positive response
• A question

21. Good practice toolkit
• “Personal health budgets: Learning from the pilot
programme”
• Brings together learning from the DH’s personal health
budgets pilot programme, and shows how personal
health budgets can be implemented well
• For people working in the NHS or working with personal
health budgets more widely, and people eligible for a
personal health budget and their families
• Some parts of the toolkit aimed at particular groups such
as frontline healthcare practitioners, or finance
managers.
• Includes a communications toolkit with key messages &
templates
www.personalhealthbudgets.dh.gov.uk/toolkit

22. More information
• Learning Network
www.dh.gov.uk/personalhealthbudgets
• NHS Choices
www.nhs.uk/personalhealthbudgets
• Peoplehub
http://www.peoplehub.org.uk/