The document provides the top 10 tips for effectively implementing personal health budgets. The tips include ensuring flexibility in how budgets can be used and held, providing information locally about how budgets work, allowing people to know their budget amounts upfront, addressing health and well-being beyond just clinical treatment, providing flexibility in choice without restrictive menus, treating individuals as partners respecting their expertise, offering ongoing support for all who need it, keeping the process simple and minimizing bureaucracy, encouraging positive risk-taking with documented risks in care plans, developing the market through coproduction to ensure choice, and conducting regular reviews based on outcomes responding to individual needs.

1. Top 10 tips for effective implementation
of personal health budgets
Vidhya Alakeson 15th January 2014

2. How to participate today

3. Top 10 tips for effective implementation
of personal health budgets

4. Government policy commitment so far
• Right to ask from April 2014 - in NHS Continuing
Healthcare (includes joint packages and children)
• Right to have from October 2014 – in NHS
Continuing Healthcare
• Option for people with long term physical and
mental health conditions who could benefit from
April 2015
• Direct payment regulations– NHS everywhere in
England can offer direct payments from August
2013

5. If you are going to do it, do it right
• The national evaluation is clear: how personal
health budgets are implemented has a real
impact on outcomes
• Most positive outcomes depend on flexibility
over:
– how PHBs can be used – individual creativity not
menus
– how the money can be held – full range of options
needs to be available
• Restrictive implementation can result in negative
impact on budget holders

6. Information about personal health budgets
is available locally and there are clear
guidelines about how personal health
budgets work

7. People know
how much they
have to spend
upfront on their
health and well
being

8. Budgets and individual plans address health and
well being and not just clinical treatment

9. There is flexibility in how needs can be met
and there no menus that restrict choice

10. Clinicians works with
individuals and
families as partners,
respecting their
expertise

11. Support is available
for everyone who
needs it on an
ongoing basis, not
just around the
development of a
care plan

12. The entire
personal health
budgets
process is
simple,
transparent and
designed to
minimize
bureaucracy

13. Positive risk taking is encouraged and risks
are documented and addressed in care
plans

14. Market development reflects the principles
of coproduction to ensure that PHB holders
have adequate choice

15. Reviews are
conducted
regularly in
response to each
individual’s needs
and are based on
outcomes.

16. To Find Out More …..
www.personalhealthbudgets.england.nhs.uk/toolkit

17. To Find Out More …..
http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781447308522&
alakesonvidhya@yahoo.co.uk
@healthbudgets

18. Any questions?

19. Further information
www.in-control.org.uk/blog
www.in-control.org.uk/health
health@in-control.org.uk
alakesonvidhya@yahoo.co.uk