£4 million boost to give patients control of their health care

A pilot scheme that offers patients more choice and control over their healthcare has been given a £4 million boost.

The money will be used to support personal health budget pilot sites set up and run their pilot schemes. Personal budgets allow local NHS trusts to put individuals in control of how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with the local NHS.

A personal health budget can either be arranged by the NHS, an independent third party, or the individual can be given the money to buy the care themselves through a direct payment.

Direct payments allow Primary Care Trusts to pay the personal budget directly into the patient's bank account either as a monthly sum or as a one off payment for a piece of equipment. Personal budget can also be held by the Primary Care Trust or by a third party.

On 28 June the first eight DH personal health budget pilot sites were awarded powers to offer direct payment. Today a ninth site, Hull PCT has subsequently received these powers.

Through personal budgets, the Government is giving more power and control to patients – a key them of the Health White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS.

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: “I am fully committed to piloting personal health budgets to inform the way we implement them more widely and how we can combine them with social care budgets. We want to give people more choice and influence over their healthcare - giving them direct control of the cash is a powerful way of achieving this. A similar scheme has been a huge success in social care, letting people choose services that fit in with their life, rather than fitting their life around the service. Today's investment into personal budgets for healthcare will ensure that patients using the NHS will be able to benefit in the same way.”

He added; “The evidence from social care has shown that people tend to spend less on better things for themselves. Proving that individuals can actually be better guardians of the public purse than institutions, while at the same time ensuring services suit people's individual needs.”

This commitment comes as a DVD is launched to help councils educate staff and health partners to encourage them to introduce social care personal budgets to existing service users. The DVD shows examples of how successful personal budgets have been in social care.

The DVD reflects the full range of equality and diversity issues and demonstrate different ways of using a personal budget. It also includes an introduction from former GMTV presenter Fiona Philips whose father care was transformed by having a personal budget to meet his social care needs.

Personal budgets in both health and social care give people choice and control over their care and gives them real power to hold services to account.

Fiona Philips said: “I have two very different experiences. With my mother the personal budget didn't exist, and we had to fight for everything we got. My mother was carted off to a day centre that she didn't really want to go to.For my father it's completely changed. Dad has Alzheimer's so he can't say what he wants out of his personal budget, and I've filled out all the forms. We have a brilliant package for him, which relieves me because I have a small family, I have work, and it's a real reassurance that he's being looked after.”

She added; “It's just all the things that keep him living as normal life as possible, maintaining his dignity as well. Just because you are getting older, just because you are disabled, or are very ill have chronic diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's doesn't mean you shouldn't still be able to maintain your dignity, which is very important.“

The DVD will be available on the new Putting People First website which brings together information and tools to help councils and providers personalise their services.

The £4 million funding for personal health budgets in 2010/11 is at the same level as last year. This is used to provide practical and financial support.

The Department of Health has also launched new information on the regulations governing direct payments in healthcare, which gives clear advice to help pilots meet the regulatory requirements.

The first independent interim evaluation report of the personal health budget pilot programme has been published. This is based on interviews with project leads and highlights some of the challenges the pilots face and how they are beginning to overcome these. The main challenges identified include:

· setting the size and scope of the personal health budget, and funding them;

· the care planning process, and supporting people through it;

· linking together health and social care;

· developing the market, so that genuine choices are available to people; and

· managing the cultural change required.

The Putting People First website is HERE