DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service on 12 May 2009
NEXT STAGE IN
PERSONAL HEALTHCARE BUDGETS ANNOUNCED
Patients are a step closer to getting more say over their
healthcare services as plans for a national pilot project reach
the next stage, the Department of Health announced
today.
Following a call for expressions of interest for sites
across England to take part in the first trials of personal health
budgets, 68 projects, involving a total of 75 PCTs, have been
awarded provisional pilot status.
Lord Darzi first announced
personal health budgets in his report High Quality Care for All
last year. Under the proposals, patients will have greater
involvement in how money is spent on their healthcare needs,
giving them more control over what services they use and who
provides them so they will be delivered in a way that best suits them.
Health Minister, Lord Darzi, said:
"I'd like to congratulate those sites who have been
selected as provisional pilots. There is clearly real enthusiasm
and energy across health and social care for this agenda. We were
very encouraged by the overall quality of the applicants and look
forward to working with as many sites as possible.
"During the consultation for the Next Stage Review, people
said clearly and consistently that they want a greater degree of
control and influence over their health and healthcare.
"The main aim of introducing personal health budgets is to
support the cultural change that is needed to create a more
personalised NHS. They have the potential to improve the quality
of patient experience and the effectiveness of care by giving
individuals as much control over their healthcare as is
appropriate for them."
All sites will now be subject to a robust assessment of their
capability before gaining full pilot status later this year.
Applications indicate that pilot sites want to look at a wide
variety of areas ranging from people who have long term conditions
or use mental health services to areas such as obesity or
substance misuse.
Ends
Notes to Editors
1. The deadline for expressions of interest in the pilot
programme was 27 March 2009. We received 74 applications, coming
from every strategic health authority area, covering a range of
services and conditions. All the applications have been subjected
to a robust assessment and there was a moderation process
involving external experts.
2. Once the evaluation team is in place, from July, we expect
them to choose a representative and meaningful sample of the pilot
schemes to undergo in-depth analysis, however all sites will be
included in the overall review of personal health budgets. The
level of funding sites will receive will depend on whether they
will be involved in in-depth evaluation.
3. Once they are up and running, pilots will begin by using those
forms of personal health budgets where the person does not hold
the budget themselves. Instead, the PCT or a third party
organisation will hold the budget on the individual's behalf.
Subject to parliamentary approval of the draft provisions in the
Health Bill (currently before the Lords) to allow direct payments
for healthcare, some of these site will start piloting that
mechanism of delivering a personal health budget.
4. Personal health budgets could be used in a number of ways. For example:
Jo, a young woman with very challenging behaviour who reacts
strongly to unfamiliar surroundings, routines or faces.
Residential care has always been disastrous and she's
currently living at home. Her parents want to enable her to move
into her own home. Direct payment would be to pay for support
workers to work with the parents to support her to do that and
overcome the challenges presented by the new environment. It would
also pay for her to carry on going to the local NHS community day
service centre, which she loves.