A personal health budget (PHB) is an amount of money that can be spent on meeting your assessed long-term health and wellbeing needs.
It is not new money, but money that would have normally been spent by National Health Service (NHS) on your care being spent in a more flexible way to meet your personal health and wellbeing goals. It allows you to manage and purchase services, support, activities and some types of equipment to achieve your health and well-being outcomes jointly agreed between you and your local ICB or NHS team.
The amount you receive is based on an assessment of your health, your wellbeing needs and the cost of meeting those needs.
Personal health budgets work in a similar way to direct payment personal budgets, which allow people to manage and pay for their social care needs.
All personal health budgets are underpinned by a personalised care and support plan (PCSP). This plan is produced jointly between you and your family or carers and a health professional. It will set out:
- your personal health and wellbeing needs
- the health outcomes you want to achieve
- the amount of money in your budget
- how you’ll spend it
Many patients and families have said that a personal health budget gives them more flexibility, choice and control over how money is spent on their care and support. They feel more empowered and in control of how they manage their needs. They also feel more involved in planning their care.
Who can have a personal health budget
The following people have right to have a personal health budget:
- adults receiving NHS continuing healthcare
- children and young people receiving NHS continuing care
- people who meet the eligibility criteria of their local NHS wheelchair service, these people will be eligible for a personal wheelchair budget
- people who are eligible for after-care services under section 117 after-care of the Mental Health Act.
Personal health budgets are not available to people who are in long-term residential nursing homes or care homes.
Options for managing your personal health budget
A personal health budget can be managed in three ways or a combination of these.
- You can have a direct payment PHB where the money is paid directly to you so that you can pay for the services and the support you need.
- You can have a third party/managed account PHB. This is where a third party organisation will manage your budget.
- You can have a notional PHB. Under this arrangement the NHS Continuing Healthcare placements team at the ICB will manage your budget. The team will work with you to agree what you need and want and will purchase services on your behalf.
Making sure the money is working for you
Your NHS Continuing Healthcare assessor is responsible for making sure the help and support you are receiving is meeting your needs. As your needs change, your PHB may also need to change to make sure it is giving you the most appropriate support and safely meeting your needs.
The ICB will check in after three months of getting everything set up, and then once a year after that, to make sure everything is still working well for you.
Personal Health Budgets for people using the Wheelchair Service
If you are a wheelchair user who has been referred to and meets the eligibility criteria of the local NHS wheelchair service you can ask about a Personal Health Budget (PHB) to help pay for your wheelchair and other related equipment.
If you are already registered with the wheelchair service, you will be eligible for a PHB when you need a new wheelchair.
Your NHS wheelchair service provider should be able to answer any questions you have
For further information about personal health budgets speak to your the team for your local area.
If you live in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes
Email: [email protected]
If you live in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Email: [email protected]
If you live in Hertfordshire
Email:[email protected]