Introduction to Personal Health Budgets For patients in receipt of continuing health care funding

INCREASE YOUR

CHOICEABOUT HOW YOU

RECEIVE YOUR CARE

What are the options available?You have different options about how you manage your budget and you can choose more than one option to give you the level of control that you want.

There are three options:

1. Direct payment - you will be told what money is available to meet your health needs and you get the funds to buy the services you and your care co-ordinator agree that you need. You will have to show what you spent it on but you buy and manage the services yourself.

2. A notional budget - you will be told what money is available to meet your health needs. You can choose not to take the money but to have your care co-ordinator arrange the care that you have both agreed you need.

3. A third party arrangement - you will be told what money is available to meet your health needs and you agree with your care co-ordinator how the money will be spent. You will arrange for a third party to organise the care for you and they receive the money to purchase your care. A third party might be a care agency that will employ carers to care for you.

What is a personal health budget?A personal health budget is an amount of money paid to you by the NHS to help you meet your health and wellbeing needs. You will be able to plan your care and use your budget to buy things that will help you maintain your independence and meet your health needs.

Who can have one?Anyone currently living in their own home and in receipt of NHS continuing health care has the right to ask for a personal health budget.

What can I spend it on?A personal health budget can be spent on any services or care that meets your agreed health and wellbeing needs. The services and care will need to be set out and agreed in a support plan. The only restrictions are that personal health budgets cannot be spent on anything inappropriate such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling or debt repayment, or anything illegal. We will ask you to set up a separate bank account to manage the money if you want to receive a direct payment.

The NHS Clinical Commissioning Group where you live is entitled to recover any money that is not spent on your agreed health needs, or to recover any money spent inappropriately.

How does it work?STAGE 1Assessment of needsOnce you have been assessed as meeting continuing health care funding your support worker will ask you questions to find out what you need for your health and wellbeing.

STAGE 2Budget allocationYour assessment is used to calculate an indicative budget. This is an estimate of the amount of money needed to meet your health needs.

STAGE 3Support planningYour support worker will work with you and your carers to decide how best to use the personal health budget. This will include choice of how your care is delivered.

STAGE 4Final plan Once your support plan is agreed, your personal health budget can be confirmed.

It may take you some time to set up your health budget but we will make sure there are interim arrangements in place for your care.

Who will help me?If you are thinking of taking your health budget as a direct payment we will assign a support worker to help you:

• Create your support plan;• Develop the solutions that best meet

your health needs;• Help you to become a responsible

employer;• Offer advice on recruitment, HR and

payroll services.

They will also come regularly and review with you how well everything is working until you are confident about managing this yourself. After that they will see you annually, or more frequently if required.

Will it affect my benefits?Your personal health budget will only be used to meet the health and wellbeing needs that are identified in your support plan. It cannot be used for any other purpose. For benefit purposes it is not counted as income. This means it will not be taken into account when calculating your benefit entitlement.

Find out moreTo find out more about PHBs contact the Personal Health Budget Team at: NEL Commissioning Support Unit 75-77 Worship Street London EC2A 2DU E-mail: nelcsu.chc@nhs.net Telephone: 020 3688 1000