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High Quality Care for All announced that from 2009 there will be a pilot, building on experience with individual budgets in social care, to test personal health budgets as a way of giving people greater control over the services they use. Over half the primary care trusts in England applied to become personal health budgets pilot sites. 73 primary care trusts, in 66 sites, have been awarded provisional pilot status. The pilot programme is now underway and will run for three years until 2012. This section contains news and information about personal health budgets, and links to other websites where you can find out more.
Read the latest personal health budgets information sheet:
The recent consultation on new entitlements for patients for inclusion in the NHS Constitution asked for people's views on a potential future right to be offered a personal health budget. Responses were mixed, possibly because of the early stages of the pilot. The Government's response (see paragraphs 48-49 of the response document) indicates that any decision on a future right to a personal health budget will be informed by the pilot programme and the independent evaluation.
Primary care trusts are already able to offer personal health budgets that do not involve giving money directly to individuals. The Health Act - which received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009 - will extend these options by allowing selected primary care trust sites to pilot direct payments.
The consultation on 'Direct payment for health care: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance' closed on 8 January 2010. We received 132 responses and we are grateful to everyone to everyone who took the time to submit a response. The Department published a formal response on 29 March 2010. The National Health Service (Direct Payments) Regulations 2010, which will allow approved pilot sites to offer direct payments, were laid in Parliament on 29 March 2010.
On 8 October 2009, Health Minister Phil Hope announced that twenty sites across England have been selected to participate in a study to identify the benefits of personal health budgets, and the people who will benefit most from them.
We have set up an online learning network for people involved in the pilots, and anyone who is interested in contributing to the development of personal health budgets.
The personal health budgets team is working with a wide range of people to develop the programme. We want to hear from anyone who would like to share their experiences in this area and get involved. You can get in touch via the mailbox:
