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Personal health budgets
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. 74 primary care trusts, in 67 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.
Latest updates
Information sheet
Read the latest personal health budgets information sheet, published December 2009
NHS Constitution: a consultation on new patient rights
The Government is currently consulting on new entitlements for patients, and the inclusion of these in the NHS Constitution. One of the longer-term proposals is that all patients who could benefit from a personal health budget should have the right to be offered one. The details would be developed in the light of findings from the current personal health budgets pilot programme, and there would be further consultation before any new right was introduced, but this demonstrates the Government’s commitment to the programme.
Health Act 2009
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.
Direct payments for health care: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance
The consultation on 'Direct payment for health care: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance' closed on 8 January 2010. Thank you to everyone who submitted a response. The Department will be publishing a formal response shortly.
New study to examine benefits of personal health budgets
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.
Additional links
Also on this site
Learning network
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.
Contact us
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:
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