Personal Health Budget

What are Personal Health Budgets?

A Personal Health Budget is an amount of money to support a person’s identified health and wellbeing needs, which is planned and agreed between the person, their representative and their local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group.

It is not new money, but it is money that would normally have been spent by the NHS on the person’s care, used more flexibly to meet their identified health needs. 

Having a Personal Health Budget does not affect the money you get from any benefits that you receive. 

The aim of the Personal Health Budget is to support people to have greater choice, flexibility and control over the healthcare and support that they receive to meet their assessed needs

Your funding and care package will remain in place if you choose not to have a personal health budget.

How do I get a Personal Health Budget?

People eligible for funding have a legal right to have a Personal Health Budget. This includes people who are eligible for Fast Track funding for their end of life care. 

If you feel that a Personal Health Budget would benefit you, we can arrange for someone to talk to you about this further. 

You will develop a plan with your Personal Health Budget Advisor which sets out your personal health and wellbeing needs,  the health outcomes the Personal Health Budget will help you to achieve, the amount of money in the budget and how you are going to spend it in order to meet your health outcomes. 

How is the Personal Health Budget given to me?

1. Notional Budget: Your local Clinical Commissioning Group holds your budget so no money changes hands. Your Personal Health Budget Advisor will tell you how much money is available and discuss the different ways to spend that money on meeting your needs.

2. Third Party Budget: The budget is paid to an organisation or trust that holds the money on your behalf, helps you to organise what you need and pays the invoices/wages for the care and support that you have chosen. This is also known as a managed account.

3. Direct Payment: You, or a nominated representative, hold the budget in a dedicated bank account or on a payment card to purchase the agreed care and support you need.  

You must provide evidence of what you have spent your budget on at regular intervals and manage the services that you have bought.

There are certain things that a personal health budget cannot be used for:

  • Emergency Care
  • Surgical procedures
  • GP services
  • Prescription or dental charges
  • Alcohol, gambling or tobacco
  • Repaying a debt
  • Anything unlawful

What sort of services can I purchase with a Personal Health Budget?

You can spend your budget on a range of things that meet your identified outcomes. Your support plan needs to be agreed with NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group and Warrington Borough Council (if applicable) before you receive the funding.

Here are some ideas how you could spend your personal health budget: 

  • A personal assistant to help you with your daily life or getting out and about. This means you can choose people you like, who have the right skills to give you the support you want 
  • Residential or nursing home care or paying a carer to live in your home to help you 
  • Special equipment or changes to your home, that help you do everyday tasks.

Contact

For more information or to have an informal discussion about this process, please contact: The Personal Health Budget Team  on 01925 843697.