Personal health budgets

The NHS Long Term Plan states that Personalised Care will benefit up to 2.5 million people by 2024, becoming business as usual across the health and care system and the Comprehensive Model of Personalised Care confirms how we will do it. One of the components of the model is Personal Health Budgets. The NHS Long Term Plan states the commitment that 200,000 Personal Health Budgets will be in place by 2023/24.

A Personal Health Budget is an amount of money to support your health and wellbeing needs, which is planned and agreed between you (or someone who represents you), and your local NHS team

Click the below button to watch the video to see how services in mid and south Essex are adopting Personalised Care and Personal Health Budgets to make a difference to young people’s lives.

Who is eligible for a Personal Health Budget?

Some people have a legal ‘right to have’ a Personal Health Budget which is set nationally.
Other groups have a right to ask about Personal Health Budgets, which is recommended through other statutory processes or because it has been agreed within local pathways.

The local offer in mid and south Essex of legal right to have and right to ask groups is shown below.

Legal Right to Have:

• Adults eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding
• Children eligible for NHS Continuing Care funding
• People eligible for an NHS funded wheelchair, (for long term use).
• People eligible for section 117 after care of the Mental Health Act 1983

Right to Ask:

• People with long term conditions
• People accessing services that offer a Personal Health Budget within the care pathway

Other than those described above, no other individuals currently have a legal right to have a Personal Health Budget in mid and south Essex or nationally. The Integrated Care Board is committed to developing further Personal Health Budget offers and implementing Personalised Care and will continue to update eligibility information.

Click the below button to see how many Personal Health Budgets have been agreed for people in mid and south Essex.

Applying for a Personal Health Budget

A Personal Health Budget may not be for everyone, so they are completely voluntary.

If you or someone you care for fall within the current terms of the local offer and would be interested in applying for a Personal Health Budget, speak to the professional most closely involved in your care. They can tell you more about Personal Health Budgets and the application process.

For general enquiries about Personal Health Budgets in mid and south Essex, please contact mse.personalisedcare@nhs.net. When making contact please refrain from including detailed personal information.

Receiving a Personal Health Budget

Your Personal Health Budget can be managed in one of three different ways.

• You can have a Direct Payment Personal Health Budget where the money in the budget is paid directly to you, and you can make your own arrangements to purchase the services and the support you need. For example, care, therapies, and equipment.
• You can have a Third-party/Managed Account Personal Health Budget. This is where your budget is managed by a third-party organisation.
• You can have a Notional Personal Health Budget. Under this arrangement your budget is managed by the Continuing Health Care Team here at the ICB. That team will work with you on what you need and will purchase services on your behalf.

You can also choose to receive your budget as a combination of the three options above.

Learn more about the six stage process to Personal Health Budgets in mid and south Essex:

Personalised Care and Support Planning process

One of the key steps in the Personal Health Budget process is developing and agreeing your Personalised Care and Support Plan.

Working with local residents, we have co-designed some key questions to support you in Shared Decision Making conversations with your healthcare professional. These may be useful when in discussion to agree your Personalised Care and Support Plans as part of the Personal Health Budget process.

Wheelchair Budgets

Anyone who is registered with a GP in the areas of Mid-Essex, Basildon and Brentwood, Thurrock and is eligible for an assessment for a wheelchair on a permanent loan (with the exception of individuals who have a rapidly changing or deteriorating condition), will be eligible for a Personal Wheelchair Budget. All new referrals must be from a healthcare professional or re-referrals will be accepted from existing wheelchair users. 

A Personal Wheelchair Budget is a resource available to increase people’s choice and control of wheelchair provision, either within NHS commissioned services or outside of NHS commissioned services. You will be able to use this when your wheelchair is due to be changed, either every five years, or less if your medical need has changed. 

Find out more in on our Personal Wheelchair Budget page.