Personal health budgets pilot – the story so far
In a new DVD, people in the Department of Health's personal health budgets pilot programme share their experiences so far.
They describe in their own words what the process is like, what they spend their money on and how they decided on this. The stories also include the perspectives of family carers and health care professionals. The stories illustrate the kind of choices people can make if they have a personal health budget, and the positive impact it can have on their health and lives.
The DVD contains eight films, and includes an introduction by Minister of State for Care Services Paul Burstow.
The launch of the DVD coincided with 4th interim evaluation report on personal health budgets.
Early experiences of budget holders interviews 58 budget holders in the pilot about their experiences of personal health budgets after three months.
The report is positive overall, with some people already experiencing improved health outcomes.
Key findings include that the role of information is key; and those eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare tended to find the process easier, and reported benefits earlier.
The report does highlight some issues which will need to be resolved and detailed work is underway to explore these and develop best practice that the NHS will need to deliver personal health budgets in the longer term.