Personalised Budgets

I still think personalized budgets if devolved and managed properly provide considerable “fuel” for local responses to the challenge of setting up community owned companies which can provide adult social care in rural settings. This story tells us:

Hundreds of thousands of people with mental health conditions and physical disabilities could be given the option of a personalised NHS budget for their own care needs under government proposals.

People with learning difficulties and dementia are among around 350,000 who could have the right to select and pay for treatments that improve their health and wellbeing through a bespoke care plan agreed with medical professionals. For children and people unable to manage the money, parents or carers will be able to manage the budget.

Ministers believe the measure will improve patient satisfaction with the NHS and harmonise health and social care budgets. Currently, about 23,000 people have personalised NHS budgets, but ministers want to expand the scheme.

The government hopes that care provided to the qualifying groups on the NHS will improve, after complaints about current standards of treatment. Tens of thousands of pounds could be made available to a single person. People who qualify for the personal healthcare budget would have the option of receiving the money through a direct payment, giving the money to a third party to manage or leaving it with the NHS to control.