The government is investing millions of pounds into personal health budgets, to all people in receipt of continuing health care in the UK.
According to the latest announcement by Norman Lamb, the Social Care Minister, around 56,000 Britons will benefit from £1.5 million funding after a ‘positive’ evaluation.
A trial scheme found that the extra budget helped to improve people’s quality of life, as well as their mental well-being.
The personal health budget initiative was first launched by the Department of Health in 2009, as a process of giving patients greater control over services they receive and how their support is managed.
Personal health budgets have been piloted at 20 sites over the last three years, and now the official rollout will be completed by 2014.
Initially, those who are already getting NHS continuing care will be targeted, and others who doctors feel could benefit from them.
What did the programme find?
- The personal health budgets led to significant improvements in the psychological well-being and quality of life of people with high-level health needs.
- It also improved the quality of life and health of carers.
- Those that received the personal budgets valued the increased choice, control and flexibility offered.
However, the report has revealed that there are some restrictions on how to use the budgets, or budgets being too small for their needs. Only a small minority of people could manage both personal budgets and there is “considerable confusion” on what could actually be funded.
Another key finding was that the budgets were cost-effective for those receiving NHS continuing healthcare.
How so?
- Savings were made for the NHS where people had a higher budget because their health needs required different ways that costs less, like training staff to change dressings etc.
- In-patient costs fell, suggesting that patients had fewer stays in hospital.
Overall though, the study advises that personal health budgets are beneficial, to both the individual and the NHS.
Mr Lamb told LocalGov.co.uk: “Independent analysis has now shown that personal budgets can put people back in control of their care and make a significant difference to their quality of life.
“It’s inspiring to hear the human stories of success that these budgets have brought to people. The evaluation shows that those with the greatest needs benefit most from personal health budgets. That’s why we are giving people on NHS continuing healthcare the chance to get one first.”
The research was undertaken by researchers from Kent and York Universities, Imperial College and the London School of Economics.
This article was written by Lauren Grice on behalf of Cheselden, the continuing care review specialists.
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