The Department of Health (DoH) is to pilot a scheme of direct budgets to put patients more in control of their own healthcare.

 
Care Services Minister Phil Hope said that personal health budgets would be piloted in primary care trusts (PCTs) until 2012 and direct payments would form part of these. The scheme aims to give patients more control and choice over how the money allocated by their PCT for their individual treatment is spent – and will deliver more personalised healthcare.

Current allocation of the NHS budget involves either a GP or PCT deciding where to spend the budget – as GPs or PCTs are those who commission local frontline health services (such as cancer treatments) they are known as ‘commissioners’. The new scheme would in effect mean that individual patients would act as the ‘commissioner’ for their own healthcare.

Currently, a budget for treatment also can be managed for an individual patient by a third party, such as a charity or trust. However, the launch of personal health budgets is a step forward in giving individual patients the ability to decide how they wish to spend the money allocated for their treatment, rather than a GP or PCT or other third party deciding for them.

Managing their own personal health budget could mean an individual patient might allocate more of the budget towards more expensive drugs, for example – or decide to spend more money on physiotherapy and choose cheaper drugs. Patients who have already benefitted from having a personal health budget have been allocated case managers who hold the funds, while the patient identifies the treatments they find most effective.

The pilot schemes will form part of the consultation process on personal health budgets, which will run until 8 January, 2010.

The consultation seeks views on the rules for making direct payments, as well as proposals for setting up and evaluating the direct payment pilot schemes.

The new Health Bill currently being considered by Parliament includes provision for making direct payments to individual patients – the Bill is expected to be granted Royal Assent in November.

Mr Hope said:

‘There are some really inspiring stories already from people whose lives have been transformed by personal budgets – they get more choice and control over their own care.

‘By making direct payments available in healthcare, I know many more people will feel the benefits. We want to make sure we get this right and I want everyone to have their say to make sure we do.’

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