What is a Personal Health Budget (PHB)?
A Personal Health Budget is an amount of money to support a person’s identified health and wellbeing needs, planned and agreed between the person and their NHS team which:
Aims to provide greater choice, flexibility and control over the health care and support people receive.
Is not about new money, but about using resource differently.
Is an opportunity to work in equal partnership with the NHS about how their health and wellbeing needs can best be met.
PHB introductory video
PHB Easy Read Leaflet
PHBs are the result of government proposals to increase ‘personalised care’. They are not intended to reduce healthcare costs, nor do they represent any reduction in service for patients. PHBs take different forms: notional budgets, direct payments and third party arrangements as well as combinations of the three in some instances. A notional budget where the person or their family are aware of the budget available for their assessed needs and the agreed care and support arranged for them, following discussions with the person, and their family (or other representative) A direct payment made to the person or their family, who then arranges the care and support directly as agreed between them and the NHS team. A third-party arrangement where the budget is transferred to a person or organisation to arrange the agreed care and support for the person, and their family.
For further information, please contact: nclicb.personalhealthbudgets@nhs.net
PHB Process
All PHBs are underpinned by a Personalised Care and Support Plan (PCSP) which is produced jointly between the client and their family/ carers and a health professional. The PCSP moves the focus of care provision to a co-produced piece of work with the client and their family rather than directed by the clinician.
The usual process to obtain a Personal Health Budget (PHB) is for the client to contact the service (e.g. Learning Disabilities, Mental Health, Wheelchairs etc) that they usually access via their lead clinical practitioner.
Please note that PHBs are not available to individuals who are in long-term residential nursing/care homes. Please also note that GPs are unable to initiate a PHB.
PHBs are currently available to individuals who have been assessed as eligible from the following NHS services:
- Continuing Healthcare
- Continuing Care
- Personal Wheelchairs
- Mental Health
- Learning Disabilities
- Autism
If you fall into one of these service areas and would like to discuss having a PHB, please contact your local Care Manager to discuss whether this is available to you, as PHBs are delivered and managed locally.
If you fall outside of these areas, please contact your Care Manager of the NHS Service you regularly use, to enable you explore whether a PHB could be made available to you to meet your assessed health needs.
Please see these links for more information
PHB inclusions
• People eligible for Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and Continuing Care (CC).
• People with ongoing social care and education needs, who also make regular ongoing use of NHS services.
• People eligible for Section 117 aftercare services.
• People leaving the Armed Forces, who are eligible for ongoing NHS services.
• People with a learning disability, autism or both, who are eligible for ongoing NHS care.
• People who access wheelchair services whose posture and mobility needs impact their wider health and social care needs.
Guidance on the Legal Rights to have a PHB
N.B. Anyone has the Right to Ask for a PHB, as an NHS service can make a budget available to persons receiving a Direct Payment to pay for a service not currently available on the NHS which will meet their assessed needs.
Regulations are in place detailing items that direct payments PHBs cannot be spent on such as tobacco, gambling, alcohol, debt repayment, emergency care and core GP services. The expenditure is monitored by the responsible commissioner within NCL ICB regardless of PHB type.
PHB Support Services Directory Resources
The PHB Support Services Directory features a range of Providers who can assist PHB Holders to manage their PHB. Please note that the Directory will not provide clinical care delivery. PHB Holders would use the Directory to choose a Provider to work with and pay for the Provider’s service using their PHB.
Here are the PHB Holder contracts for each service provided:
- Lot 1 PCSP & B (Personalised Care and Support Planning and Brokerage)
- Lot 2 Money Management Service
- Lot 3 PHB Support Services
Guidance to using the PHB Support Services Directory – PHB Holder
PHB Support Services Directory User Workflows
PHB Holder Governance & Regulations
- PHB Holder Governance & Regulations Normal version
- PHB Holder Governance & Regulations Easy Read version
PHB Policy and Governance