David Oliver: What’s the verdict on personal health budgets?

A key component of the NHS long term plan was a set of commitments on personalised care.1 These included a target for 200 000 people to benefit from personal health budgets by 2023-24. The current number is around 40 000.2

This raises questions. For instance, will these budgets benefit the right people? Will they introduce risks or bring opportunity costs for other service users? Are they a cost effective use of scarce public resources, or would the money be better spent elsewhere? Are any safeguards required?

In England, personal budgets3 and direct payments linked to personalised care plans have existed in social care for some time. Their introduction was partly a response to …