Understanding personal health budgets

NHS England sees personal health budgets as an integral part of its long term plan and efforts to personalise care.1 Despite a lack of understanding regarding who is holding personal health budgets and their effect, a national expansion is under way. Personal budgets enable holders to purchase services of their choosing to achieve a person’s health and wellbeing goals. They are typically positioned as a lever to improve patient empowerment, promote competition between providers, and reduce healthcare costs.

Multiple arrangements exist: the budgets can be held by individuals, carers, or third parties such as a charity or social enterprise. They can be funded exclusively by the NHS or jointly with local authorities.2 Since 2014, all adults and children eligible for long term care funded by the NHS have had the right to apply for a personal health budget, and from 2019 it became the default mechanism to pay …