From 1st April 2014 everyone eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding will have a right to ask for a personal health budget. This is an NHS Mandate commitment and one of the tangible ways the NHS can become becoming dramatically better at involving people, and empowering them to make decisions about their own care and treatment.
Are your CHC services ready for this? NHS England is offering CCGs free access to a support programme that will help your local services to introduce personal health budgets successfully in NHS Continuing Healthcare by April 2014. The programme draws on the evidence and learning from the pilot programme, and work undertaken since. The offer includes:
- Access to the ‘accelerated development programme’ – a six day course, across 8 months, that will take your lead from your CHC Team or project manager through the steps to introduce personal health budgets successfully
- Support to carry out a self-assessment using ‘markers of progress’ based on learning about successful implementation approaches.
- Opportunity to take part in the next personal health budgets survey to check your results.
- Access to the personal health budget toolkit and FAQ
- Access to a learning network
Whether you’ve got years of experience of introducing personal health budgets, or are at the first post, we hope the support programme will offer your services access to the latest evidence and learning; tailored support that helps them make progress; and membership of a community of like minded people on the same journey.
To join the programme visit the NHS England website www.personalhealthbudgets.england.nhs.uk/progress
