Personal health budgets
September 2010
About 1 mins to read
Key points
- The amount of high quality research available to guide policy and practice is limited.
- Personal budgets are implemented differently in various countries:
- sometimes people are given cash payments to spend as they wish
- alternatively, organisations keep responsibility for making payments but service users state what they want purchased on their behalf.
- Evidence about impacts on health outcomes and service use is mixed.
- There is limited information about value for money, largely because there are few rigorous effectiveness studies.
- There seem to be differences in implementation across the four countries of the UK.
- To be successful, personal budgets need to offer adequate infrastructure, staff training and signposting, and support to service users.
- Older people may be more likely to find managing their own budget a burden.
This evidence scan collates more than 60 articles about personal health and social care budgets in the UK and internationally. The purpose is to provide a brief synopsis of evidence to help gauge the level of research in this field so far.
Personal health budgets encourage people to purchase and manage their own care, within a set budget. The aim is to increase choice and reduce overall costs.
Further reading
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