Since April 1st 2009, patients have been given the legal right to choose their healthcare provider, meaning that individuals are given more independence when it comes to their continuing healthcare. Personal or Individual Health Budgets are a partnership between a patient and the NHS, which gives each person the choice to select what kind of healthcare they get with the money they are allocated, and the right to receive any information needed to assist with that decision.
2.What they are for
Individual health budgets are all about making sure patients receive the right continuing healthcare for them. The continuing healthcare budgets can be used to pay wages and expenses for carers, personal care assistants and any other medical assistance deemed eligible by the NHS.
3.Who they are for
Anyone and everyone who wants more independence with regards to the health care they receive. Individual health budgets are not means tested and are very much part of the NHS ethos of healthcare for everybody.
4.How it works
The introduction of individual health budgets does not affect the amount of continuing healthcare funding allocated; it merely changes the way in which funds are distributed. Personal Health Budgets can be distributed in two ways: individuals can opt to receive the budget from the local council and then select a service provider to process payments on their behalf, or the local authority can pay the funds directly to to the service provider and they organise payment and any administrative and payroll requirements associated with the care received.
5.How it helps
Continuing healthcare funding in this way means that the budgets can assist people individually and cater for an array of circumstances depending on the need of each patient. Using a service provider to process the budgets takes away the stress of calculating wages, expenses and taxes, as they will help with all these factors. A service provider will also produce wage slips and contact HMRC on behalf of the client, filing tax returns and dealing with any other related matters.