There has been a debate this week on social media about personal health budgets, with some feeling they are an attempt to ‘privatise the NHS’. So it’s a fortuitous time to publish our guide, supported by NHS England, to how charities and other not-for-profits can help people to access and make good use of personal health budgets.
Personal budgets have been around for much longer in social care. They have enabled thousands of people to employ their own support staff directly, cutting out big private sector care agencies, rather than forming a business opportunity for them. They have enabled others to form community groups and social enterprises.
With any personal budget approach, there is always a risk that people become isolated, passive consumers of care, which is why it’s so important that not for profits are involved in helping people to make creative choices, connect with each other where they want to, and working with them to design support which really fits with their lives. Our guide aims to help with that.
Escaping the invisible asylum 