Refreshed and new personal health budget publications

Updates to two key personal health budget guidance documents have been published to reflect the introduction of integrated care boards (ICBs) in July 2022.

• Guidance on direct payments for healthcare: understanding the regulations provides guidance for commissioners to support the implementation of the National Health Service (Direct Payment) Regulations 2013 and amendments and deliver on the ambition for 200,000 people to have a personal health budget by 2023-24.
• Guidance on the legal rights to have personal health budgets and personal wheelchair budgets supports ICBs and other relevant bodies to meet their duty to ensure eligible groups of people benefit from the legal right to have a personal health budget or personal wheelchair budget. This includes people eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, children and young people’s continuing care, people eligible for after-care services under section 117 of the Mental Health Act, and people eligible for NHS wheelchairs.
• NHS England has shared a draft of a personal health budget quality framework Personalised Care Collaborative Network - FutureNHS Platform (log in required). The Framework sets the quality standards for PHB delivery and supports ICBs to create the conditions to meet PHB performance expectations.