Personal Health Budgets

Your care coordinator will work with you, and those who support you, to decide how best to use your budget to meet your needs.

This will be written in a support plan, which both you and your care coordinator must sign.

The money must only be used on the support that has been agreed in your support plan.

NHS South Tyneside has a duty to make sure you are spending the money on what has been agreed.

It will recover any money that has not been spent appropriately.

How you can receive and use a Personal Health Budget

There are 3 ways you can receive and use a Personal Health Budget.

• Direct Payments
  With Direct Payments, the money is paid directly to you, so you can buy and manage services yourself. You must use the money on the support that has been agreed in your support plan, and you must show what you have spent the money on.
• A notional budget
  With a notional budget, the NHS holds the funds and arranges the support for you. This is best if you are unable to (or don't want to) manage Direct Payments yourself.
• Third party arrangement
  With a third party arrangement, funds are paid to an organisation, such as a care agency.  The organisation then employs a care worker on your behalf. Usually, this is called an 'independent user trust', which allows the third party to manage the budget on your behalf.

The assessment and review process is the same however you receive your Personal Health Budget.