NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent is helping lead the way in a national pilot to give patients more choice and control over how money is spent on their healthcare.
Personal Health Budgets will give people freedom to choose the support services they want and pay for it.
The primary care trust, which will work in partnership with Kent County Council (KCC) and the University of Kent, is one of just 20 PCTs in England selected to take part.
It is the only project using personal budgets for maternity services and the only pilot using a pre-loaded payment card, the Kent Card developed by KCC, to enable patients to pay for services they need.
During the next three years, 75 patients will be recruited starting with 30 expectant women from Swale and Thanet. Older people, carers, people with learning disabilities, the terminally ill and patients with mental health problems will also be selected to take part.
The scheme will involve assessing individual health needs and then drawing up a budgeted care plan. Everyone involved in the study will be given a Kent Card to allow them to choose their healthcare from a range of service providers.
The card is partially blocked to prevent cash withdrawals and can only be used for certain types of care. It is expected that the card will be used to buy services like physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and aids such as specialised beds.
The study will help to understand the benefits and limitations of Personal Health Budgets to ensure they help as many patients as possible.
Ann Sutton, NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent’s Chief Executive, said: “Personal health budgets will help people to feel in control of their care and able to make decisions about their treatment.
“This study and the support we are receiving from KCC will enable us to explore new and innovative ways of giving greater patient choice, more personalised healthcare and improved health and wellbeing, all based on principles contained in the NHS Constitution.”
Personal Health Budgets have been introduced following their successful use for people receiving social care.
Oliver Mills, Director of Adult Social Services for Kent County Council, said: “More than 900 people now use the Kent Card to buy their own care and support. Extending this unique innovation to health care will create a great opportunity to personalise health care”
The study is being evaluated nationally by three research teams including a team from the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Professor Julien Forder lead researcher at the University of Kent said: “The evaluation team sends their best wishes to everyone involved in the piloting of personal health budgets. This is an exciting opportunity to assess if giving patients more control over their healthcare in this way provides better outcomes.
“We look forward to learning from patients, staff and managers in the pilot trusts.”
The full evaluation will last three years with newsletters, research summaries and interim reports made available online.
Case study
Laura was diagnosed with a spinal tumour around two years ago and required significant neurosurgery.
The tumour was removed but the operation left her managing life with chronic pain and incontinence.
Laura’s position was made doubly difficult because her pain relieving drug therapy had side effects of drowsiness and disorientation which affected her quality of life.
She also had some sessions of hydrotherapy and massage and found both of these to be more effective without the side effects of the drugs. However, both these treatments were limited. Laura faced the prospect of increasing pain as well as the possibility of further expensive drug treatments.
The trust decided to try a different approach and Laura volunteered herself to the personal health budget pilot. The costs of her drug treatments were identified and Laura is now using the money to buy more extensive massage and hydrotherapy sessions privately and long term.
Her case manager holds the funding for her and she herself specifies the nature of the sessions she receives. She has found her pain to be much less since taking up the new therapies.
17 November
